Winning Start for Bartholomew and Middleton at European Super Trofeo Opener

Go Motorsport Management drivers Jack Bartholomew and Stuart Middleton secured a double podium on their debut in the European Super Trofeo Championship at Silverstone at the weekend.

With Bartholomew returning to Europe after racing for the past two years in Asia and Middleton making his debut in the Super Trofeo Championship from European GT4 it was the duo’s first race at Silverstone for some years.

Bartholomew took the opening stint of Saturday’s race, having qualified the car fourth fastest, and at the rolling start he was edged back to fifth after running wide at Copse. Shuffled back to sixth soon after, the Bonaldi driver was determined to hit back and he did so to reclaim fifth. When the pit stop window opened with half an hour to go, Bartholomew stayed on track and as rival squads served their mandatory stops he moved through into the lead of the race. Eventually pitting to hand over the Huracan to Middleton with 20 minutes left on the clock Middleton headed into the race in fifth before the Safety Car was deployed due to a stricken Lamborghini on track.

Bunching up the pack nicely, the action resumed with around 11 minutes to go and Middleton instantly set about making progress. Storming through into fourth place, he then set his sights on the podium and duly grabbed third position at The Loop with a fantastic move around the outside. Reeling in the top two cars, Middleton closed significantly into the last five minutes of action before drama unfolded ahead. As the leaders battled at The Loop they made contact, enabling Middleton to sweep past into the lead. He went on to take the flag almost three seconds clear.

For race two on Sunday morning, Middleton started the encounter from second on the grid, at the rolling start Middleton unfortunately dropped to fourth but he quickly hit back to take third out of Copse – second in the Pro class. Running within 0.6 seconds of Alberto di Folco at the end of lap one, the gaps between the top three gradually opened up as the race progressed and with 35 minutes to go Middleton was roughly two seconds shy of second place. Staying in touch with the leaders, while continuing to pull away from the chasing pack, he pitted to hand over the car to Bartholomew on lap 13 and he then entered the race with around 22 minutes left on the clock. When the order settled Bartholomew held third, under major pressure from Vito Postiglione, but a dramatic spin for leader Davide Venditti at Becketts on his out-lap from the pits elevated Bartholomew into second. Working hard to soak up Postiglione’s relentless pressure, at Luffield on lap 16 his rival slipped through and so Bartholomew was edged to third where he stayed to the flag.

Misano in Italy, Bonaldi Motorsport’s home track, will host the second round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season over the weekend 29th/30th June.