After the highs of Knockhill, when he became the most successful Ginetta racer of all time, Carl Breeze came down to earth with a bump at Rockingham Speedway – and gave himself a mountain to climb if he is to secure the Ginetta SuperCup GT4 title.
'Qualifying and both races were disappointing, especially after the highs of Knockhill,' admitted the Bluechip-supported driver after the races at the Corby speedway.
'A third and a fourth were not the positions we were hoping for. I was struggling with the car's handling. Championship-wise we have much to do in the final races.'
Having made significant inroads into Charlie Robertson's series lead in Scotland, Breeze was aiming to do the same at Rockingham, but, instead, his rival took the glory.
Starting in qualifying Robertson stamped his authority on the weekend by claiming pole position for the opening race while Breeze could only post the fourth quickest time which, with Andrew Watson's penalty from the previous round, gave the local racer third spot on the starting grid,
As Robertson added to his season's win tally, Breeze held third place, but had to stoutly defend his podium position over the final stages as the recovering Watson tried to take the place away.
Robertson looked good for a repeat victory in race two until his tyres started to fade, which allowed Watson to storm past for victory.
Breeze was again hanging on to third place and held the position for all but the final few yards of the 17 laps when he was out-dragged to the finishing line by Tom Oliphant.
With five races left to run Breeze trails Robertson by 48 points while, counting dropped scores, he still has to make up 26 points over his rival.
However, in the Teams Championship, Breeze's squad, United Autosports, have maintained their lead, with the King's Lynn racer's team-mate Luke Davenport finishing eighth in race two after posting a non-finish in the earlier contest.
Making his Ginetta SuperCup GT4 series debut at the Northampton track was Dereham's Tom Howard who has been impressing in the Britcar Championship this season.
In qualifying Howard planted the Tollbar Racing-run Ginetta GT4 on the fifth row and finished in ninth place having made a good start to be eighth at the end of the opening lap.
Another demon start in race two promoted Howard to sixth place, but he fell back two places on lap seven before making a pit stop, resuming in 12th place before finally ending up in 10th.
Dereham's Will Goff returned to the Porsche Carrera Cup at Rockingham and managed to secure third place in the ProAm2 category in the opening race.
Race two proved to be a lot better for the local racer as he won the class after making a blistering start which put him ahead of category leader Steven Liquorish who was unable to unseat Goff, despite race long pressure.
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