Coming into the penultimate weekend of an eventful 2017 season, Ben Green joined six other drivers capable of winning this year’s Ginetta GT4 Supercup title. The nearest rival to current leader Callum Pointon, Green was hoping to make big in roads into his extensive lead and ensure the title fight went down to the wire.
With pre-event testing available on both Thursday and Friday, Green was the man in control, topping the time sheets each day to make his intentions for the weekend ahead clear to his rivals.
However Silverstone is known to always be a close affair. With cloudy and damp track conditions thrown into the mix, Green qualified his Hill backed Ginetta G55 on the inside of row two, a slender two tenths of a second off the top spot.
Knowing wins were key to keep his title aspirations alive, Ben got a superb launch off the line and by the end of the opening lap had promoted himself into the lead with his main championship rival close behind in second. Despite his advantage at the top of the standings, Pointon wasn’t going to sit back and settle for second as he charged after Green. Despite his advances, he was now forced to defend and on the second last tour, was demoted to fourth and then fifth just a lap later. Out in front however Ben was putting on a master class in controlling a race lead to take the chequered flag and open his account for the weekend by securing maximum points.
The weekends second race was initially penciled in for Saturday evening, but torrential rain meant it was postponed to the following morning. With the lights going out just after 9am, starting form pole position Green used the advantage to lead at the end of the opening lap, just as the first of two Safety Car periods began. Racing resumed on lap seven and Green timed it right to remain in front. However his race was about to take an unexpected turn for the worse when an over optimistic move from Tom Hibbert resulted in contact, demoting Green initially to second. With Gamble now in the lead, Green had clearly lost pace from the incident and finished the race in fifth.
Following a timetable shuffle to accommodate Saturday’s postponed races, the third and final race of the weekend got underway just before 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Starting from fifth, Green was hoping to make up for losing out on an almost certain win in race two. Getting off to a good start by moving up to fourth, a power issue would develop aboard his Ginetta G55, slowly but surely leaving him powerless to defend his position and he would eventually finish the race in eighth position.
Ben Green – #22 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4:
“It was a tough weekend which initially got off to a very good start. We were fastest out of all the testing on Thursday’s official practice sessions. I was then fastest in both official practice sessions on Friday. I won race one and was looking forward to Sunday’s racing. However with other drivers making significant contact it made it very difficult to fight for a position without worrying if I would finish the race. We had great pace all weekend and I’m confident there would have been at least another win on top of the weekends results. I’m now looking forward to Brands Hatch where I will be taking the fight to Callum for the overall championship!”
Nathan Freke – Team Principal, Century Motorsport:
“Once again Ben has proven to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest driver in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup. The boys did a great job all weekend keeping the car at the sharp end of the field, but race two was a very disappointing outcome. Despite that, we’ve still managed to close the gap in the championship and we will be leaving no stone unturned to help Ben remain in contention at the final rounds in Brands Hatch.”
Next Round:
Rounds 21,22 & 23, Brands Hatch, Kent, UK – Saturday 30th September & Sunday 1stOctober 2017.
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