BALYLICKEY’S Robert Cronin enjoyed his most successful outing in this season's Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship with a first and second place in the latest two rounds of the series in Snetterton.
His haul of a century of points was his biggest tally in the current campaign where he is third overall with four races remaining. His younger brother Colin racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship was denied two possible third place finishes due to final lap incidents.
In the Feature Race (40 minutes), Cronin started in P2 and although he lost a place before T1 he regained it before the second turn. The safety car was deployed after about five minutes and it took some ten minutes before racing resumed with Archie Clark getting about three car lengths clear of Cronin. However, within a lap the Ballylickey driver was all over the back of Clark's car, looking for an opportunity to overtake as he continued to pressurise the race leader.
Clark pitted with 18 minutes remaining and it transpired to be a disastrous stop as he lost two places. Cronin pitted with 14 minutes to go and with a good pitstop, was in the lead once the final two cars pitted for the mandatory stop.
On the remaining laps, and never under any great pressure except to avoid exceeding track limits, Cronin took the chequered flag for the first time in a Feature Race, and second time this season following his Sprint Race win at Oulton Park .
In Saturday's Sprint, Cronin, who was quick in testing, qualified in P3 and while he was quickly into second, Clark managed to fend him off throughout the 20-minute race.
'We struggled at the start of the year, but it's all really coming together in the last few rounds,’ said Cronin, after his Feature Race win.
‘The way the championship works is that you must drop one Feature Race result and two Sprint Race results. There are four races left now: Brands Hatch and Donington Park. It's getting better all the time. I know when I am overdriving it or not. All the Elite (Elite Motorsport) boys are doing a great job.'
Meanwhile, Colin Cronin's three races in the Ginetta Junior series resulted in seventh, sixth and 11th place finishes.
‘The first race just didn't go well. I was up to third in the second race and a driver spun in front of me at the very last corner. Then, in the third race, I was in third as we began the final lap but just going into Turn1 my car was hit by another driver and that knocked me right back. It was very disappointing,’ explained Colin.
Cronin will be back in action next week with rounds of the series in Zandvoort in The Netherlands.
