Charlie Ladell has become the sixth driver in seven seasons to take a pair of victories in the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup at Oulton Park this past weekend.
Ladell follows Tom Ingram (2012), Nathan Freke (2013), Charlie Robertson (2014), Tom Wrigley (2016) and Tom Hibbert (2017) in dominating proceedings at the Cheshire circuit.
The Rob Boston Racing ace’s fourth and fifth wins of the campaign has extended his record of completing every lap so far this season in a podium position, as he pulls clear at the top of the points.
Ladell topped qualifying by a quarter of a second on Saturday, with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke best of the rest as he enjoyed his best qualifying result of the season so far.
While his fellow front-row starter would fall down the order due to a lap two spin, Ladell had no such concerns in the opening race as he stormed clear to a lights to flag victory.
Harry King ran second through to lap twelve, when he suffered a race-ending chassis failure that promoted Carl Boardley and Adam Shepherd to the final podium positions.
Reece Somerfield took his second top four finish of the year ahead of Angus Fender and Jac Constable, while Gordon-Colebrooke fought back to eighth behind Carl Shield.
In the live-televised race two, it would be a familiar story at the head of the field as Ladell lead from start to finish once again, with Boardley following him home for a sixth second place finish of the season.
As Shepherd completed the podium again, the drive of the race behind came from Tom Roche as he fought his way through from the back of the class grid after encountering a difficult first race.
A great drive saw him pick his way through to fourth place ahead of Shield and Somerfield, with King not far behind as he battled an electrical issue that led to his car cutting out at one stage.
Constable has run in the top ten before a spin at Cascades dropped him back, while Gordon-Colebrooke had climbed to ninth before a puncture ended his race prematurely.
In the AM class, it was once again Michael Crees who stormed to the top of the timesheets in qualifying, taking a third pole position in a row by seven tenths of a second.
Unfortunately trouble would befall the Century Motorsport driver in both races, with driver errors leading to a race one retirement and only sixth place in race two.
The opening encounter would see all three class title contenders have issues, with Jack Minshaw retiring with damage after avoiding Gordon-Colebrooke’s spin and Colin White falling back to fifth.
That opened the door for David Brooks to take a surprise first class win of the season, while Alex Taylor and Lee Frost followed him home for their third and second podiums of the year respectively.
Normal order was resumed in race two though as after a spin for Brooks took him out of contention, two-time class champion White took the victory ahead of Minshaw and Frost.
The Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup is next in action at Croft in North Yorkshire next weekend (23/24 June).
