Nathan Tye wins drag race for GP Plate
Image © KartPix
A near capacity grid of 35 drivers would contest the biggest race of the season, and (strangely) the first major event of the season, the British Grand Prix. With cash prizes on the line, as well as the coverted ‘GP’ plate, it would be every man for himself.
The early pace was set by Nathan Tye, who topped qualifying, lapping the PF International circuit in 1:07.39, just under a tenth faster than Strawberry Racing’s Ethan Jeff-Hall in 2nd. Noah Wolfe would pop up into 3rd for Fusion Motorsport with Jeff-Hall’s team mate Daniel Sofronea in 4th. there would be some big names out of position, with X30 Euro series winner Fionn McLaughlin only able to manage 18th fastest leaving him some work to do in the heats.
The hard work would kick off in the first heat, where McLaughlin would charge his way through the field, ending the opening race of the weekend 2nd behind Nathan Tye. Jeff-Hall held the early lead before being shuffled out by Archie Clark before a last lap overtake allowed Tye to take the win. A solid run for privateer Macauley Bishop would see him come home 3rd, in front of Clark.
McLaughlin would repeat his awesome drive through the field in heat 2, while at the front it was a cut throat battle between Tye, Jeff-Hall and Bishop for the lead. The fight would allow McLaughlin to close in and with 3 laps to go, he was back up to 2nd place. That was at the expense of Tye, who ended up tumbling down the order on the final lap, crossing the line in 15th before a penalty dropped him down to to 30th. Jumping to 1st was Jeff-Hall taking the win by just 0.08 on the line with Sofronea completing the top 3. At the flag, Cathal Clark, Lewis Wherrell and Sebastian Minns all came home within a second of the leader in 4th, 5th and 6th.
Jeff-Hall stole the lead in the opening lap over Tye, but it wasn’t long before the ORM driver was able to get passed the Strawberry racing man. Jeff-Hall then lost out to McLaughlin and Bishop before the first 5 laps were done. Tye wasn’t going to run away with the race, as McLaughlin pushed him around the almost 1400 meter circuit as they tried to build a gap over Bishop in 3rd.
Instead of trying to catch up, Jeff-Hall had Cathal Clark trying to get passed him to make it a Fusion 2-3. Clark decided that he didn’t want to follow Jeff-Hall and sent it passed the Strawberry man at the first hairpin to slot in behind his 2nd placed team mate. All the while, the gap to McLaughlin in 2nd was slowly going up. With 4 minutes to go it was around 4 tenths. Behind the front battle, Hady Mimassi was on a charge, having already climbed 10 places to run in 8th, with a small gap to Noah Wolfe in front.
As the race reached it’s closing stages, the race at the front started to look a little bit tasty. McLaughlin was done following and was now looking to overtake the ‘PF’ plate. By now, Ethan Jeff-Hall was running 3rd, but even he couldn’t get himself within striking distance of the leaders. Having seen that, Bishop was looking to have his turn at catching the leaders.
Onto the final lap, McLaughlin was still close to Tye, who was now defending for his life to hold onto the GP plate. That brought the chasing trio into the fight. McLaughlin had a look into Bobby Game corner but couldn’t get along side. In a drag race to the line, Nathan Tye took the win by 0.05 seconds from McLaughlin with Jeff-Hall completing the podium.
Iame Cadet Kartmasters GP Top 10
1 – Nathan Tye – Oliver Rowland Motorsport
2 – Fionn McLaughlin – Fusion Motorsport
3 – Macauley Bishop –
4 – Ethan Jeff-Hall – Strawberry Racing
5 – Cathal Clark – Fusion Motorsport
6 – Zachary Knight – Oliver Rowland Motorsport
7 – Archie Clark – Strawberry Racing
8 – Noah Wolfe – Fusion Motorsport
9 – Hady Mimassi – Evolve Motorsport
10 – Lewis Wherrell – Oliver Rowland Motorsport
