RACING NEWS - The second race of the inaugural Ginetta Challenge season
With storms on the horizon and the track damp to begin with, first practice was a tedious start to the high powered weekend with HyperFest in town.
May 13-15, 2022
By the second round of practice though, the track had started to dry and the weather was appearing to clear the way for better than expected conditions.
The first race on Friday had a strong start by all, ultimately making way for Christian Shield in car #10 to take the lead and hold a substantial gap for the duration of the race.
He was only challenged by the special appearance of a G55 GT4, driven by Brad Sutika in car #60, who ultimately went on to hold the fastest lap.
Second race of the weekend brought out a fantastic fight from the drivers.
The grid was set by fastest lap, so Brad Sutika and Christian Shield took P1 and P2, followed by Darryl Allen and Peter Heffring only half second apart, and Randy Poteat close behind.
Shield battled through the first 3 laps building a gap between himself and the GT4 behind him but as Sutika adapted to the track, he took advantage of the renowned and former "Oak Tree" corner 11, pulled forward into 12, which flattened out for the ideal passing straight of the track, taking the lead.
Heffring and Allen were also going head to head the whole race, fighting so close to each other in fact they were 2 across 5 times in the race!
Car 60 ended up taking pole, in front of Shield's, followed by Peter Heffring almost 3 seconds behind, with Randy Poteat and Darryl Allen close behind.
Christian Shield was still thrilled with the results. "I have raced an Ariel Atom and multiple BMWs across multiple series / classes. I have taken a Ferrari 360 Challenge and the NASA NP-01 prototype out on track.”
“For me, the Ginetta is the best of all of these cars on track. There is no substitute for a purpose built race car vs a converted street car. The Ginetta is superbly balanced from braking to corner entry to apex and track out. Brake feel is excellent. The modern Motec display and paddle sequential gearbox leave nothing to be desired."
