WHYTELEAFE racing driver Charlie Robertson had to adopt a damage limitation approach to the third event of the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup season at Thruxton.
A series of problems prevented the 17-year-old from capitalising on superb qualifying pace.
Heading straight into qualifying on the Saturday morning with no pre-event practice, Robertson was quick and secured pole position for round seven with a lap of 1min 14.508sec – just edging out his nearest rival by 0.003 seconds.
In the first of the weekend's races, a clutch problem meant Robertson's car bogged down and he was shuffled back to fifth place.
Running close behind rival Andrew Watson, Robertson piled on the pressure but from mid-distance also had to be mindful of attack from behind with Will Burns becoming an increasing threat. With no way past Watson, and understeer in the traffic becoming a major factor, Robertson focused on keeping hold of his top five placing to the finish to see off Burns by just under a second.
Beginning round eight from the third row of the grid, the Surrey teenager was edged back to sixth, where he remained until lap 14.
On the 14th lap, Robertson grabbed fifth into the chicane after getting a good run up Woodham Hill and remained there to the finish on lap 16 to bag more important championship points – taking the flag only 0.4 seconds behind Watson.
Holding fifth place for two thirds of the race distance, during the closing stages the HHC Motorsport driver had to call on all of his skill and determination to salvage the points for tenth place as he slipped down the order.
"It's been a frustrating weekend, we've been fast so it's all the more disappointing how everything turned out in the end, " Robertson said. "We came to Thruxton having not tested at the track for three weeks and managed to pop in a really good lap time to get pole, which was great.
"From there, though, it all went downhill to be honest. At the start of race one there was a clutch problem which dropped me back to fifth and I was just sitting in a train of cars after that, scrubbing the front tyres and having lots of understeer.
"In race two we started fifth and finished fifth but then, in the last race, the front tyres started to go – I was fighting to keep the car on the track."
Next on the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup schedule is the annual visit to Oulton Park in Cheshire over the weekend of June 7 and 8.
