Frederik Mortensen and Osamu Kawashima put on another fine showing racing for Century Motorsport in rounds seven, eight and nine of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Silverstone.
Hopes were high in the team going into qualifying on Saturday morning after the strong Friday test. Struggling with the balance of his car, Frederik was unable to match his testing pace but still managed to put in a time good enough for eighth place. However event officials disallowed the time for exceeding track limits leaving him in 14th. Osamu Kawashima placed himself amongst the Ginetta G20 runners in 24th place for race one, setting his best time on the final lap.
Saturday afternoon played host to the only race of the day for the GT5 drivers. Having adjusted their cars after Qualifying, Frederik capitalised on the improved setup and moved up to seventh place by the end of lap five. The remaining laps were spent chasing down Callum Pointon whom he narrowly missed out on passing for sixth place before the chequered flag. Osamu Kawashima also made progress in the early part of the race promoting himself to 23rd place on the opening lap before falling down to 25th for a spell. By the end of the race he had made his way back into 23rd as he got more to grips with Grand Prix circuit on every lap.
The grid for the second race of the weekend was formed from the drivers second fastest lap times in qualifying. Frederik Mortensen starting from 15th was keen to move up the order once again as was Osamu Kawashima. However a spin on the opening lap out of Becketts dropped Mortensen down to 18th. Osamu also slipped to 26th place but by the end of lap five had moved back up to 23rd passing some of the G20 runners. With two laps left to run, Frederik found a way past Rob Gaffney to move into the top ten.
Becoming known for his ability to progress up the order in the earlier races, Mortensen continued this in race three. Starting tenth, the Danish driver moved himself up into sixth and on to the tail of Brad Bailey at the end of lap one. Kawashima also had a blistering start and moved up to a weekend high of 16th at the same point. Frederik was now caught in a battle with fellow G40 runners Callum Pointon and Luca Hirst. The trio swapped positions several times in the remaining few laps before a last lap move would promote him into a well deserved sixth place. Kawashima, clearly a lot more at home in his Ginetta G40 was now lapping at a personal best rate to end his weekend with a 17th place finish.
Frederik Mortensen – #25 Ginetta G40:
“It was a great weekend, we had a good practice on Friday and found a good set up. We changed something for qualifying that wasn’t so good so we were not so fast but the team are doing a great job and I am very happy with sixth place in the last race. I am now looking forward to Snetterton as its another high speed track so it is going to be fun!”
Osamu Kawashima – #11 Ginetta G40:
“We had a good weekend ending with a season best race so thank you to all the Century guys. I need to find more speed but I look forward to Snetterton.”
Nathan Freke – Team Principal, Century Motorsport:
“Testing went well for the guys, Frederik is very quick and Osamu is making good progress. Qualifying came and we just didn’t get the set up right in the morning and unfortunately Frederik’s fastest lap was disallowed. Osamu is getting quicker all the time but we still need to make improvements. The weekend ended on a high as both drivers had a great race three, Frederik had a mega race to finish sixth and with Osamu having his best race yet it was a really good result for the guys.”