ASPIN FINALLY COMES OUT ON TOP
Will Aspin’s wait for a first Ginetta GT5 Challenge victory finally came at Donington Park, but perhaps not in the circumstances he would have liked.
The Elite Motorsport driver, who graduated from Ginetta Junior in 2021, has been impressive this season having taken a podium in each of the previous six races and arrived at last weekend’s meeting second in the standings.
Despite lining up third on the grid for race one, he was leading by the end of the opening lap, aided when poleman John Bennett ran wide on the exit of Redgate, before the same befell championship leader Josh Steed at the start of the second lap when he tried a move around the outside for the lead.
A mid-race safety car period to retrieve debris at the Fogarty Esses settled the order down momentarily, but at the restart Aspin soon found himself under pressure from Bennett who had recovered from eighth.
Aspin then ran wide on the exit of Goddards at the end of lap seven, but crucially led Bennett across the line by just 0.018s as he lost the lead on the run to Redgate. When a red flag was called for a stationary car at the Esses on the same lap, Aspin was handed a reprieve and his maiden GT5 Challenge win on countback, although he had mixed feelings.
“I was a bit annoyed, I had done most of the hard work and I threw it away,” he said. “The car was really good and I was just comfortable with it. I thought there would be a couple of people who would try too hard and it was just about trying to get the lead as soon as possible, which I did until the safety car came out.
“The win has been in reaching distance. I didn’t realise I’d won until five minutes after I came in, just before the podium.
“As well as winning, it would have been nice to have the win without the mistake but I’ll get to learn from it.”
Bennett took second from Ben Mckenna, who also ran wide at Redgate on lap one, while Steed recovered to fifth.
Aspin looked set to double up in race two, having got an early break while the rest of the pack squabbled for position behind as Mckenna – who impressed on his debut last time out at Silverstone – came together with Nat Hodgkiss at the Old Hairpin.
This aided the rise of Steed who soon made his way into second and steadily closed on Aspin before, on lap eight of
12, making his move on the inside of the Melbourne Hairpin, only for Aspin to get the position back into Goddards.
A lap later, though, and Steed made the move stick in the same spot with Bennett also demoting Aspin on the final lap after the race-one winner slid wide through the Esses in his bid to retake the lead.
There was no mistaking the victor of race three. Steed was in imperious form as he won by nearly 12s from Aspin, with Mckenna completing the rostrum after Bennett retired early on. In the concurrent G40 Cup, Marc Warren took another hat-trick of victories.