Breakell Racing enjoyed some standout performances as they tackled back-to-back weekends of Ginetta racing, with a trip to Croft being swiftly followed by a visit to Silverstone.
After a great weekend in the Sports Prototype Cup competing alongside Formula 1 at Monza on 11/12 September, a busy week for the Lancashire team saw them make the 1,000 mile journey back to their Clitheroe base, before loading up their Ginetta’s and heading across to Croft.
The North Yorkshire circuit played host to the latest rounds of the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup and Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge, with Reece Somerfield and Sean Peters in action in the respective championships.
Somerfield was keen to continue his strong run of form in the GT4 SuperCup. Qualifying ninth fastest, the experienced racer showed his fighting spirit in the opening race to battle his way to a well-earned top six finish.
The next two races were televised live on ITV4, with a brilliant start to the first of those seeing Somerfield storm into fourth position early on. Eventually taking the chequered flag in seventh, he went on to complete the weekend with another top six result in the closer.
Peters meanwhile was contesting only his third event in the GT5 Challenge. After qualifying ninth in the fiercely contested GT5 Am class, he showed fantastic progression across a couple of action-packed races to score sixth and fifth place class finishes.
A week on from Croft and it was Aqil Alibhai’s turn to get back on track, as the teenage talent contested the latest three races of his Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship campaign. He arrived in high spirits, having picked up a first piece of Ginetta silverware in the last rounds at Thruxton.
Posting more than 110 laps of the short 1.64 mile National circuit across two days of pre-event testing, Alibhai used the experience gained to produce one of his best qualifying performances of the season with the 14th fastest time in a competitive 28 car entry.
The South African rising star was in the thick of the action in the opening race on Saturday afternoon, producing a great showing in the action-packed midfield battles. Getting in the mix for a top ten result, he eventually took the chequered flag in 14th.
Unfortunately Sunday’s two races proved to be frustrating ones. In the first, he was caught up in an incident ahead of him and ended up finishing 22nd, before further misfortune in race three saw him be the innocent victim of contact, though he fought back well to finish in the points in 18th.
James Breakell - Team Principal: “We loved our visit to Croft; there was a huge crowd and some great racing in the two championships. Reece produced another strong meeting and collected some more good results, while we’re delighted with the progress Sean made over the weekend.
“Considering he visited the circuit for the first time on Thursday, Aqil did a great job at Silverstone. After good results in qualifying and race one, it’s a shame he couldn’t make more progress on Sunday due to incidents outside of his control, but there’s a lot of positives to take away from the weekend.
“It’s been a busy month for Breakell Racing, and I’m incredibly thankful and proud of the team for all their hard work. We’re ready to tackle the end of the season head on and aim to finish the year with some great results.”
The 2021 Ginetta race season continues in two weeks’ time (09/10 October) with the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship and Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup in action at Donington Park.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.
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