Castle Bytham-based Richardson Racing brought the curtain down on its title winning campaign in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup in stunning fashion at Brands Hatch last weekend, with a double victory and a stunning 1-2 finish last weekend.
Running two cars in the premier G55 class for the first time, the team went into the final meeting of the year looking to celebrate the championship titles it wrapped up in the penultimate meeting of the year – and did so with a dominant showing that left its rivals trailing behind.
On a weekend when he cemented a top four championship finish, Andrew Richardson produced one of the drives of the season to take second place in race two – despite starting from the back of the field and stalling at the start – while Huddersfield-based team-mate Mark Davies celebrated his first outing alongside Andrew in the G55 class with victory in both race one and race two.
Andrew went into the weekend with confidence on a high on the back of his maiden victory in the series in the previous event at Silverstone.
A challenging qualifying session saw him secure 10th on the grid for the opening race but he was soon on a move when the lights went out to climb to fourth place by just the third lap. However, power-steering pump failure forced him to retire to the pits and meant he was left at the back of the field for race two, which was held in wet conditions on the Sunday morning.
A stall at the start left Andrew trailing behind at the rear of the pack before he launched into an inspired charge back through the field. Working his way up to fifth place, Andrew then made one of the moves of the season on the penultimate lap as he went round the outside of Jake Hill at Paddock Hill Bend and then repeated the move around the outside of title contenders Tom Sharp and Carl Breeze at Druids – making up three places in just two corners. Pulling away from the chasing pack, he crossed the line second behind Mark to give the team a 1-2 finish.
Running on old wet tyres for the third race, unlike many of his rivals who had switched to new rubber, Andrew then produced a solid drive to end his season with a fourth place finish that helped secure fourth spot in the championship standings.
Andrew said: “I’m really happy with how the weekend went. Race two was just phenomenal.
“When I stalled at the start, I could see them all just heading off to Paddock Hill ahead of me and didn’t expect to come back to second. The car was absolutely brilliant and me and Mark were similar on the lap times throughout. The move to get second is one I want to see again on TV as I can’t remember a lot about it, but to get a 1-2 for the team is fantastic.”
The result in the second race made Richardson Racing the first team to take a 1-2 finish in the G55 class, ensuring it heads into the off-season on a high.
Andrew said: “The team has really proved a point this weekend, to end the year strongly, as we only took delivery of Mark’s car on Thursday and put a lot of work in to it to get the set-up right. Mark drove it brilliantly and to be the first team to get a 1-2 finish in the G55s has shown what we can do.
“As a team, we can now look forward to next year and building on the potential we’ve shown in 2012.”
Information on sponsorship opportunities with the Richardson Racing team for the 2013 season are available by e-mailing info@richardsonracing.co.uk