The Richardson Racing team was able to add to its podium tally on what would prove to be a challenging weekend of action in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship at Snetterton.
The Corby-based team headed for the Norfolk circuit back up to full strength as Trennon Bettany returned to action having missed the previous meeting at Croft, with the South African lining up alongside regular team-mates Georgi Dimitrov and Rowan Vincent.
Qualifying around the longest circuit on the calendar saw Georgi leading the team’s challenge with the eighth fastest time, with Trennon directly behind on the grid after he broke into the top ten, and Rowan starting in 20th.
A typically chaotic opening lap saw Georgi rocket up the order into third spot, and he would run in the podium positions throughout the seven lap encounter to claim silverware for the seventh time this season.
Trennon also made up places on the opening lap to run in sixth spot and looked well set to fight for his strongest result of the campaign before contact on the penultimate lap dropped him down the order to finish an unrepresentative 18th, just ahead of Rowan as he secured 19th place on the final lap of the race.
The grid for race two saw Georgi lining up in fifth place for the start and he would be embroiled in the thick of the action inside the top ten before crossing the line in seventh spot for a second solid points finish of the weekend.
From 16th, Trennon once again showed solid race craft and battled his way up as high at tenth before eventually crossing the line in P12, with Rowan improving on his fastest lap by nearly a second as he took 18th.
The final race of the weekend live on ITV4 would prove to be a challenge for the three young chargers, with Georgi running inside the top six until contact heading into Brundle on lap three saw him spin off track and dropped him to the rear of the field.
From there, he would fight hard through the second half of the race to end up in twelfth at the finish.
Trennon would battle into the top ten on the opening lap but then found himself shuffled back down the order when he was forced wide whilst running in a train of cars and would cross the line in 13th before a post-race penalty dropped him to 20th.
Rowan meanwhile would end his weekend with an 18th place finish despite his car picking up damage on the fourth lap when he ran wide across the grass on the exit of Williams.
The team now heads to Brands Hatch next month for the season finale on the short Indy circuit.
Rowan Vincent, #19 (Woking, Surrey), said:
“It’s been a weekend that could have gone better, but could also have gone worse. Snetterton is the longest circuit we will race at this season and is quite a tricky one to learn, particularly when the weather conditions are mixed like they have been this weekend.
“I think I could have make more progress if it had been either wet or dry all weekend, but I’m pleased to have improved my pace across the three races and will look to try and end the season with some good results at Brands Hatch.”
Georgi Dimitrov, #23 (Newmarket, Suffolk), said:
“Overall we didn’t quite get the results we were hoping for after practice on Friday. Qualifying where we did meant we had work to do in the races and it was good to start off with a podium. It was a manic first lap and I made the moves early in all the chaos and then had a battle with Bailey and Tom at the end but had to settle for third.
“That was what we wanted to aim for from the weekend, but it was more difficult from there. It was hard work in race two as we were stuck in the pack and then in race three, I got hit at Brundle which meant I had to fight from the back. I’d have liked to make more progress through the field but we just ran out of laps in the end.”
Trennon Bettany, #41 (Johannesburg, South Africa), said:
“The car has unbelievably fast this weekend and we showed good top ten pace, although the results maybe don’t quite reflect that. I got a bit unlucky in the races and got shoved around a bit, but once again I showed my improvement across the weekend as I set my fastest lap in the final race.
“Being right in the pack and getting involved has been good for my race craft as at the start of the season, it was more like testing where I was driving round following others and seeing what they were doing. Now, I’m right in the mix and battling for position having fun, and I hope we can get the rookie podium we deserve before the end of the season.”