Blake Angliss has continued his title challenge in the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup with a crucial class win during a mixed weekend of racing at Thruxton (27/28 August).
Buoyed by a brilliant victory in the final race at Snetterton two weeks’ prior and encouraging pace at Thruxton last year, Angliss made the trip south to Hampshire confident of scoring a big points haul to keep himself right in contention at the top of the G55 Pro class standings.
Relishing the flat-out nature of the Thruxton circuit, which produces laps with an average speed of more than 110mph, Angliss stormed to the top of the timesheets in the opening free practice session on Friday in his Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4.
The Coventry based racer went on to miss out on pole position in qualifying the following morning by the narrow margin of just six hundredths of a second. He crucially only completed minimal laps on his Michelin tyres, preserving their lifespan with high degradation expected over the races.
Holding second in the early stages of race one, Angliss and class leader Luke Reade found themselves in a battle with competitors in Ginetta G56’s. With different characteristics between the two models of car, Angliss bided his time and drove a smart race to work out where he could make a move.
Noticing the G56 at the head of the train was slower exiting the Complex, he focused on getting a good run out of the corner and took full advantage to sweep around the outside of Reade at the high-speed Noble corner to take the race lead.
Angliss maintained his advantage to the chequered flag for a much-needed victory, filling him with confidence heading into Sunday. Race two that morning unfortunately started on a sad note, with a serious incident leading to two fellow drivers being hospitalised.
Following a lengthy delay to the schedule, the GT4 SuperCup grid eventually returned to the track a few hours later to restart race two. Initially looking to make progress past a G56 at the first corner, a robust defence by the car ahead forced Angliss across the inside kerb and caused a loss of momentum.
Settling into second position in class behind Reade, he needed to get ahead of a G56 contender before he could challenge his title rival. Unfortunately, some erratic defending from the driver in question left Angliss unable to make a clean move, leaving him second in class at the finish.
With the third race not taking place due to the delays, it’s hoped that it will be added to the schedule for the next rounds at Silverstone over the weekend of 24/25 September. Angliss, who races with the support of Rosland Capital, Transend, Haigh Group, Splodge Hygiene, Lifeline, Empire RV and Icom, heads in an improved second in the class standings.
Blake Angliss: ’“It’s been a frustrating weekend for me. Our pace in free practice was brilliant and I should have converted that into pole position in qualifying, but I was able to make amends in race one. It was extremely satisfying to pull off the move at Noble and get another class win.
“Unfortunately, it was a different story in race two, with a G56 driver costing me a chance of challenging for another victory. I still got some good points in second though and now head to Silverstone with three or four opportunities to close the gap at the top of the standings.
“All that truly matters at the end of this weekend though is that Colin White and Mike Brown are in a stable condition in hospital. It was a horrifying incident in the race on Sunday and we’re all sending our best wishes to them for a speedy recovery.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography
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