Blake Angliss fought his way to a top ten finish during another rollercoaster weekend in the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup at Donington Park this past weekend (09/10 October).
For the first time this season Angliss was returning to a circuit he’d raced at previously, having made his car-racing debut at Donington Park in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge last year. There was one change however, with the GT4 SuperCup competing on the shorter National layout.
The 18 year old talent found it tough going during the official free practice sessions on Thursday, however he took advantage of the rest day on Friday to process the data and spend some time on the simulator, with the knowledge learnt giving him more confidence for qualifying.
Unfortunately a strong lap that secured him ninth on the timesheets would be removed post-session due to confusion around a yellow flag zone, meaning the Rosland Capital supported driver would start the opening contest on Saturday afternoon from 12th on the grid.
The frustration continued in that one however, as after maintaining his position through the opening few laps, Angliss found himself caught up in an unfortunate incident. Forced to pit with race-ending damage, he put his focus on bouncing back in style in Sunday’s two races.
The Rosland Capital, Transend UK, Haigh Group, Splodge Hygiene, Lifeline and Icom backed racer did exactly that in the first of them. Making immediate progress by gaining three places on a brilliant opening lap, he went on to run on the edge of the top ten through to the penultimate racing lap.
An opportunistic move saw him take advantage of an incident ahead to gain two places and pass the chequered flag in ninth place. The Coventry based talent aimed for more progress in race three, however contact from another driver ended his race early in the gravel trap.
Blake Angliss: “Another one of those weekend’s where the race results really don’t reflect the pace and potential we had. I felt I’d made a good step forward from our Thursday pace to Saturday, but I just couldn’t take advantage of it after losing our fastest two laps in qualifying.
“To be caught up in two incidents that I didn’t feel were my fault is very frustrating, but to gain five places in race two shows that the speed is there. We only have one meeting left now, so I’m determined to put it all together and end the season with a big result.”
Angliss will bring his maiden season in the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup to an end in two weeks’ time (23/24 October) with three races around the world-famous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.