Countrystyle Sponsored Racer Nathan Heathcote wins the Ginetta ‘Am’ Championship in the final drama-filled round of the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 Super Cup Championship at Brands Hatch, taking the ‘Am’ class crown in his first ever season of tarmac racing.
Nathan came into the final three-race event knowing that he would need solid points to have a chance of turning over the nine-point deficit to his series-long rival Colin White. After setting pole position, Nathan was comfortably leading the whole of the opening race on Saturday when a last corner ‘move’ from White sent both of them into the gravel, wiping out any point’s advantage gained!
Sunday’s opening race was extremely slippery and many of the runners tasted gravel with a succession of safety car incidents and spins. The final race was dramatic from the off as White had a problem on the line and got out of his car to investigate, triggering a post-race ten second penalty. A double car crash necessitating heavy lifting gear kept the pack behind the safety car for most of the race with Nathan two places behind Colin White.
An ecstatic Nathan said, “Wow, what an ending to this season and I’m so happy to have got the title here at Brands Hatch. It’s been a rollercoaster ride all season and this weekend was even more dramatic. It was shame for the race that Colin got a penalty but I thought, ‘let’s turn it into a race anyway’, so it was good to get that final win also!
Big thanks to Century Motorsport, all my supporters and family, we now need to have a good think about what to do next.”
Joining the BTCC support programme for 2019 from the sideways action of World Rallycross, Nathan set himself the objective of winning the ‘Am’ class and getting amongst the top ‘Pro’ drivers, which he showed his capabilities to do, in the very first event.
Not only having to learn the precision skills needed including how to handle the Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 machine, every circuit he arrived meant he was seeing the track for the first time. Even the second visit to Brands Hatch was new as he had never driven the fast, flowing GP circuit, only the short ‘Indy’ format.