nfreke-ginettagtscup-op-jun2011-4.jpgKidderminster’s Nathan Freke competed in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup races at Oulton Park, driving The Player International  Ginetta G55 for his own Century Motorsports team.

After testing at Oulton Park on Friday Nathan had been confident of a good weekend after only being 0.2 seconds off the quickest time on whilst on used tyres. The weather on the Saturday for qualifying was scorching with temperatures up to 24C and the leading drivers were all looking to get in their quickest lap early on to preserve their tyres for the race. Nathan didn’t quite get a perfect lap but was happy to line-up in 2nd place on the grid, just 0.2 secs behind poleman Breeze.

Race 1 was run on Saturday afternoon and after a clean getaway Nathan kept Breeze in sight for the first few laps reeling him in and keeping him under pressure. Then on lap 8 Nathan made a bold overtake move on Breeze into Old Hall corner to take the lead. He then pulled away to take the chequered flag by almost seven seconds and, with it, the new lap record, to the joy of both driver and team.

As Nathan commented after “I’ve made a few mistakes and we’ve had a couple of mechanical failures this year but finally we have the win”, Carl (Breeze) seems to be the king of qualifying, and all credit to him for that, but we have amazing race pace and that showed today.”

Come the main race day on Sunday the weather conditions have changed with overnight rain and further showers during the day leaving drivers having to race in tricky conditions. This happened in Race 2 with Nathan holding off a determined Hodgetts for the first few laps before getting caught out in the greasy conditions at the chicane, having to take the escape road. He lost the lead to Hodgetts but held onto second for the rest of the race, not without a few moments during the last few laps.

Nathan said after the race “The conditions were so tricky out there and I got caught out at the chicane as the track got wetter. I was really trying to stay on the road for the last few laps but nearly came off at cascades towards the end. So I was really happy to get a 2nd place to go with yesterday’s win and I am now looking forward to Croft.

The championship now moves onto the North Yorkshire circuit of Croft with the races taking place on 18th & 19th June.

Photo courtesy of Chris Roberts Widerview Photo