WITH A PAIR OF SEVENTH PLACE FINISHES FROM FRUSTRATING CROFT BTCC WEEKEND
Matt Chapman departed Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Sunday, 19th June, somewhat frustrated with the outcome of the fifth event of the 2016 Ginetta GT5 Challenge season after settling for a pair of seventh place finishes in rounds 12 and 13.
Joining the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship package for the second time this year, the GT5 Challenge racers were back in action just seven days after their previous outing at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on the British GT Championship undercard where Matt enjoyed podium success.
Despite being unable to attend the pre-event test day at Croft on Friday, 17th June, the 16-year-old Total Control Racing driver hoped to be in a position to add to his tally of six rostrum finishes but his bid was largely impacted in qualifying.
During his first track session at Croft in a year, and his maiden experience of the track on slick tyres in a GT5 Challenge car, the Oxford racer ended qualifying on Saturday, 18th June, with the eighth fastest time having encountered some issues with grip. Additionally, a red flag stoppage with three minutes to run also played a role as he was on his best lap of the session at that point.
From the fourth row of the grid at the start of Saturday afternoon’s race, Matt launched off the line very well indeed but he was immediately baulked by a slower car ahead and so remained in eighth place through the first couple of corners.
Climbing into seventh place at Sunny, the TCR driver was then elevated into sixth on corrected times as a result of a 10 second false start penalty for Ryan Hadfield. On lap three, an issue for Jack Minshaw at Tower enabled Matt to move into sixth overall and fifth on corrected times but he was then elbowed back a place again by Tom Hibbert.
Piling on significant pressure to Hibbert who, in turn, had Andrew Richardson fractionally ahead of him, the trio ran nose-to-tail and on lap seven Richardson slipped to the back of the bunch with Matt moving up into the outright top six again. On the eighth tour, though, the Oxford racer managed to save a huge moment at the entry to the complex but still had an enforced trip across the grass.
Recovering in ninth place, he sliced his way back into the top six in double quick time but after being edged onto the grass at the exit of Tower on the final lap he took the flag in seventh position just 0.2 seconds shy of the top six. His best lap of 1m33.555 seconds was a clear match for podium pace.
From seventh on the grid in round 13 on Sunday afternoon, which was screened live on ITV4, Matt’s car received a bit of a knock into Clervaux but he emerged from the first corner safely. At the end of lap one, though, he was overtaken when yellow flags were displayed – notifying the deployment of the Safety Car – so unfairly bundled back to 10th place.
Moving up into ninth place after the re-start on lap five, the TCR driver produced some committed driving, notably with great side-by-side racing through the notorious Jim Clark Esses and flat-out kink at Barcroft.
On lap 10, he managed to move ahead of team-mate Ian Robinson for eighth place and closed onto the next trio of cars to finish just 0.5 seconds shy of seventh at the flag on lap 15. Post-race, the yellow flag infringement by Jac Constable hadn’t gone unnoticed and he was penalised, elevating Matt into seventh position.
“It’s not been the weekend we’d hoped for, our race pace wasn’t bad but qualifying didn’t get things off to the best start and it was always a bit of an uphill battle from there”, reflected Matt, “We were always coming from behind this weekend, especially as we didn’t do the test on Friday, but we have scored points which is the main thing.
“We’ve got three weeks until the visit to Spa and I really want to be in a position to fight for the podium there. It’s obviously a new track to learn but I’m sure we’ll have a great car and be able to get back where we should be.”
Next on the Ginetta GT5 Challenge calendar is the sole overseas event of the season, the annual trip to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, on Friday, 8th July, and Saturday, 9th July. The race meeting will mark Matt’s first ever visit to the world-famous Formula One venue.
2016 Ginetta GT5 Challenge Driver Standings (after Rd13):4th Matt Chapman, 293pts
