Luis Beilicke emerged victorious in the milestone 100th race for the Ginetta GT Academy on day two of the Ginetta Festival at Croft (28 June), following on from Joe Ostholthoff securing his maiden overall victory in the championship.
Qualifying
For the first time this season, it was not Beilicke at the top of the timesheets in qualifying. Instead, it was his Want2Race team-mate Ostholthoff who secured his maiden double pole position in the championship ahead of the quickest rookie class contender Ian Beaumont (SVG Motorsport).
GTA points leader Tom Walker (E3 Sport) was third fastest overall, with Beilicke left to settle for fourth on the grid. Connor Blackburn (Performance One) and Lucas Theo (SVG Motorsport) were third fastest in GTA and rookie respectively as they rounded out the overall top six.
Race Three
The opening race of the day began with Beaumont getting a great launch off the rolling start to take the lead from Ostholthoff heading into Clervaux. There was contact behind between Blackburn and Theo at the first corner though, resulting in a red flag to allow for the recovery of Theo’s car.
A full race restart gave Ostholthoff an opportunity to make amends for his initial start and he did exactly that, holding Beaumont off through the opening lap. The top two ran nose-to-tail for the first few laps, before Ostholthoff was able to start edging away en-route to his first overall victory in the series.
Beaumont almost dropped into the clutches of Walker in the closing stages, but remained in second as he secured the rookie class win. A battle for fourth saw Will Fallon (Privateer) pass Beilicke on the opening lap, but they switched positions back a few laps later.
Beilicke held on to fourth through to the chequered flag, with Fallon next up as he joined Ostholthoff and Walker on the GTA podium. Ben Wiseman (Want2Race) completed the rookie rostrum meanwhile, coming home sixth overall.
Blackburn started from the pitlane following repairs after the initial start incident and put in a brilliant charging drive, moving forward from the back of the field to seventh. Want2Race duo Allan Wright and Faye Goff were next, the latter managing to survive first lap contact from Robin Grimwood (E3 Sport) that led to his retirement.
Race Four
The final race of the weekend, and the milestone 100th ever for the GT Academy, began with Beaumont sweeping around the outside of pole-sitter Ostholthoff into Clervaux to take the race lead. An early change behind saw Walker get past Beilicke for third place.
Beilicke fought back at the hairpin on lap three though and soon set about hunting down those ahead. After his team-mate Ostholthoff waved him by, eager not to battle someone in a different class, Beilicke closed onto the tail of Beaumont out front.
A move down the inside at the hairpin on lap six almost paid off, but next time around a slide into Sunny In cost Beaumont ground and opened the door for Beilicke to take the lead. He pulled clear from there to secure his seventh overall victory of the season so far.
Ostholthoff came through in second for the GTA class win, followed by Walker. Theo picked up his best result of the weekend in fourth overall and second in the rookies, with Beaumont recovering to fifth to complete the class podium. Fallon was next as he secured the final berth in the GTA top three.
Blackburn and Wiseman were fourth in their respective classes, as Ash Young (Performance One) and Grimwood rounded out the top ten – Grimwood doing so in his 50th start in the GT Academy. Damien Duffy and his Want2Race team-mate Wright completed the finishers.
Walker and Beilicke shared the victories in the Silver class (for drivers aged 22 and under) across Sunday’s racing, while the Chairmans Cup (for drivers aged 45 and over) spoils went to Wright and Grimwood.
Beilicke also picked up the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award, with his 1:29.054s lap in race four being the quickest racing lap of the event and setting a new GT Academy benchmark for the Croft circuit.
Full race results can be found at https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/262631
All of the weekend’s qualifying and race sessions can be watched back now at www.youtube.com/gtworld
