Blake Angliss fought back to a brilliant race victory as he showed class-leading pace in the summer heatwave during the latest rounds of the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup at Snetterton (13/14 August).
Angliss was full of optimism as he returned to the scene of an impressive GT4 SuperCup debut last year, when he secured a seasons-best fifth place finish overall. He kicked off the weekend with great pace in free practice, ending the day quickest of the G55 Pro contenders.
As the temperatures rose on Saturday, the Coventry based racer battled cockpit temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius to put in a strong performance in qualifying. His best effort secured him second on the grid in class, a prime position to challenge for the race win in the opener.
Angliss did exactly that as he latched on to the tail of Luke Reade in the early stages. Clearly quicker than the leader, he waited for the opportune moment to make a move under-braking into Brundle corner.
Reade didn’t see the move happening though and cut across the nose of Angliss’ Ginetta G55 GT4. Despite his best efforts to back out and avoid contact, a slight touch resulted in Reade spinning off circuit. Angliss was able to continue and went on to take the chequered flag first.
Unfortunately he was stripped of the win though, with the race officials deeming him at fault for the incident and serving him the extremely harsh penalty of a race disqualification. There was double punishment too, as it left him at the back of the grid for race two on Sunday morning.
Angliss didn’t let that faze him though and went on to produce a superb performance on Sunday morning. Gaining four places on the opening lap alone, he continued to make rapid progress in the early stages to get himself onto the tail of his class rivals.
Joining the battle for the podium places, he put Reade under pressure and forced him into a mistake, taking third in the process. One lap later and Angliss was in to second, picking off Josh Poulain with a stunning move around the outside of Brundle corner, before holding the position to the finish.
That put him right in contention for a class win in race three, though he made it harder for himself by losing a place on the opening lap. A tremendous fightback followed in front of the live ITV4 television cameras, with a move on Reade putting him back in second on lap three.
Angliss then hunted down the leader and produced a great move into the Wilson hairpin just past mid-distance to move to the front. Once in clear air, he posted a lap time over a second faster than anyone else in the class as he secured a dominant win by a margin of over six seconds.
That win means that Angliss, who races with the support of Rosland Capital, Transend, Haigh Group, Splodge Hygiene, Lifeline, Empire RV and Icom, lies third in the class standings heading into the next event at Thruxton over the weekend of 27/28 August.
Blake Angliss: ’“Fighting through to the win in race three was a great way to end a weekend that promised so much. Century Motorsport gave me a fantastic car and our pace was brilliant across all three races, as shown by getting the race three fastest lap by a second.
“The penalty was incredibly harsh in race one and I’m confident in saying that without it, we would have come away with all three wins this weekend. Either way, I picked up some good points and showed that we have the speed to fight for the wins for the rest of the season.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.