Tom Wrigley’s 93 point advantage atop the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup was shattered to just 19 after two non-finishes at Rockingham Motorsport Speedway this weekend brought the battle for the title back to life.
Wrigley took his fourth pole position of the season after outrunning new father Jamie Orton by 0.170s on his return to the championship. However, as the heavens opened whilst the cars made their way to the grid, it was anything but a textbook race.
Thunder and lightning provided an epic backdrop as round 15 got underway. Wrigley lost out at the start, shuffled down two places by Orton first and Burns second. His day went from bad to worse though, as he was forced to retire on lap four as his Ginetta slowed with a fuel pump problem at Gracelands.
With the safety car scrambled to recover the stricken car, the field was bunched up yet again. As the action recommenced, Orton streaked away whilst Burns and Boardley swapped positions with almost every corner, holding each other up as the returning driver built up a comfortable gap.
Huge kudos to Callum Pointon, he enjoyed his best qualifying of the season with third but struggled off the line in the rain. Despite a spin midway through, he managed to recover to an impressive fifth place, just behind teammate Davies.
In the AM class, Colin White was unassailable. He took pole position, the fastest lap and win as he crossed the line a massive 20 seconds ahead of second placed Fraser Robertson. The pair was joined on the podium by Chris Ingram.
The grid for the second race was determined by the finishing positions of the opener, meaning Orton and Burns started from the front row, whilst their title rival Wrigley was waiting in dead last. As the lights went out, Wrigley was unstoppable. He picked off every AM driver by the time he arrived at Deene hairpin and had made up an impressive nine places by the end of lap one.
On equally outstanding form was Hibbert. He lined up sixth but drove straight through the centre of Davies and Pointon on the run off the line, and passed Boardley to take third by the end of the opening tour. As the cars settled into a rhythm, Orton enjoyed an almost untroubled lights-to-flag victory but the drama began to unfold as the race neared its end.
An awesome battle for fifth had emerged between Boardley, Davies and Wrigley with the trio each holding the position at some point. Eventually Boardley was shuffled down to seventh with Davies sixth and Wrigley up to fifth. The points leader then began to reel in the Burns and Hibbert battle ahead.
As Burns made a move on Hibbert for second into Yentwood, Wrigley lined himself up for a lunge. However, his ambitions didn’t pay off as the Rob Boston Racing driver careered into the side of Burns’ car. Burns managed to recover, but Wrigley suffered significant damage to his G55 GT4 car and brought out the red flag and his second non-finish of the weekend.
With the results rolled back to the previously completed lap, it was another win for Orton, with Hibbert hanging on to his second place whilst Burns ended up an eventual third. In the AM class, it was another dominant victory for White, who was joined on the podium by Robertson and Ingram.
Davies was poleman after the reverse grid draw and enjoyed a storming lights-to-flag victory. Although initially challenged by teammate Pointon, a three way fight into Yentwood after Burns joined the action saw the pair make contact and Pointon dropped down the order.
With Orton hot on Burns’ tail, Davies streaked into the distance as the newly recharged championship protagonists raced amongst themselves. The trio dropped the chasing pack and the podium was settled. Meanwhile, Hibbert lost time to the top three as he found himself defending hard from Wrigley – who, again, started last but recovered to an eventual fifth.
In the AM class, we were treated to a change atop the podium after White was forced to retired with a clutch issue. Sweeping into the lead came Ingram – who picked up his first win at Knockhill – and so began a great race for the class win between himself and eventual podium finishers, Brooks and Car, the latter of whom did climb to second, but spun soon after and dropped to third at the flag.
After an action packed weekend, the fight for the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup Drivers’ Championship has never been more alive. Make sure you join us at the penultimate meeting of the year at Silverstone in three weeks’ time on 17/18 September.
