Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Brands Hatch

Oliver Basey-Fisher brought himself right back into championship contention after a perfect weekend at Brands Hatch, which saw the former Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner secure three race wins, three pole positions and three fastest laps.

It wasn’t an easy feat though, as Basey-Fisher came under fierce pressure from Jake Giddings; with the pair battling throughout the trio of races. Championship leader Brad Bailey, Will Burns, Luke Davenport and David Pittard also put on a fine performance.

The Stowemarket youngster started off proceedings with victory in race one, but it wasn’t without a tough fight with Jake Giddings, the latter leading for much of the race before the former Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner regained the race lead on the final lap.

Despite ruling himself out of the title contention before the championship travelled to Kent, Luke Davenport was keen to challenge for consistent top three finishes with the aim of securing a place in the overall top three – and the Cambridgeshire student held firm in race one, remaining in third place throughout the entire nine lap sprint.

As expected, top two drivers Brad Bailey and Will Burns had a thrilling fight over who claimed the most points; Burns held fourth place over the opening five laps after losing out to Davenport on the start, before dropping to sixth on lap seven after David Pittard joined the party and passed both drivers to claim fourth at the flag.

Series newcomer Chrissy Palmer was on fine form in his Blendini Motorsport G40; despite dropping five places over the opening lap, he recovered fully over the course of the race to take the flag in the same position as which he had begun.

Following the race both Pittard and Davenport where found to have made a mistake with their Championship tyre allocation, leaving them excluded from the race one result. However, the qualifying times still stood and the pair where allowed to begin race two (for which the grid is based on second fastest qualifying times) from their original positions.

The second of the three races began with a frantic dash into Paddock Hill Bend; as the cars tried to establish track position, Brad Bailey and Clive Richards became passengers in an incident which unfolded ahead, forcing them out of the race and signalling a four lap safety car period. On the restart, Pittard made a great getaway and began working his way through the pack.

Basey-Fisher held onto the race lead on the restart from Giddings, Davenport and Burns as Will Moore was handed a 10 second time penalty for a false start along with G20 driver Gary Simms. Shortly afterwards, Chrissy Palmer was hit with a five second penalty for exceeding the track limits.

As the teams approached the chequered flag there seemed to be some oil down at the exit of Paddock Hill Bend as two cars are sent scuttling into the gravel, but there were no such problems up front as Basey-Fisher and Giddings jostled for the lead, position swapping over much of the final lap before Basey-Fisher claimed the win over the line by just 0.097 seconds. Stephane Romecki also enjoyed another strong finish in sixth place, equalling his race one result, proving he is getting to grips with the car after joining the championship at Snetterton.

With the starting positions for the final race determined by the final positions of race two, Basey-Fisher once again enjoyed a front row start and held onto that front-running position over the opening lap.

Crossing the line for the first time, Giddings was chasing Basey-Fisher, but having to defend heavily from the hunting car of Davenport. Behind, Burns, Palmer, Pittard, Hyland, Pointon and Duckman were all keeping in touch with the leading pack.

Basey-Fisher was able to extend a comfortable two second lead over the opening laps as second and third placed Jake Giddings and Luke Davenport were too preoccupied fighting with each other, crossing the line just 0.065 seconds apart on lap four.

Basey-Fisher set the fastest lap of the race whilst one of his championship rivals, Brad Bailey, was on fine form, climbing from the back of the grid up into seventh place. Mixing things up for the championship challenge, Will Burns was given a five second time penalty for exceeding the track limits, demoting him to ninth place on the timing screens and putting him behind his closest rival Bailey.

As the race approached its conclusion, the cars fanned out into Basey-Fisher, Davenport, Giddings, Pittard, Bailey and Pointon, but with Giddings hot on Davenport’s heels, it was another drag race to the line for the pair, with Giddings just pipping Davenport to the post – however, a 35 second penalty for Giddings for exceeding the track limits dropped him to 10th. Other drivers hit with a time penalty included Hyland, Mark Davenport and Gary Simms; all for exceeding the track limits.

In the G20 support class, Stuart Pearson managed to wrap up the title with another perfect weekend and was crowned the 2013 Ginetta G20 Challenge champion, whilst Brian Murphy secured the honour as runner up. However, the fight for third in the championship will be determined at Donington Park, between Mark De Spong, Jonny Greenwood and David Pattison.

With just three races left before the 2013 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge Champion is named, and just only three points separating Bailey, Burns and Basey-Fisher – it’s certainly going to be an exciting weekend at Donington Park on October 5 & 6.

Many thanks to Ginetta for this latest news.

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