The sixth round of LGM saw Callum Bradshaw take both his fourth consecutive podium in the championship and second win of the season. However, despite leading the race by just shy of eight seconds, going on to the last lap Callum would unfortunately not bring the first-place trophy home with him. With one side of his front nose cone down at the flag combined with his jubilant celebrations the eventual ten second penalty would drop him to 4th place rather than 2nd. It was devastating news after what had been a fantastic end to the weekend.
The day started off with a victory in heat one with this time Callum falling on the other side of a penalty. Starting 9th on the grid Callum was up to 2nd place in the space of just two laps! The leader at this stage was already down the road and with pressure from behind Callum’s aim became all about holding on to 2nd. With Callum slightly off the pace that task was not the easiest but he did so successfully and with the leader picking up a penalty he would inherit victory.
Callum would start all the way down in 20th for heat two and had just ten laps to make up as many places as possible. Once again Callum was on fire in the early stages as he climbed up towards the top ten. Now in 11th after just five laps Callum set his sights on a top ten finish and although that didn’t happen on track he had kept his nose clean which meant he would once again move up the order to 8th post-race.
The third and final heat provided a variety of lap times with tricky conditions and those certainly didn’t fall in the favour of Callum. The race was certainly no disaster though, Callum pretty much finished where he started with 8th place from 7th on the grid. The combined points left Callum 4th in the classification heading into the final.
As conditions improved the times would tumble in the final and with it Callum became unbeatable. From 4th he was quickly into the lead after just two laps and that would be the last anyone saw of him! Setting fastest lap after fastest lap Callum was over five seconds clear by the half way stage of the race! From there it was a bit of a procession but that didn’t stop Callum from pushing with his lead at 7.7 seconds by the time he received the last lap board.
Given the day hadn’t all been plain sailing and given this would be Callum’s second win and fourth podium of the season the celebrations were big as he came across the line. He had slowed down by around two seconds in the process which would eventually cost him a podium. Somewhere during the race a kerb had forced one side of Callum’s nose cone in leaving him with a ten second penalty and down in 4th place. It was a tough one to take, but Callum still took valuable championship points away as he continues his impressive run in the series.
Although the results show Callum in 4th, he will always remember the race as a victory after a fantastic performance in the final!
Callum Bradshaw: “Whilton LGM was a tough one to take. We showed good pace on Saturday practice in the dry but Sunday was a different story. We maintained our pace shown in the dry and converted it into the wet conditions with a win in the first heat. The final was tricky conditions on wets as the track was dry apart from turn 1-2. From the start, I got to the front and from there I felt in control and showed exceptional pace. It’s fair to say we are unlucky with the bumper as I was leading from the start but on the positive side we still picked up good championship points.”
Callum will be straight back in the seat this weekend as he returns to FIA Karting racing for the final round of the European Championship at the Essay circuit in France.
