Princes Risborough ace Geri Nicosia won at Thruxton at the weekend to keep tabs on the championship leader James Kellett.

For the first time this season, the drivers would be met with hot and dry conditions, tyre wear would likely be a factor after a qualifying session and two races.

A 30-car entry meant that qualifying was a crowded affair, the high speed Thruxton circuit where the GT5 Ginetta laps at just over 100mph average speed needs a clear run through the fast section, but just close enough to pick up a tow in the slipstream, but them to not be baulked going into the chicane.

Despite his best efforts, Nicosia could not get that elusive perfect run and was a little disappointed to qualify back in fourth place. Pace was similar to Stoney and Marshall, just ahead but Toth-Jones was a full three-quarters of a second faster. Kellett was fifth meaning the top four drivers were amongst the lead five.

Starting from fourth in race one, Nicosia drove round the outside of Stoney and Marshall within a third of a lap, and set about chasing after Toth-Jones.

As the lap ended, the front two has already broken clear, but as they approached the start line the safety car signs were out for a four-car incident at the complex – almost before the cars had the chance to slow, this became a red  flag, the race was stopped and would be restarted from original grid order.

A ten minute delay ensued leaving the drivers sat in their hot cars on the grid before proceedings could resume.

Nicosia did exactly the same again, exiting the complex in 2nd place and chasing down Toth-Jones. This time, Stoney has stayed within a second of the lead while Kellett had fallen to sixth, the gap from Toth-Jones to Nicosia being just 0.15 seconds as they finished the first lap.

The battle raged, but as Stoney slowing got closer to Nicosia, so Nicosia was having to defend as well as attack – by lap 5 there was a 4/10ths gap to the lead and the same back to Stoney. Ominously Kellett was now up to 4th and about to join the contest.

Lap seven and Nicosia started the charge – he broke his own lap record set last year by 15/1000ths and closed right up on Toth-Jones, setting himself up perfectly to take the lead on lap eight. Stoney and Kellett followed through but Nicosia was already over a second ahead at the end of the lap, extending the lead to two seconds on lap 10, when suddenly the safety car came out again and closed up the gaps. There was just the one lap under safety car conditions, then a four-lap sprint to the finish which saw Nicosia triumph from Kellett and Toth-Jones.

Sunday afternoon saw the live televised race, Nicosia starting from pole was ready for a repeat performance and he delivered. A storming start saw him 1.5 seconds clear at the end of the first lap, only to find another safety car with a driver stranded on the grid. This time the incident could be dealt with by two laps behind the safety car, but Nicosia’s lead was gone. A good restart saw him lead across the line by sixth/tenths but he would have to do it all again.

Nicosia was struggling to break free, Kellett and Toth-Jones were close enough to get the tow along the fastest section of the circuit, where the cars were reaching 130mph. Finally on lap seven, Kellett found a way past at over 120mph on the inside, to add insult to injury, Toth-Jones followed by on the outside as Nicosia dropped to third.

But only for three laps, after passing Kellett (now in second but slipping back to 5th) Nicosia exited the chicane right on the rear bumper of Toth-Jones. The latter ran slightly wide and Nicosia managed to hold a tight line and stay inside, passing into the lead before the finish line.

Disaster struck on lap 14, Nicosia had been gaining rapidly on a backmarker but looked like he would pass him on an open part of the track – but the backmarker seemed to panic and slow, causing Nicosia to rapidly lift off where he should have been flat out = this would cost a second of his lead to the now second placed Bird.

Sure enough, Bird simply out dragged Nicosia on the fast run to the chicane, Nicosia had one lap left to fight back, the cars travelling flat out bumper to bumper. One last chance down the back of the circuit as Nicosia pulled out of the slipstream and then found he still couldn’t pass. They came out of the chicane all but touching, Nicosia dived inside trying to repeat his earlier move but the finished line arrived too soon, Bird winning by 0.09 seconds, TV replays showed the distance to be about three feet.

After the race, Nicosia said: "Its been a tough weekend, I feel like I’ve had to win each race two or three times. I should have had the second win, but a win and a second means I am now up into second place in the championship and have closed the gap a little to Kellett."

Next time out, Round four is at Silverstone (GP Circuit) on June 9/10.