Langridge motors to fine finishes

The Bodiam driver finished second in class in round seven and then won round eight at Cadwell Park, an undulating 16-corner circuit in the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Langridge qualified third quickest on the Saturday in the dry, but felt he may have been able to get on the front row, ending up under a tenth-of-a-second behind second-placed man Nick Bowers.

The Sunday dawned and the conditions were very wet. Langridge had a fantastic getaway, but had to dodge pole-sitter Jason Cooper, who appeared not to move, and fourth-placed starter Andrew Wilmot then drove by into the first corner, leaving Langridge back in third.

At the end of lap one, Langridge was all over the back of Wilmot and sliced past into the fast turn one at the start of lap two. He was then immediately onto the rear bumper of Bowers.

Cooper made it a three-car train for the lead and a safety car period bunched the cars up for one lap. After the restart, Langridge was once again all over Bowers.

Going into the tight Hall corners, first Bowers, then Langridge and finally Cooper hit some gearbox oil. Following closely, Cooper ran out of space and was unfortunate to hit the wall.

The incident ended his race and also brought out the red flags, so the result was declared. It was Langridge’s fourth second place in as many meetings.

The second race of the day was also run in wet conditions. With the reverse grid system, Langridge started from fourth. Bowers - starting fifth - had a great start and jumped in front of Langridge at turn one.

With more confidence than in the morning, Langridge was straight into fourth at turn two by passing Wilmot.

He then enjoyed a magnificent series of corners to drive around the outside of Bowers into the tricky ‘Mountain’ section and then pass pole man Saghir Hussain at the hairpin only a few corners later.

Langridge was now four seconds behind leader Aaron Trigwell, but by lap five he was right with the WDE Motorsport man. With a great run out of Charlies, Langridge was able to pull alongside up Park Straight and then outbreak Trigwell to take the lead.

He then opened up a decent-sized gap only to suffer a scary grassy moment at 100mph with two back markers. Otherwise, it was a clear run to his first Class C win and he was 10 seconds clear at the flag.

Langridge said: “I’m so happy, it’s fantastic. I really wanted longer to be able to keep the pressure on Bowers in race one, as I would’ve liked to have seen how it would unfold, but it wasn’t to be.

“This second race just all fell into place for me, though. I was happy with the circuit and my car, and comfortable to push hard. It feels brilliant.”

Langridge is now the only driver to have scored a podium finish at each meeting so far this season. There is plenty to play for in the second half of the season, which begins at Rockingham on June 30 and July 1.