Nathan Heathcote had a mixed bag of fortune at the penultimate Ginetta GT4 SuperCup round at Silverstone but closed the points gap significantly to the top of the ‘Am’ class series standings.
The visit to the Silverstone National circuit netted the young Kent driver a 2-1-4 position tally to move within just nine points of class leader Colin White, after a disastrous Knockhill event last time out.
With free practice on Friday important for Nathan to learn the track, this process was hampered by bad weather but he managed to gain some acclimatisation in his Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 car.
The compact National circuit allowed for very close times and Nathan was just half a second off the fastest of all the Pro drivers, as he took P2 on the ‘Am’ grid. With qualifying early on Saturday morning the Ginetta teams readied for two races later that day in cool but dry conditions.
Race one was a real rollercoaster for Nathan as he moved up and down the leaderboard throughout the race-duration. Despite a spin and having to re-join the fray, he finished in second place. The second event saw a strong performance from Nathan as he made the best of a good start to lead and hold off his series rival Colin White.
A two lap safety car intervention meant his advantage was cut but he held on doggedly for a deserved win. At the end of the day Nathan was satisfied with his performance during this 2-1 score.
Sunday was punctuated by bad weather and a reverse grid of Saturday’s positions which meant Nathan had a tough task starting the final race in P5. Nathan immediately set about battling through the field and got up to third on the opening lap but a 10 second false start put him back to sixth!
Annoyed and determined, Nathan then ‘kept his head down’, logging some fast times to again battle through the field. At the final flag he finished fourth, just a second from a third podium of the weekend. With the season finale at Brands Hatch on 11-12 October, Nathan needs a solid drive to try and claim the all-important championship title.
A frustrated Nathan explained; “It’s been an up and down weekend and honestly I should have had more pace. I was reasonably happy at the end of Saturday but a tiny error on the start line has cost me dearly and frustrated me a lot!
“Basically, there’s a lot of points available in the races at Brands Hatch so I need to make sure I drive well and make no errors to fight for the title. I’ll be in the gym, on the sim and swatting up for the next couple of weeks!”
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