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Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2009 Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship will
take place four weeks from now over the weekend 15th/16th August at
Silverstone in Northamptonshire.
Provisional 2009 Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship Positions
(after Rd10):
1st Mark Davies, 307pts; 2nd Andrew Smith, 281pts; 3rd Dominic Pettit,
230pts; 4th David Jackson, 174pts; 5th Sean Huyton, 141pts; 6th Alex
Dzuirzynski, 126pts |
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Dominant Pettit secures
Donington double
21st July 2009
 Dominic
Pettit's Dominant Motorsport squad more than lived up to its name at
Donington Park over the weekend, 18th/19th July, with the Texaco
Havoline Ginetta Championship rookie easing to a brace of very
comfortable race wins.
As the first driver this year to win both rounds on any given race
weekend, the Ginetta Junior graduate has certainly confirmed his place
as a genuine threat to title rivals Mark Davies and Andrew Smith over
the remainder of the 2009 season. Third position in round nine and
second place in round 10 mean Davies leads the driver standings by 26
points.
Meanwhile, George Murrells secured his first ever category podium with a
superb drive during the second outing, in which he also posted the
fastest lap of the race.
Qualifying
During Saturday's qualifying session it was Smith who led the way by
securing pole position for rounds nine and 10 with laps of 1m21.584
seconds (86.36mph) and 1m21.668 seconds respectively.
Davies was second fastest to line-up alongside his main championship
rival on the front row for the first race with Murrells third on the
grid ahead of Pettit, Julian Barratt and Sean Huyton. Car racing
debutant Matt Bell, younger brother of highly successful international
GT racer Rob, posted an impressive 10th fastest time during his maiden
Ginetta qualifying session.
For the round 10 grid, Smith was joined on row one by Pettit with
Barratt and Davies third and fourth and Alex Dziurzynski and Murrells on
row three.
Race one
Davies made a good start to round nine and looked as though he would be
able to perhaps take the lead from Smith but the pole-man held on
through Redgate with Murrells close behind the pairing in third place.
Into Coppice, Davies nipped past Smith to lead but Pettit got a run on
all of them along the Dunlop Straight and managed to seize first place
at Goddards.
Further behind, a multi-car tangle at the Old Hairpin resulted in
retirement for Russell McCarthy and Dziurzynski while also causing
front-left damage to the car of unfortunate rookie Bell - the latter
forced to pull out of the race after pitting.
The incident led to the appearance of the Safety Car but at the re-start
on lap six, Pettit made a good getaway to pull away from Davies with
Smith third and Barratt mounting a challenge on Murrells to grab fourth
place at Redgate. Barratt really had the bit between his teeth and after
shadowing Davies and Smith, he passed both into Goddards at the end of
lap six to climb into second.
Pettit, meanwhile, continued to extend his advantage at the front and he
would eventually take the chequered flag on lap 12 almost four seconds
clear of his nearest rival.
On lap eight, second place went back the way of Davies after he produced
a good move on Barratt into Redgate and the latter then slipped back one
more spot when Smith grabbed third position into Goddards. Smith then
completed a good final flourish by taking second from Davies at the last
corner on the final tour, lap 12.
Fourth position went to Barratt, his best finish of the year, with
Murrells taking fifth ahead of David Jackson after an incident at
Goddards, just yards from the chequered flag involving Huyton and
Freddie Hetherington where the latter's car launched over the rear of
Huyton's Ginetta.
While Hetherington ended up in the gravel trap, Huyton managed to limp
across the line in ninth place, mere 10ths of a second ahead of Emily
Fletcher and just behind Harry Whale who was 12 seconds down on Andrew
Richardson in seventh.
Winner Pettit said: "As soon as I managed to get clear of (Mark) Davies
and (Andrew) Smith I planned to get into a rhythm, stick to my line and
bring it home but then the Safety Car came. I wasn't all that bothered
about that though as I think I've probably experienced more Safety Cars
than anyone else in the championship, as we haven't had any in G20 this
year.
"The re-start worked well, I had space to breathe, and then everyone
started squabbling with each other so it helped me even more to pull out
a big gap. The car felt good, we have had some problems with it losing
power this year but we think we've solved that. "
Race two
With a damp track welcoming competitors ahead of round 10, there was an
even start for front-row qualifiers Smith and Pettit although the
pole-sitter held the inside line tightly running down to Redgate to
maintain the lead. On the exit of the corner though, Smith ran wide
which allowed Pettit to get a good run through into first place at
Hollywood.
