Very few Ginetta GT4 Supercup contests have had quite such a dramatic finish as race two at Oulton Park last weekend. In barely believable scenes, the two leaders tangled through Deer Leap on the last lap, the third-placed car narrowly avoided smashing into the pit entry barriers when dodging the spinning G56 and the driver in fourth took the win by 0.107 seconds.
That beneficiary would be none other than series dominator James Kellett, whose unbeaten streak appeared to be over before that chaotic conclusion. Kellett “messed up the start” and lost out to Aston Millar off the line and his attempts to reclaim the lead failed, instead slipping behind Reece Somerfield. But the race was then neutralised and later bizarrely red-flagged with debutant Josh Poulain off at Lodge.
While Kellett was struck by an alternator problem and fell behind Josh Rattican, Somerfield was challenging for the lead and snuck ahead across the line on the third lap of the 10-minute restart. Rattican also got by Millar next time around and hunted down the Breakell Racing driver ahead.
The race built to a crescendo with Somerfield running wide at Lodge for the final time and Rattican pounced. But Somerfield attempted to fight back at Deer Leap, succeeding only in sending Rattican spinning and others scattering in avoidance.
“I was happy with the [fourth] position I was in,” said Kellett, given his woes. “But I picked up the pieces and I was lucky enough that I picked the right side. I think someone was looking down on me in that race!”
But that was not the end of the drama. While Somerfield was disqualified from third, Kellett was deemed to have gained an advantage on the run to the flag and demoted behind Millar to second. “I kept out of the way and didn’t go to the finish line at full throttle,” said Century driver Kellett, baffled by the penalty. “I couldn’t have done anything differently.” Sure enough, the stewards overturned the decision and Kellett got his win back.
His triumph in the opener was far more straightforward. He simply drove into the distance – and won by 16.194s, 0.4s of that coming from a penalty for Rattican that relegated him from second to fifth for contact with Somerfield exiting the chicane. That winning margin is the third largest in series history, but Kellett’s race-two struggles did at least give his rivals a hint of optimism that he can be beaten.
Will Martin and Matty Graham took the wins in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park, but such were their margins of dominance that the attention was focused on the sterling efforts of Pro-Am battler Charles Rainford to take second place.
Martin got the jump on poleman Kiern Jewiss in the opening race, and the Richardson Racing driver was in control when the safety car appeared after a couple of laps to retrieve a pair of stranded Porsches from Knickerbrook. The operation was bungled, and eventually the red flags appeared, setting up a new grid start.
Again Jewiss lost out, with Rainford and Adam Smalley bursting through to second and third. Ex-historic Lenham, Marcos and Mini racer Rainford is in only his second season of modern racing, but did a stout job of defending until the eighth lap of 10. That was when Porsche Junior Smalley pulled off a great move around the outside of Old Hall, with Jewiss following him through for third. Martin won by over five seconds.
With the top five reversed for race two, it was Graham on pole. Once again Rainford kept the train behind superbly, while Graham’s Redline Racing machine disappeared to win by almost 6s. Rainford even began to settle comfortably in the position, but a last-ditch assault by Jewiss meant the CCK Motorsport racer only just held on for the overall runner-up spot.
Smalley, Martin and Theo Edgerton (once a mistake by Ross Wylie let him past) were in close contention behind the leading trio.
It was a win, spin and sluggish start for championship dominator Alex Dunne in the three British Formula 4 races at Oulton Park, which featured two new victors. Dunne (Hitech) was dominant in the opener, winning by 7.5 seconds, while a charging first lap from Louis Sharp promoted the Carlin driver to second.
But, just as at Brands Hatch, the partially reversed-grid race proved Dunne’s undoing. He was challenging for sixth when he spun through Cascades and ended up ninth. But he was not alone in hitting strife, as Noah Lisle spun out of second at Old Hall and leader Joseph Loake retired with suspension failure, handing Daniel Guinchard a maiden win. It was all the more sweet after he narrowly missed out last time at Thruxton.
“I can’t stop smiling!” said Argenti’s Mercedes junior. “Finally it all came together. People were making mistakes and I needed to make sure I didn’t make those same mistakes.”
Dunne’s weekend ended with third in a dull finale, as Sharp and Georgi Dimitrov jumped him off the line. Sharp was comfortable as he took his first win, the most nerve-wracking moment coming when Edward Pearson had a major slide out of Old Hall just as Sharp was preparing to lap him.
The Ginetta GT Academy’s switch from its usual British GT support slot to the British Touring Car bill also brought a change in winner as Marc Warren’s unbeaten streak was ended by the impressive Ravi Ramyead.
Qualifying followed the formbook and reigning G40 Cup champion Warren grabbed both poles for Raceway Motorsport – albeit only by a tenth of a second from Ramyead.
But Warren’s lead in the opener did not last long as rookie Ramyead jumped ahead into Old Hall and remained in front throughout. Warren applied pressure at times as the gap fluctuated but ultimately finished 0.5s adrift. Thomas Holland was another to make progress at the start as he jumped Leo Karavasili to complete the podium.
Warren’s lead lasted a little longer in race two, this time until the chicane on the first lap, where Ramyead again powered ahead. They stayed closer together than before, with Warren applying more regular pressure as the pair had an entertaining scrap.
