Round 6 and 7 Rockingham July 17-18
For rounds 6 and 7 the Ginetta Challenge visited the high speed oval in Corby, Northampton in mid July. And for the third time this year, the weekend was to see heavy rain and plenty of safety car intervention

Qualifying was a on a damp but drying track and the times tumbled over the course of the 15 minute session. After being held up on laps 8 and 9 the driver would line up a disappointing 11th in the first race and a marginally better 9th in the second.

Race one saw a fired up Pearson make a great start and managing to pass 5 cars in the first corner melee, slotted into 6 th place behind Dave Jackson. Before long the first safety car was called whilst the marshals attended to the stricken car of Sean Huyton, who had been spun around after contact with Andy Richardson. At the restart the G40 of Ginetta employee Stewart Linn had latched on to the pack and was harrying Pearson for 5th . After the number 11 car of James Hamill became beached in the gravel at turn 6 the safety car was deployed again and it was touch and go if the race would finish under safety car control. Luckily the marshals removed Hamills car and the race became a one lap dash to the flag. The G40 of Linn, with the more powerful engine used its performance advantage to pass Pearson at the restart. Pearson, determined to retake the fifth spot lined up Linn at the hairpin and force a move to the inside. The race saw the first win for the G40 in the hands of Dominic Pettit

Race two saw another great start for Pearson and was in 7 th place into the first corner, and again behind Jackson. A third safety car of the day was called and after the restart the order was still the same. Huyton, Richardson, George Murrells, Pettit and Matt Harris made up the top 5 with Jackson and Pearson close behind. The safety car was to be called yet again, this time for Murrells, as contact with Pettit had forced his car to be spun around and was left undriveable and in a dangerous position. The top 4 positions remained the same and it was left to Pearson and Jackson to argue over fifth place. Side by side for most of the last lap it was Pearson who came off better at the flag. Well done to Huyton on his first ever win.

Next round is at Silverstone on the Grand Prix circuit in mid August.


Rounds 3,4 and 5 Pembrey 15-16 May
The team made the long journey to Pembrey in South Wales for rounds 3, 4 and 5 of the 2010 Ginetta Challenge. The technical and demanding 1.7 mile circuit would provide plenty of excitement and with 3 races over 2 days, drama and action was all but guaranteed

Torrential rain in Friday testing set the scene for the whole weekend and any plans for a dry weather set up on the car was quickly dismissed. By close of play Friday the team were happy that they could do no more and with top ten times in testing, it looked like a good result could be on the cards.

With the quickest 3 laps in qualifying counting as grid positions for the three races the pressure was on to deliver consistent and quick lap times. The driver didn't disappoint and when the timesheets came out the team were delighted with two 5ths and a 3rd.

With changeable weather for Race 1 the team opted to run the car on intermediate settings. However, with the track drying quicker than anticipated Pearson, running in 7 th place began to struggle and dropped away from the pack into the clutches of 6 th and 7 th place men Tom Jones and Matt Shawyer. A bruising race long battle ensued saw Pearson crossing the line 9th. Andy Richardson took his first win of the season with George Murrells and Sean Huyton also on the podium.

A wet race 2 saw pole man Murrells bog down at the start and by the first turn had been shuffled down the order. From there it stayed relatively uneventful at the front with Richardson, Huyton and Pearson pulling away from the pack. Murrells made a last lap challenge for third place but was never a threat. Needless to say, Pearson was delighted with a podium place, the first in 2010.

The final race again saw Richardson triumphant. A superb move on Huyton on the last lap took his weekend tally to a superb 3 out of 3. Pearson finished fifth after a race long battle with Dominic Pettit, in the new for 2010 G40 model.

The next round is at Rockingham in July.


Rounds 1 and 2 Oulton Park 3rd April
After an 18 month layoff the 2010 campaign began in February but in a somewhat unusual way. Stuart travelled to the frozen lakes of Sweden to hone his car control skills and blow away the winter cobwebs. “I was really glad of the practice on the Ice, when the heavens opened in qualifying at Oulton the car was really skating around on the wet track.”

A sodden qualifying session saw the team line up in 7th place for race one. A superb race-long tussle with Mark Wania and Gavin Mitchell saw Pearson get the better of both drivers and was in 6th place on the penultimate lap. When a last-lap accident brought out the red flags all the hard work was for nothing and Pearson was demoted back to 7th place on countback.

Race two was also cut short due to an incident. On the second lap the leaders arrived at turn one to find a slick of oil from an engine failure all over the racing line and with no warning and little run off the result was inevitable. 4 cars were badly damaged. Pearson, harrying Andrew Richardson for 4th place was aggrieved at not being able to claim valuable championship points. The race was abandoned as the circuit curfew loomed. Organisers agreed a re-run of the race later in the season.

Click on track names to visit their websites.

April 3 : Round 1 and 2
Oulton Park


May 15 - 16 : Round 3,4 and 5
Pembrey


July 17 - 18 : Round 6 and 7
Rockingham


August 14 - 15 : Round 8 and 9
Silverstone (GP Circuit)


August 29 - 30: Round 10 and 11
Snetterton


September 25 : Round 12 and 13
Brands Hatch (GP Circuit)


October 16 - 17 : Round 14 and 15
Donnington Park