Smith then ran wide again at McLeans which opened the door for Barratt
to take second but into Goddards, Smith hit back and then Davies
followed him through to push Barratt back to fourth. Pettit, meanwhile,
was serving up a repeat of his race one speed as he pulled well clear at
the front.
At the end of lap two, Davies took second from his chief title rival
while behind, McCarthy was the man on the move after getting ahead of
Barratt and then Smith for third place as the race headed into the third
tour. By the end of lap three, McCarthy had managed to get past Davies
for second to seal an incredible couple of miles of racing for him.
While the battle for the second and third steps of the podium was
fiercely contested, the fighting simply enabled Pettit to focus on
making no mistakes and pressing on to a comfortable winning margin of
just under six seconds at the chequered flag on lap 15.
By lap nine Davies was second ahead of McCarthy, Jackson, Smith and
Murrells - the latter beginning to enjoy his decision to gamble on
running slick tyres in the hope the track would dry sufficiently. As the
only driver to weigh up the risk, Murrells' bravery started to reap
rewards which ended up with his biggest prize of the season, a maiden
podium behind Davies.
As the race entered its closing stages, Smith dropped away more and more
to an eventual seventh place result while Barratt was forced to retire
on lap 12. Murrells, meanwhile, had better fortune and he took third
from McCarthy at the Old Hairpin on the penultimate lap.
Fifth position went the way of the battling Huyton, a terrific recovery
by the car racing newcomer following an enforced lap one excursion into
the gravel at Redgate. Dropping him to the tail of the top 12, Huyton
produced a climb back through the order certainly worthy of note.
Dziurzynski, meanwhile, finished in sixth place ahead of Richardson,
Smith, Hetherington and Jackson.
Speaking on his race two drive, Pettit said: "I think our performance
this weekend is proof of what we're capable of, especially as a team as
we're new to this championship. We're doing a great job against teams
with a lot of experience so that's obviously good. After this weekend,
there's no reason I can't catch the guys ahead in the championship."
Murrells, reflecting on his maiden podium, commented: "It was a really
fun race as I was the only driver on slicks. I think I was about 12th
coming off the first corner and then, when the tyres came in, I was
about two seconds quicker than everyone else which was great. If I can
pick up a few more podiums this year, or even a win, it'd be amazing."
Davies and Pettit share
the spoils in the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship
Pitlane drive through
penalties spoil perfect knockhill weeknd for Dominic Pettit
Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship yesterday, June 14.
Qualifying
 Dominic
Pettit bagged pole position, just nine-thousandths of a second quicker
than Mark Davies at the end of qualifying. Andrew Smith and Freddie
Hetherington locked out row two, with Cheshire driver Hetherington
celebrating his best qualifying effort, ahead of Alex Dziurzynski and
David Jackson. Regular front-runner Julian Barratt could do no better
than seventh fastest whilst tyre dramas put Sean Huyton, on his
Knockhill debut, to the back of the grid.
Race one
Dominic Pettit made the best getaway as the lights went out for race,
his Dominant Motorsport-run car leading from Mark Davies (Optimum
Motorsport) and Julian Barratt's Reflex Racing car. As Barratt
challenged for a place at the Hairpin on the opening lap he ran wide and
lost time, allowing Davies to concentrate on attacking Pettit for the
race lead. Barratt's error caused him to fall down the order as David
Jackson (Optimum Motorsport) moved up to third chased by Andrew Smith
(Optimum Motorsport). Having fallen to fifth, the recovering Barratt
found himself defending from Alex Dziurzynski.
Davies made a challenge for the lead crossing the start and finish line
and, as the two squabbled, the Jackson and Smith fight tagged itself
onto them making it a four-way fight for honours. Behind them, a superb
battle raged for fifth place as Freddie Hetherington (Optimum Motorsport),
Barratt and Dziurzynski slugged it out.
However, the face of the race was soon changed dramatically as a number
of drivers were penalised for corner cutting. With Knockhill having a
number of low kerbs at the entrance and exit if corners, a number of
drivers were using them as part of the racing line and after excessive
use were deemed to be gaining an advantage.
