- Hat trick of wins for United Autosports in GT Cup at Silverstone
- Best BTCC race finish of season plus fastest race lap shows progress
- United Autosports leads Ginetta GT4 SuperCup and records fastest race lap
United Autosports won all three GT Cup races this weekend at Silverstone round the International circuit (7-8 June).
Jim Geddie drove a stunning first race to bring the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 home in first place in Saturday’s 45-minute pit stop race after posting a P2 time in qualifying. Starting from pole in Sunday’s first sprint race, Jim led from the start, giving the team their second win of the weekend. They then completed the hat trick of wins in the final sprint race on Sunday evening.
Jim Geddie, Driver, United Autosports:
“I’m thrilled we have won not only our first, but our first three races this weekend. The team have done a great job getting the car where it needs to be so I’m sure we will have more victories throughout the course of the year.
Richard Dean, Team Owner and Managing Director, United Autosports:
“I’m really pleased for Jim and the whole team for these three wins this weekend. We have always known we had the pace to win and this weekend has proved that. Hopefully we can continue our good form into the rest of the season.”
UNITED AUTOSPORTS SHOW PROGRESS AT OULTON PARK BTCC ROUND
United Autosports underlined its progress in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship when Glynn Geddie and James Cole recorded the team’s best race finish and first-ever fastest race lap respectively at Oulton Park this weekend (7-8 June).
In qualifying, Geddie and Cole placed ninth and 12th with both on faster laps on a wet but drying 2.69-mile International Circuit track before the session was red-flagged with 10mins remaining.
The next BTCC & Ginetta races are staged at Croft over 28-29 June.
#20 Drivecool – Toyota Avensis
James Cole (GB). Age: 25. Born: Southport, England. Lives: Liverpool, England.
“We’ve ended the weekend with many positives. Glynn and I have finished all three races for the first time, we’ve scored some points and I set the fastest lap in the third race. So all of these factors underline that we’re moving forward with every outing.”
#21 – Toyota Avensis
Glynn Geddie (GB). Age: 23. Born & Lives: Aberdeen, Scotland.
“We’ve made progress but unfortunately bad weather and red flags didn’t allow us to show it all. The pace is improving and that’s a good thing to take to the next races at Croft.”
Richard Dean, Team Owner and Managing Director, United Autosports:
“We have certainly made some progress this weekend with the Toyotas and James and Glynn are feeling more positive leaving Oulton. Once again, we ran out of luck at certain points during the weekend with red flags and the weather, but our early qualifying pace shows we can now aim to be in the top half of the grid. We are looking forward to the next round at Croft, which is technically our home race so fingers crossed for luck to be on our side.”
Rd 10Qualifying: 18th #20, 1m 44.533s; 20th #21, 1m 44.602s. Weather: Cloudy/drying.
Race: 19th #20, +29.123s; 21st #21, 36.254s. Weather: Bright/dry.
Rd 11Start Pos: 19th #20; 21st #21.
Race: 15th #20, +13.343s; 24th #21, 49.456s. Weather: Cloudy/dry.
Rd 12Start Pos: 15th #20; 24th #21.
Race: 12th #21, +22.785s; 20th #20, +36.689s + Fastest Lap. Weather: Cloudy/wet/drying.
Championship standings:
Driver’s Championship: 19th #21, Geddie, 9pts; 21st #20 Cole, 4pts
HiQ Teams’ Championship: 13th, 13pts
Independents Team Trophy: 10th, 67pts
UNITED AUTOSPORTS LEAD MICHELIN GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP STANDINGS
United Autosports lead the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Team’s championship for the first time while Carl Breeze and Luke Davenport remain fifth and sixth respectively in the Drivers’ standings following the latest two races at Oulton Park this weekend.
Breeze and Davenport recorded second and fifth positions in the opening race staged in dry conditions early on Saturday evening. Carl finished a mere 0.373s behind the race winner after 12-laps while Luke was less than a second behind the third-placed car – the team doing a sterling job to repair his car after an off in the closing minutes of wet qualifying earlier in the day.
The following day Carl and Luke recorded POS and POS
#2 Blue Chip – Ginetta G55
Carl Breeze (GB). Age: 34. Born & Lives: King’s Lynn, England.
“I qualified third fastest in the wet on Saturday morning but managed to snatch second place off the line at the start of race one. I got too close to leader Charlie Robertson under braking early on which forced me to take a little trip down the escape road. That dropped me to three seconds or so behind but got my head down and had a couple more little attempts but it wasn’t worth taking too much of a risk.
“It’s been a great weekend in terms of the increased pace we have found with the car which is down to the hard work United and myself have put in throughout the season. I felt the creeping and subsequent driver through was extremely harsh and it robbed the viewers of what would have been an epic battle between myself and Robertson. We still finished sixth which is a good points haul from the weekend and we got the new lap record as well which showed our true pace. Roll on Croft, I can’t wait.”
#23 Duo / Henderson Insurance Brokers – Ginetta G55
Luke Davenport (GB). Age: 21. Born: Cambridge, England. Lives: Little Gransden nr St. Neots & Oxford, England.
“I was positive about qualifying I pushed hard, a little too hard I guess, and hit a puddle and aquaplaned off. United Autosports did a great job to not only to not just get the car back together but get it to handle so perfectly allowing me to make up ground in the first race. I was pleased with the consistency of my pace in race two and it was satisfying to get another podium. I’m learning more about fine tuning the car – I just need to be patient.”
Max Gregory, Ginetta GT4 SuperCup Project Manager, United Autosports:
“We have had a relatively good weekend at Oulton Park. The weekend started on the back foot, with Luke crashing during qualifying, meaning the team had to rebuild the front, rear and left hand side of the car to get him out for the first race later on Saturday. Carl brought the car home in a close second place in race one, but a drive through penalty for a slight jump start before race two meant he finished the weekend in sixth place. We have good pace, as Carl set the lap record in race two, and we are now leading the team championship. Luke had a good weekend, finishing on the podium in the second race. Both drivers have managed to get podiums this weekend so our next aim is to get them both on the podium at the same time, and hopefully get some more wins under our belt. The pace is there so I’m confident we will get a win again before much longer and we are all positive and looking forward to Croft in three weeks time.”
Rd 10Qualifying: 3rd #2, 1m 55.656s; 8th #23, 1m 58.965s. Weather: Rain/wet.
Race: 2nd #2 +0.373s, 5th #23 +15.469s. Weather: Bright/dry.
Rd 11Start: 2nd #2; 5th #23. Race: 3rd #23 +7.344s, 6th #2 17.168s. Weather: Cloudy/dry.
Championship standings:
Driver’s Championship: 5th Breeze, 215pts; 6th Davenport, 203pts;
Teams’ Championship: 1st, 418pts