Kidderminster’s Nathan Freke was back behind the wheel of his The Player.co.uk / Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 competing at Snetterton. This was in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup which supports the British Touring Car Championship.

After a 7 week break the teams were set the challenge of the new Snetterton 300 configuration of the circuit with its additional 1 mile infield section, added over the winter.

After a mixed qualifying session with a tyre disintegration, Nathan managed to set a time for 2nd place on the grid and with the first two races scheduled for the Saturday he was keen to maximize his points total.

At the start of the first race Nathan had a good start off the line and by the first corner at Riches he was slightly ahead of pole sitter Breeze, however a small contact meant that he was squeezed out wide so he lost the place at the Montreal hairpin and so was back in 2nd place. Nathan shadowed Morgan in 2nd for a couple of laps until Nathan’s pressure told as he moved ahead into second before setting off after the leader. Nathan was unable in the short numbers of laps left catch Breeze, although he did post the fastest lap and establish the new lap record.

The second race was held at the end of the afternoon and this time Nathan made the decisive start off the line and clearly led breeze into the first corner. Though Breeze put him under pressure for a couple of laps, Nathan was able to pull slowly away to take the win at the flag, also fractionally bettering his earlier lap record for Snetterton 300 with a time of 1m57.563 seconds (90.91mph). “I didn’t plan to make that good a start, it just sort of happened”, said Nathan, “I noticed Carl wasn’t so good off the line so I took full advantage and then controlled the race from the front. It’s always nice leading, I could see where I was quicker than Carl and where he was quicker than me and I was never really that vulnerable. Mid-race I got a bit of a gap and then looked after the tyres.”

The third and final race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon and after the reversed grid draw Nathan found himself with everything to do as he would start in 6th place. With another strong start he was quicker off the line than Breeze and then had to avoid two cars, which spun at the first corner. That left him in 3rd place by the second corner and for the first part of the race he tracked Morgan and Sharp ahead before starting to catch them up. Then at Riches Sharp and Morgan began battling each other and Nathan then managed to get inside Sharp at the Montreal hairpin. With contact Nathan then had to nurse the car home to the flag with a hole in his rear rim without letting the cars behind get by which he did to take 2nd place at the flag.

Nathan summed up at the end of the weekend “This was a very successful weekend, I have taken points off all the other drivers and so I am looking forward to the next races at Knockhill in Scotland”The next races in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup will take place at the Knockhill circuit (near to Edinburgh) on September 3rd & 4th

Picture courtesy of WiderView photography