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29th August 2009
Three podiums for Wrathall at Silverstone
The world famous Silverstone venue played host this weekend for the next round of the G50 Cup Championship, attracting one of the biggest grids of the season. The National circuit lends itself for an exciting bumper to bumper battle to thrill the thousands of fans, and arm chair viewers, watching the live TV coverage.
QUALIFYING
Lap times kept tumbling in the dry qualifying session, as the pace heated up between the front runners. Indeed the top three were lapping in under a minute as they showed the way to the rest of the field. Frank was in the thick of the leaders, and put the Dynojet car on 3rd, 2nd and pole on the grid respectively for the three races of the weekend.
Frank:" That was so close, I knew the pole time was a 59.9 second lap, I put a good lap in and matched that, but was only P3!! The Dynojet car was great and I missed out on overall pole by 0.06, but my consistency means I have a pole for the final race."
RACE 1 (Saturday)
Frank started on the second row of the grid behind pole setter, Nathan Freke. He slotted the Dynojet car into 2nd spot right on the bumper of Nathan Freke. An incident further down the field resulted in the safety car being deployed for three of the now extended 20 lap race. The two leaders pulled clear of the snapping pack. Frank closed the gap down towards the closing stages of the race, but Nathan made it very difficult for Frank to make the pass. They crossed the line in this order,with only 0.155 seconds separating the sparing pair.
Frank: "It is a little bit frustrating to not be racking up the wins like Nathan and Carl have but the Dynojet car has been great today and I'm driving well too. We've had really good pace today so hopefully that will continue in tomorrow's races."
RACE 2 (Sunday)
The front row start with Nathan and Frank saw Nathan get the holeshot in the 22 lap race two held in dry conditions. Once again Frank tagged on the tail of Nathan's bumper. The two leaders pulled a comfortable lead from the rest of the field. An impeccably consistent race pace by these two drivers allowed them to finish in this order. Fastest lap of the race went to Frank in the Dynojet car to gain an extra championship point.
Frank: ''I felt I was a little bit quicker than Nathan from mid race onwards, but he is really on top of his game and doesn't make a mistake. I was pushing so hard to try and make a pass but I made a mistake on the brakes and lost my chance."
RACE 3 (Sunday - Re-run from Oulton Park round 11)
Prior rainfall had left the track damp and slippery for the start of the 22 lap third race. Frank kept the Dynojet car in pole position for the early stages of the race, but on lap five Frank clipped a kerb on the exit of Becketts, which allowed Nathan to make a move on the inside line at Brooklands. Such was his pace that Frank had to settle for second spot, and bag enough points to put him back to second in the championship.
Frank: "I thought if I could make the start and beat Nathan into the first corner I'd be away but he was so quick in that race. If you look at the weekend as a whole for us, it's been great with three podiums and I've also moved up into second in the championship so I'm really pleased".
Championship Table
1st |
Nathan Freke |
667 |
2nd |
Frank Wrathall |
573 |
3rd |
Carl Breeze |
547 |
TELEVISION COVERAGE REMINDER
ITV4 live Sunday afternoon's 11.30am - 6.00pm
ITV4 at channel 28 on Freeview, channel 117 via cable and through the Sky Digital platform at channel 120
In addition, ITV will extend the duration of it's highlights programmes by 50 per cent from 60 to 90 minutes - whilst also increasing the number of repeats.
These will be broadcast as follows: ITV1 on the following Monday evening.
ITV4 on the following Tuesday afternoon.
Men & Motors on the following Friday evening.
ITV4 on the following Saturday afternoon
Men & Motors on the following Wednesday evening (ten days after the race event).
Penultimate Round: Rockingham 19th/20th September.
--ends--
Dynojet UK
Lower House Barn
Strickens Lane
Barnacre
Preston
Lancashire
PR3 1QJ.
Tel: 01995 600500
Fax: 01995 604724
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