Charlie Ladell will have the destiny of the 2018 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup title in his hand at the season finale next weekend after a crucial pair of wins at Silverstone.
Ladell took victory in the first and second races of the weekend, however a win for chief rival Carl Boardley in race three has ensured the gap lies at 42 points heading to Brands Hatch.
It was Ladell who topped the timesheets in qualifying on Saturday, albeit by only 0.023s from his Rob Boston Racing team-mate Tom Roche, with Boardley fourth behind Harry King.
The championship leader would go on to produce a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race that afternoon, though King would keep him honest in the sixteen lap encounter.
Roche slipped to fifth on lap one, but a strong recovery culminated on a late move on Boardley to complete the podium, with the Team HARD driver settling for fourth.
Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke came home fifth ahead of Reece Somerfield and Angus Fender, while Jac Constable ran in the top six at one stage before a spin at Copse dropped him back.
Ladell’s win gave him pole for race two on Sunday morning, however the fast-starting King would get the jump on the poleman and get the lead in the early stages.
Roche joined them to start a thrilling three-way battle at the front, with Ladell briefly dropping to third before he fought back into the lead and Roche retired with a mechanical issue.
After a short safety car period, Ladell fended off King in a four lap shootout to the flag for his eighth victory of the season, with King notching podium number eleven of the campaign.
Boardley meanwhile would be left scrapping with Fender for the final podium position, with the former seeming to nick the place late on before a post-race penalty penalised him for contact.
It was therefore fourth for Boardley ahead of Somerfield and Carl Shield, while Gordon-Colebrooke took ninth with a great comeback drive after spinning out of third early on.
Boardley’s penalty proved to be a blessing in disguise as it gave him the reverse grid pole for race three and he took full advantage as he stormed to a dominant victory.
Behind, King ran second for the first half of the race before Ladell picked him off, with the points leader going on to take his eighteenth podium finish in twenty races this season.
Fender would also get ahead of King to finish third for the fifth time this season, while Constable took his best result of the weekend in fifth ahead of Gordon-Colebrooke.
Roche had climbed up to fifth before his rotten luck for the day continued as an oil leak forced him into retirement, while a spin for Shield dropped him to the rear of the field.
The weekend’s results means Ladell heads to Brands Hatch with a 42 point lead in the standings with 109 left to fight for, while King has the upper hand over Roche in the battle for third.
In the AM class meanwhile, it was a huge weekend for Michael Crees who took a superb hat-trick of wins to extend his points advantage to 72 over Colin White.
Jack Minshaw took pole position in qualifying, however incredibly only five thousandths of a second separated himself and Crees, the latter quickly making amends in race one.
Crees pounced on a mistake from Minshaw on lap four to take the lead and he controlled proceedings to the chequered flag for victory, with Minshaw in second.
Guest driver Nick Zapolski passed Lee Frost on the final lap to take a podium finish on his debut, while title contender White was only sixth after a tough qualifying session.
Race two saw lights-to-flag dominance for Crees, with Minshaw shadowing him after the safety car to take second – a race stoppage caused by Frost’s bonnet flying off at high speed.
White would complete the podium ahead of Lucky Khera, who therefore had the honour of the race three reverse grid pole position in his Butler Motorsport machine.
Khera would be caught and passed by Crees however as the latter went on to take win number eleven of the campaign, with Khera clinging on to a podium in third behind Minshaw.
White would suffer a potentially decisive retirement meanwhile after spinning himself out of the race, giving Crees a healthy lead heading into the Brands Hatch finale.
Full race results: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2018/183703g50.pdf
Full championship standings: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2018/183703ptsg50.pdf