Race leader Pettit was one of those drivers to be penalised and was
forced to serve a drive through penalty allowing Davies up into the lead
from Smith and Jackson with a charging Barratt desperate to get back on
to terms with the leading trio. Pettit's race was to go from bad to
worse as he was also pinged for speeding in the pit lane when he served
his drive-through penalty and dropped even further down the field. He
resumed in seventh but gained a top six finish on the last lap when
Barratt retired. He took the flag behind the smoky car of Sean Huyton
(Academy Motorsport) who had worked up from the rear of the grid after
tyre problems in qualifying.
For Davies, it was a third win of the season with Andrew Smith and David
Jackson rounding out the podium finishers.
Race two
Pettit had a chance to turn the tables later in the day in the second
race. Davies led off the line, with Pettit slotting behind for second
place ahead of Jackson and Smith. Dominic made his move at the Hairpin
at the end of the opening lap and moved into the lead, as further back,
Julian Barratt secured fifth from Alex Dziurzynski. As Barratt shook off
the former Volkswagen racer, Freddie Hetherington took up the fight and
stayed glued to Barratt who had set the fastest lap of the early part of
the race.
At the front, Pettit and Davies traded the lead with Barratt doing his
utmost to close on Smith for third place, but the top three were
building up a secure lead over Barratt and the chasing pack.
The fourth placed battle involved Barratt, Jackson and Hetherington,
with the impressive George Murrells (Techlightenment) catching up as
well. Before long he was in the midst of the pack, attacking Barratt
who, in turn, had slipped behind Jackson once more.
By half distance, Davies was on the tail of Pettit and applying pressure
as Smith was catching thanks to the leaders holding each other up. He
couldn't sustain the pace, however, and fell back as the leaders
continued their private duel. Starting the last lap, Pettit and Davies
were together, but Dominic hung on for a second win of the season by a
narrow margin from Davies and Smith.
George Murrells' fine showing came to an early end when he retired after
a clash with Freddie Hetherington for fourth place at the Hairpin,
allowing David Jackson to take the place despite the attentions of
Huyton and Hetherington who worked their way onto his tail.
Dominic scored much needed points for his double pole position and
fastest lap in both races on his way to setting a new lap record
G20:
Pettit takes last gasp victory in Race 1 at Oulton
Dominic Pettit
took the spoils by the smallest of margins after an action packed
opening race of the Ginetta G20 championship at Oulton Park on Monday.
Mark Davies grabbed the lead at the start and led as far as Shell Oils
Corner, only to spin the car and fall to 14th place. That allowed Julian
Barratt into the lead, chased by Andrew Smith and Dominic Pettit whose
Dominant Motorsport car was up from row three.
Pettit then dived past Smith at Old Hall Corner on lap two to grab
second place, whilst Alex Dziuryzynski and Russell McCarthy fought over
fourth. Barratt continued to lead but then he too made an error,
spinning at Island Bend and allowing Pettit into the lead from Smith and
an impressive Sean Huyton, whilst Dziuryzynski ran fourth ahead of
rookie Freddie Hetherington and David Jackson. Hard on their heels were
McCarthy, George Murrells, Matt Flowers, the recovering Barratt and
Davies making an 11-car train for the lead!
By lap four, McCarthy had wriggled up to second behind Pettit, but lap
five heralded drama: Smith spun coming out of Old Hall and a corner
later McCarthy spun, too. In avoidance, Huyton went off at Cascades as
well. By the end of the lap, Pettit led Dziuryzynski with Davies up to
third! Jackson was fourth and Barratt, fifth.
Huyton had another moment at Cascades on lap six, as Davies took second
from Dziuryzynski at Hislop's before hustling on in pursuit of Pettit,
the gap tumbling from 4.3 seconds to 2.68 in just half a lap. He grabbed
the lead at Lodge on lap eight, whilst Barratt hit the back of
Dziuryzynski's car at Cascades, both of them spinning off.
With Davies leading Pettit, Jackson, Murrells and Smith fought over
third. Pettit hadn’t given up though and retook the lead at Britten's,
only for Davies get the better of him at Knickerbrook a lap later.
They crossed the line almost level to take the chequered flag, but it
was Pettit who had just nosed ahead, getting the nod by 0.126s. Smith
meanwhile recovered for third ahead of Murrells, Jackson and Matt
Flowers.
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