Two wins from two pole positions catapulted Ginetta back to the top of the British GT4 rankings as the PMW World Expo Racing / Optimum Motorsport G55 of Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson dominated the Oulton Park May Bank Holiday double-header. Following a commanding performance to take victory from pole in the first of the meeting’s two one-hour ‘sprints’ (see earlier report), the team managed their car’s pace to balance the resulting penalty time and then apply sufficient pressure to force the double.
An entire field of GT cars cramming into the right hand bottleneck of Old Hall made somewhat apprehensive viewing, but the ‘pros’ all kept their heads and made it through. Scott Malvern’s #66 Ginetta made the best of the GT4 drag race, the former Formula Ford Festival champion staying on the power among the GT3 back-markers long enough to out-brake pole sitter Mike Robinson’s now championship leading PMW G55 and to lead down through Cascades. By the end of the first lap he had started to assert a gap of a second over Matthew George’s #44 Generation AMR Aston Martin which had also overhauled Robinson for second. Through in fourth was Abbie Eaton’s Maserati, which had been looking more settled all weekend and had jumped from seventh on the grid in a tremendous opening lap. Robinson held station as Eaton made the best of the Maserati GT MC’s straight line speed, the pair’s lap times just 9/100ths apart at one point.
Since Sean Byrne’s Race 1 accident had called time on the #40 sister car’s weekend, Nathan Freke’s Century Motorsport Ginetta was the team’s remaining hope for points and was circulating in a lonely fifth place as the leading group pulled away, the #59 Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 three seconds adrift of the #73 car in sixth.
Further back a decent battle for seventh place was underway as Rob Barrable got his head down to power the #75 RCIB Team HARD Ginetta past Jake Giddings’ JWB Aston Martin in front of their pits, the former GT4 champion then coming under pressure from Jack Mitchell’s #42 Generation AMR MacMillan Aston Martin Vantage GT4. It wouldn’t be long before Giddings headed for the pits, his Aston sounding decidedly rough.
Importantly, the Beechdean Aston Martin was running dead last. Jordan Albert was clearly struggling from an uncharacteristically low grid start after qualifying difficulties. The Beechdean GT4 entry had started the weekend with their drivers leading the championship, but despite sixth place in the earlier race had not really found the groove.
The leading Nick Jones entered Ginetta was starting to look settled, consolidating its position at the front. However, just three minutes before the pit window Malvern was off the circuit, coming straight around into the pits with what appeared to be tyre smoke from rubbing rear bodywork. But this was much more serious, enough for the #66 car to be rolled straight into its garage. Malvern was later to be awarded the Sunoco trophy for the fastest GT4 racing lap of the day (set in the earlier race), but the car was retired with power steering failure.
This left an interesting scenario: the Ebor GT Maserati’s was looking strong in third behind the #50 PMW Expo / Optimum Ginetta, which had a 10 second penalty to consider. The #44 Generation AMR Aston Martin was now leading, but in reality the pace of the charging Matthew George was unlikely to be matched by his rookie team mate James Holder, who after the imminent hand-overs was about to assume the lead of the field in only his second British GT4 race stint.
This leading group of cars held out longest as the pit stops began, George handing over to Holder in the #44 car first, followed by Eaton to Hoggarth in the Maserati. A lap later Robinson had gauged his pace sufficient to limit the #50 car’s penalty and came in too, Nathan Freke following for Anna Walewska to take over the #73 Ginetta. It was the Century car that would come out strongest.
Though Holder enjoyed a brief spell remaining at the front in the #44 entry, ultimately Walewska’s experience got the better of the Generation AMR rookie. The #73 Ginetta had gained track position through slick pit work, Walewska making the best of the situation by passing the Aston Martin for the lead into the Hislops chicane. The #44 Aston Martin lost further places as Johnson in the rapid #50 PMW Expo Ginetta came through, followed by Marcus Hoggarth’s Ebor GT Maserati. The #44 car held on for a couple more laps until the #75 RCIB Ginetta took its fourth place away, the #59 McLaren of Sandy Mitchell soon onto Holder’s tail too.
The situation deteriorated further for the erstwhile leader as the second #45 RCIB car, now in the hands of Will Phillips, made contact trying to make a move into Knickerbrook. The Ginetta continued the race with visible front bodywork damage, but the Generation AMR car was in the gravel and out of the race, their protest to be considered later.
“We were really pleased with our pace, particularly earlier on,” said Matt George, “But we were concentrating on getting James up to speed and to be fair Saturday was his first day with all the big guns around him and the traffic to contend with. It’s a lot to get used to, especially as he hasn’t come through karting and the junior series, which is where you pick up your race craft. It’s a learning curve, and to be thrown into a leading situation in his second race with this car is tough.”
The top three cars now eighteen seconds clear at the front and closely grouped, Johnson started to apply pressure to Walewska’s lead. Despite the GT3 runners adding to the distraction the Century driver soaked up the challenge for several laps. The two Ginettas were tied together, Marcus Hoggarth seemingly biding his time in third, waiting for a mistake…
With seven minutes to go the move Johnson had repeatedly tried into the last corner at Lodge had a result, Walewska losing the #73 Ginetta and finding the tyre wall: “My tyres were absolutely shot,” explained a dejected looking Walewska post race. “Graham was really hassling me; he’d tried to get me there for several laps. I went in too tight and came off worst.”
Localised yellows were converted to a red flag with less than five minutes to go, the second win of the day for the PMW World Expo / Optimum Ginetta G55 GT4 in the bag. It all seemed quite well orchestrated for the #50 car, Graham Johnson explaining afterwards, “She held on really well but I was confident I had it covered. It was a waiting game really; she was leaving her braking later and later… it was a fair fight but she seemed to lose it quite easily in the end.”
That elevated the #75 RCIB Team HARD Ginetta of Rob Barrable and VW Racing Cup champ Aaron Mason, the new recruit in his first British GT outing. This was to be the second time the team had visited the third step of the podium this weekend. A solid run, particularly by Barrable earlier on, had pushed the car through from a low grid spot.
The Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 of Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty came home fourth after a steady, relatively untroubled run. An early pit call improved the car’s standing.
Mike Robinson: “I got really bunched up at the start and had to back off a bit to stay out of trouble. The car didn’t feel quite as good as in the first race, but to be honest the car has felt great all weekend. I did struggle a bit to stay with the guys ahead; the Aston had really good pace. I just focused on handing Graham a good car and tried to do enough mindful of the penalty we had to serve. We’ve had a tremendous weekend, it doesn’t get better.”
Abbie Eaton: “I had no brakes but the car certainly felt better, though we’ve still only done two tests and need more time – as I’ve said before, all our testing is done at these races. Marcus carried on the good work; once he’s got the bit between his teeth he gets stuck in..!”
Marcus Hoggarth: “Abbie did a storming job and I just had to do something similar to keep it together. I was hanging on to their tail hoping they might take each other off; I’m not sure we had enough to take the win outright. But considering I missed half the weekend this is an amazing result.”
Aaron Mason: “A great start for me and a good weekend for the team. Rob and I worked hard on the set-up between us. We’d tried lots of things but the car just wasn’t well balanced. We tried something different again for Race 1 but it sent us in the wrong direction. So in the end we went back to our qualifying settings, which seemed a bit of a backward step at the time but it worked! I’m really looking forward to some more results now.”
Next stop is the Silverstone 500 in two weeks time: 3 hours of racing, a power circuit and the addition of the European GT4 field providing a massive class entry.
