Tom Wrigley claimed the 2016 Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup title after rounding out his season just three points ahead of Will Burns at Brands Hatch last weekend in what was one of the closest title fights in SuperCup history.
Overnight showers meant the SuperCup contingent had a marginally greasy track to contend with when it came to qualifying. Burns set the bar early on with a 1:40.716s lap, a time no one could get within a second of by the end of the session. Crucially for Burns’ title hopes, championship leader Wrigley had a difficult session and only managed to finish 10th fastest.
In only his second qualifying behind the wheel of his G55 GT4 car, Jack Mitchell was best of the rest in second, just ahead of Mark Davies and Carl Boardley. Jamie Orton was forced to settle for fifth in the end, after an early excursion onto the grass left him in the pits for a considerable amount of time.
Keeping up the form he has enjoyed all season, Colin White took another AM class pole, 0.765s ahead of David Brooks who lines up second. Chris Ingram, Fraser Robertson and Grahame Tilley complete the grid in that order.
A heavy downpour throughout the morning set the stage for an action packed opening race of the weekend. Off the line, Burns hung onto the race lead whilst Davies passed Mitchell to take second. Davies did take the lead from Burns on the second lap, but the Douglas Motorsport driver reclaimed the position on the seventh tour where he remained to the flag.
Once Burns was down the road, Davies fell into the clutches of Mitchell and Boardley. The trio fought hard for the final three laps, but ultimately ended the race in that order with Tom Hibbert rounding out the top five. Further back, Wrigley had a strong start from 10th, picking up three places on the opening laps. He failed to make much more progress from his seventh position however, and the lowly result meant his advantage over Burns was slashed to 12 points.
In the AM class, pole man White dropped down the order in the early stages, handing the lead to Ingram and second place to Robertson. The points leader clawed his way back up the order however, and managed to take the win and the championship title, in the opening race.
The second race of the day brought high drama in the fight for the championship. As the cars sat in the assembly area Hibbert, Somerfield, Ingram and Brooks all opted to put wet tyres on as rain hung in the air. On their way to the grid, Davies and Robertson also ducked into the pits to swap from their slicks.
As racing began, the damp conditions meant Burns suffered from a slow start and dropped to third, with Hibbert and Boardley jumping into first and second respectively. On wets, Hibbert was 6.8s down the road after two laps, but his hard work was undone after White spun and made contact with the barrier at Stirlings bringing out the safety car.
Racing recommenced on lap five and things really began to hot up. Hibbert once again pulled away, but Somerfield powered into second ahead of Boardley in third. In fourth, Mitchell came under immense pressure from Burns, but held firm to remain ahead of both him and the challenging Gaffney.
Behind, Pointon dropped to seventh with considerable front end damage following contact with the rear of Wrigley’s car, who ended the race just behind in eighth. The pair was chased to the flag by the recovering Davies, whose call to switch to wets began to pay off.
Before any more could be done however, a spin for Jack Bartholomew at Stirlings left his car damaged just a few feet from that of White who retired earlier. With five laps to go, a sudden downpour of rain and the cars in a dangerous position, the decision was made to red flag the race and call the result.
This meant Burns took yet more points out of Wrigley’s lead, and the pair headed into the finale split by just seven points and lined up on the grid one behind the other. Mitchell was on pole position following the reverse grid draw but it was Boardley who swept into the race lead off the line.
In second, Mitchell held the keys to the championship once Burns and Wrigley climbed to third and fourth respectively. With Wrigley clinging onto his rear wing, Burns had to find a way around Mitchell in order to have a shot at the championship title.
An early safety car saw Burns make a move on Mitchell, moving to second and one point ahead of Wrigley if the race was to end that way. However, the Douglas Motorsport driver was forced to give the position back and Wrigley was once again in the champion’s position.
The trio ran together throughout the majority of the 14 lap race, but it all came to a head, as expected on the final lap. Burns made a lunge on Mitchell at Paddock Hill Bend to move into second, but Wrigley followed his rival through, and the trio then ran three abreast for much of the final lap.
As the cars approached the line with Boardley having already won the race by five seconds and surpassed Orton to climb to third in the drivers’ standings, Burns managed to keep Wrigley at bay, but Mitchell couldn’t hang on to third, handing the silverware, and championship title to Wrigley.
In the AM class, 2016 champion Colin White rounded out his season with another win, taking his season tally to 18. Ingram failed to finish the race, but was able to secure his second-in-class position, whilst second on the road for Tilley meant he snatched third overall from Fraser Robertson, with whom he has enjoyed a season-long battle.
