Michael Looking Strong after Free Practice

Michael Broadhurst hit the track today (28th August) along with a healthy grid of 20 identical Ginetta G50 cars. With two 40 minute sessions to get the car ready for the weekend’s races, Michael made full use of the track time to build experience and work on car set-up. By the end of the first practice session, the Welch Motorsport run car of Broadhurst was sixth fastest, just 0.439 shy of the fastest time set by championship leader Nathan Freke.

“We found a really good balance with the car this morning and to be just 4 tenths off the pace on old rubber straight out of the box is very encouraging. I’m looking forward to this afternoon’s session and hopefully with a few tweaks we can move a little further up the order”.

Free Practice 1 results:

01. Nathan FREKE – 1:00.581
02. Benji HETHERINGTON – 1:00.761 (+0.180)
03. Frank WRATHALL – 1:00.772 (+0.191)
04. Tom SHARP – 1:00.900 (+0.319)
05. Carl BREEZE – 1:00.985 (+0.404)

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06. Michael BROADHURST – 1:01.020 (+0.439)

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07. Fulvio MUSSI – 1:01.047 (+0.466)
08. Rob AUSTIN – 1:01.619 (+1.038)
09. Richard SYKES – 1:01.621 (+1.040)
10. Paul SHEARD – 1:01.652 (+1.071)
11. Julien DRAPER – 1:01.789 (+1.208)
12. Colin WHITE – 1:02.036 (+1.455)
13. Joachim RITTER – 1:02.074 (+1.493)
14. Tony HUGHES – 1:02.454 (+1.873)
15. Ron JOHNSON – 1:03.609 (+3.028)
16. Neil HOUSTON – 1:03.911 (+3.330)

The afternoon’s session saw Michael slip down the timesheets as other drivers put new tyres on. After the heavens opened during lunch, the fresher rubber clearly gave fellow competitors more grip as Welch Motorsport opted to keep Michael on the used tyres. Despite dropping down the order, Michael was still pleased with his progress over the day.

“We knew as soon as other cars went out on new tyres that it would always be difficult to keep chase with them on our old rubber. The setup felt good and I was definitely driving better than in the morning so I think we have closed the gap a bit, even if the times don’t show it. I’m feeling confident heading into qualifying tomorrow when we’ll be on new tyres with everyone else”.

Free Practice 2 results:

01. Nathan FREKE – 1:00.361
02. Frank WRATHALL – 1:00.466 (+0.105)
03. Fulvio MUSSI – 1:00.732 (+0.371)
04. Carl BREEZE – 1:00.743 (+0.382)
05. Chris DITTMANN – 1:00.917 (+0.556)
06. Rob AUSTIN – 1:00.973 (+0.612)
07. Benji HETHERINGTON – 1:01.018 (+0.657)
08. Tom SHARP – 1:01.114 (+0.753)
09. Paul SHEARD – 1:01.271 (+0.910)
10. Colin WHITE – 1:01.279 (+0.918)
11. Joachim RITTER – 1:01.446 (+1.085)

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12. Michael BROADHURST – 1:01.460 (+1.099)

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13. Richard SYKES – 1:01.543 (+1.182)
14. Julien DRAPER – 1:01.703 (+1.342)
15. Tony HUGHES – 1:02.488 (+2.127)
16. Ron JOHNSON – 1:02.652 (+2.291)
17. Neil HOUSTON – 1:02.908 (+2.547)
18. Ken RATTENBURY – 1:03.551 (+3.190)