But Warren ran slightly wide at Cascades on the penultimate tour and that gave Ramyead the decisive advantage. Holland again completed the rostrum, after diving ahead of Michael Johnston at the Island hairpin.
A win and a third place for Sam Weller at Oulton Park have strengthened the Hybrid Tune driver’s position at the top of the Mini Challenge leaderboard, while Jason Lockwood’s own title bid was boosted by his maiden victory in the finale.
Weller admitted that Saturday was “one of those days you dream of having” after grabbing pole, fastest lap and the win in the opener. His 0.393-second advantage over main title rival Jack Mitchell in qualifying was impressive and set the tone for a comfortable victory.
Weller maintained the lead at the start and again on the restart after a safety-car period to recover Taylor Whitson and Billy Hardy’s cars after a clash at Island hairpin, to eventually finish 3s clear of JW Bird Motorsport driver Mitchell. There was more joy for Hybrid Tune further back as Joe Tanner maintained his strong third-placed grid slot to complete the podium.
Tanner did come under pressure from a charging Lockwood late on, the Excelr8 driver having impressively passed Lewis Brown for fourth with a move around the outside at Old Hall that gave him the inside line for Cascades. Reigning champion Dan Zelos was another to gain on his starting position, jumping from eighth to sixth off the line and then passing Brown late on with a bold dive down the inside of the chicane to take fifth.
Lockwood was drawn on pole for the partially reversed-grid race and it looked like another lights-to-flag victory was on the cards until what had been just the odd spot of rain intensified with two laps to go. The leader was caught out by the wet surface while braking into the chicane and skated straight on, while second-placed Mitchell made an identical mistake behind. But, despite the added tension, Lockwood held on to take his first win – a result that withstood a post-race investigation into his corner-cutting.
Mitchell and Weller each secured another podium finish, having both jumped Tanner at Old Hall on a safety-car restart, this time after Kenan Dole hit Ross Marshall at Druids, with several other cars getting caught up in the incident. Tanner did hold on to fourth, though, thanks to some robust defending from Alex Denning on the final tour.
Silverstone MGCC: MG Live back with a bang after four-year absence
The 60th anniversary of the MGB was celebrated both on and off track at Silverstone with non-competitive festivities including road-car displays and Equipe Classic Racing’s Saturday night party, but the highlight was Equipe’s special MGB 60 40-minute race on Saturday afternoon.
A capacity entry of 61 FIA-spec examples of the Abingdon-built roadster featured, plenty with storied histories including the ex-Paddy Hopkirk/Andrew Hedges Le Mans car that finished 11th in the 1965 24-hour race, and a very early model thought to be the oldest still racing. Isle of Man-based Tony Wilson-Spratt’s unique WSM-bodied streamliner, designed by his father Douglas, added variety.
MGB experts, rising stars and long-time campaigners were drawn to the occasion, as well as less frequent racers of the model such as former British Touring Car star Anthony Reid, and the eventual 58 starters is thought to be the largest-ever number of MGBs in a single race.
Many had returned from the equivalent event 10 years earlier, including Wilson-Spratt and Tom Smith, who finished second in MGB 50. Famed for his swashbuckling style in the 1840cc four-cylinder machines, Smith reckoned their enduring appeal is “the fact that you can drive them so hard and get away with a lot. They’re good fun cars to drive and they don’t catch you out really. MGBs are known as the affordable classic. In today’s world, everything’s getting more expensive but they’re at the cheaper end of the historic market.”
After safety-car periods to retrieve broken-down machinery of frontrunners Neil Fisher and Dave Gardner in the Noel Leonard car, several leading contenders pitted together. A slightly quicker stop jumped Smith ahead of polesitter Sam Kirkpatrick (competing in a pitstop race for the first time) and the pair then duked for the rest of the contest. Tim Greenhill also got involved after being relayed early by Mark Cole under safety-car conditions.
Kirkpatrick, the 21-year-old MG Trophy champion, got a run on Smith through Becketts to take a net lead, but was unable to shake off the MG Motorsport machine as they carved through traffic. Kirkpatrick’s Wheatsheaf Garage car got increasingly loose on worn tyres, leading to several moments including when he “nearly went backwards” into Brooklands in the closing stages. But the youngster held on to win by an unrepresentative 2.5 seconds as Smith had to settle, once again, for second in the anniversary race, repeating his result from a decade earlier. “What an amazing drive to beat Tom and to beat that field,” enthused Equipe partner John Pearson. “That is the creme de la creme of MGB drivers.”
After Greenhill/Cole were penalised for stopping too early, Dominic Mooney completed the podium places 30s back, such was advantage of the lead pair. Mark Holme, Max Cawthorn and the Jon Hughes/Andrew Lawley car completed the top six. “It was a stonking race,” Pearson said. “We’re really pleased. Good racing, safe racing, no incidents and everyone came away really happy.”
Reports by Stephen Lickorish, Marcus Simmons and Mark Paulson. Photography by Jakob Ebrey Photography/Motorsport Images and Mick Walker. Want more reports from the world of national motorsport? Subscribe today and never miss your weekly fix of motorsport with Autosport magazine
