Century Motorsport returned to the Ginetta GT4 Supercup in Silverstone last weekend boasting a strong line up with a blend of PRO and AM drivers. Chris Car and Gary Lancashire both made a welcome return to the team while they were joined by the newly signed Jack Mitchell, fresh from a podium finish in the British GT4 class at Donington Park during the previous weekend.
From the initial practice running starting on Thursday, things looked strong for the team, with Mitchell quickly finding his feet in his new mount and both Chris Car and Gary Lancashire continuing to improve and benefit from the experience of the team on every lap.
Saturday morning’s qualifying however would be a challenging affair. Jack opted to allow the track to clean up before putting in his best effort. However just as the track was starting to come to him, the heavens opened and ruined any chance of him challenging for the top spot. His fastest lap would place him in eighth place on the grid for Saturday’s opening race. Finding themselves in a similar scenario, Chris Car & Gary Lancashire would start from sixth and seventh in amongst the AM class runners respectively.
Race one ended almost before it began for Jack Mitchell, debris picked up on the green flag lap split the alternator belt, which in turn brought the oil pump belt with it and spelt instant retirement. Steady runs throughout the race for Chris and Gary as their times continued to improve, rewarded them with a fifth and sixth place finish in the AM class.
Forced to start race two from the pitlane as a result of having to resolve a small issue from the precautionary overnight engine change, Mitchell was hoping he could show his class as a rising GT star and quickly propel himself up the order. Progress he did, and after just two laps he had already made up five positions. A superb race with some very clean overtaking earned his first top ten finish of the weekend. Really starting to get used to the short and fast Silverstone National Circuit, Chris Car looked set to be on course for a return to the podium as he put championship regular Graham Tilley under pressure for the latter half of the race. Despite his best efforts, he completed the second race of the weekend fifth amongst the AM runners.
Starting the final race of the weekend from the outside of row four, Jack was hoping to make this race count in his final showing of the weekend. A drama free race with a very mature drive from the youngster would see him take the chequered flag in fifth, with Gary Lancashire securing his third finish of the weekend with fifth in the AM class.
Nathan Freke – Team Principal, Century Motorsport:
“It was great to be back to the Supercup this weekend with a three car team. Jack was a very welcome addition to put us back into the thick of the action in the PRO class, but the incident on the green flag lap in race one spoiled what could have been an even better weekend. Chris and Gary once again showed what can be achieved through the support of our experience in this championship, improving their times on every lap. Now we look forward to the final weekend in Brands Hatch and I hope that we can be back on the main podium.”