Seventh Ginetta Junior Win for Morris as Murray Stars

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Category: GTs/Sportscars

Tuesday, 07 June 2011

While the 15-year-old was able to increase his points advantage yet further with his seventh win from eight races and second victory of the weekend, reigning Ginetta Junior Ireland Champion Niall Murray made headlines himself after a fantastic recovery drive to second place.

Morris started on pole position, thanks to a stunning performance in qualifying on Saturday, and having decided to run with part-worn wet-weather tyres he was able to find the grip early. Seeing off a start-line challenge from Tom Howard, the latter having to take to the grass, Hillspeed runner Morris cruised to an incredible – and unheard of in Ginetta Junior – winning margin of 23 seconds.

“We worked hard before the race to decide which tyre to go on but, had we been able to see the whole track, we’d have gone with slicks”, he said, “Instead, we went with low-intermediates rather than full wets but that still worked out well. It’s been a really fantastic weekend again.”

Beacon Racing’s Murray gambled on the standard dry-weather rubber, following an inspired call by his older brother Eoin – a former star of the British Touring Car Championship – and despite being run off the road at Lodge Corner on lap two he battled back superbly to finish a tremendous second.

Third place went the way of George Gamble, a repeat of his round seven performance helping the TJ Motorsport racer to consolidate the runner-up spot in the championship. Unlike Morris and Murray, he ran on brand new wets and didn’t quite have the grip to match their pace.

At the beginning of round eight, Morris and Tollbar Racing’s Howard got a fairly even start but the pole-sitter moved across to the left to take the line into Old Hall and his rival had to take to the grass which compromised his entry through the first corner.

Morris quickly scarpered into a very healthy early lead, up to 3.7 seconds by the end of lap one alone, and that was the last the rest saw of him as he scorched to a remarkable win a country mile ahead of anyone else.

Gamble moved into second ahead of Howard at the beginning with William Foster fourth ahead of Max Coates, Michael Day and Sennan Fielding. Missing from this group were the cars of Charlie Robertson and Jake Giddings, the pair having gone off on lap one at Cascades. Giddings’ race ended there and then in the gravel but HHC Motorsport driver Robertson was able to continue.

More drama occurred on lap two at Lodge Corner when Patrick McClughan tagged Murray as he attempted a late move up the inside. Seriously denting Murray’s hopes of benefiting from his tyre gamble, the Irish teenager did rejoin but down at the tail of the field as McClughan pitted.

Foster, Coates, Day and Howard all ran in close quarters as the race reached mid-distance, serving up great entertainment as were the recovering Ginetta G40s of Robertson and Murray which began to slice through the order – at the end of lap four Robertson was 10th and Murray 12th.

As the track dried, so Murray’s tyre choice proved even more inspired and had it not been for his enforced lap two excursion he could perhaps have challenged Morris for the win. Instead though, he still did a fabulous job to climb through into third on the penultimate tour before taking second place on the last lap at the hairpin – capping off a truly sensational drive.

“On the grid I knew I had a good advantage with the tyres but I never thought I’d be on the podium, I thought maybe top five at best”, said Murray, “When I got a tap at Lodge and I was backwards on the grass I never thought we’d be able to do anything. My brother Eoin made the call with the tyres, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here on the podium – I can’t thank him enough.”

Despite being passed by Murray on the last lap, Gamble held on to third place comfortably but behind him came Robertson who saw off Foster, Howard and Coates for fourth place with a superb recovery drive. Fielding finished in eighth with Declan Jones and Day rounding out the top 10.

Third place finisher Gamble said: “This is pretty much my first proper weekend at Oulton so I’m really pleased how it’s all gone. We had a full wet set-up with brand new wet tyres, whereas Seb (Morris) had some worn tyres and Niall (Murray) had slicks on. We did struggle for pace compared to those two but two third places from the weekend is great for my championship.”

Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire, the local track for Leeds-based Ginetta Cars, will play host to rounds nine and 10 of the Ginetta Junior Championship season a fortnight from now on 18th/19 June.