Fin Green produced a battling display on his Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup debut at Brands Hatch this past weekend (06/07 April), finishing the opening event of the year with a pair of points finishes. Graduating up into Ginetta’s flagship category with Total Control Racing following a successful stint in the Ginetta Junior Championship, the 16-year-old underlined his credentials as one driver to watch as the season unfolds over the course of the weekend. Finding his feet in Friday’s practice sessions, Green secured a fifth place start for the opening race in Saturday’s qualifying, ultimately missing out on pole position by little over two tenths of a second. Changeable weather conditions proved to be the hot topic in the build up to the race one with tyre choices becoming the biggest question being raised. With conditions in-between, Green opted for slick tyres and valiantly battled for grip in the opening quarter of the race. Sadly however the GDS Group-backed driver was forced to retire after an off-track moment with just seven laps left to run. Keen to make amends for the misfortune, the Bristol-born teenager bounced back in fine style in race two and made progress, moving up from eighth to seventh. It was to be race three, screened live on ITV4, in which Green served up a performance leaving many on the edge-of-their-seats. Starting seventh once again, the TCR ace was soon on the move as he moved up to sixth on lap three after making a bold move down the inside of Carl Shield at Paddock Hill Bend. Jumping into fifth after a brief safety car period, the rear-wheel-drive Opal sponsored machine was on the move once more as he hounded the back of Mike Epps. With a podium within his sights further up the road, Green showed his nose at Paddock Hill Bend and Druids on a number of occasions, but was unable to make a move stick on the Team HARD driver. In the end Green settled for fifth place and with it bagged valuable points, bringing the curtain down on an overly positive first event of the 2019 campaign. Fin Green: "I’d best describe the weekend as a character building one but there are plenty of positives to come away with. It’s a fresh championship for me and the aim coming in was to get some points on the board and more importantly than that, build up my experience. “Qualifying was difficult but we managed to come away with fifth. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be in race one, but we bounced back and brought home some solid points in races two and three. I wanted to put on a show and make it exciting for the fans in the last one, but unfortunately we couldn’t find a way past Mike. “Overall it has been a good weekend and I’m keen to build on everything we have learnt here, go away and look over everything before coming back even stronger at the next round.” The Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup heads to Leicestershire next to tackle the challenges of Donington Park on April 27/28, with three more pulsating encounters scheduled to take place.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.