Robert Cronin and Harry Gamble scored the overall victories across an action-packed pair of Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship races over the bank holiday weekend event at Oulton Park (24-26 May).
Qualifying
Jack Collins (E3 Sport) put his name at the top of the GT Championship timesheets for the first time in qualifying, securing his maiden pole position in car-racing. He finished up two tenths of a second clear of Cronin (Elite Motorsport), who had been the quickest driver in Friday testing.
Cameron Pratt-Thompson (SVG Motorsport) was third fastest overall, while there were double qualifying celebrations for Elite Motorsport as team-mates Gamble and Ali Juffali scored the class pole positions in PRO AM and AM respectively.
Race One
After qualifying in dry conditions, persistent rainfall greeted the field by the time they returned to the track for the 20-minute sprint race on Saturday evening. Cronin shot past pole-sitter Collins through Old Hall for the first time to take the lead, while a slow start for Pratt-Thompson from third dropped him behind Mckenzie Douglass (Fox Motorsport), Hadley Simpson (Xentek Motorsport) and Gamble.
A frenetic opening lap saw an incident into Cascades end the race of Mike Taylor (Triple M Motorsport) and the returning Conner Garlick (Xentek Motorsport), while the points leader heading into the weekend, Archie Clark (MDD Racing), also retired after contact at the final corner with Gamble.
Following a short safety car period, the action resumed with a close-fought group at the front of the field. At the back of the pack was a fired-up Gamble, with moves on Simpson and Douglass – a race-winner at Oulton Park in his 2024 title-winning campaign – on the same lap netting him third place.
Ahead, Cronin was having to soak up plenty of pressure from Collins in their duel for the race lead. Gamble caught onto their tail though and at the second attempt, a move around the outside through Cascades and Island netted him second overall.
He ran out of time to try a move on the leader though, with Cronin securing his first Ginetta race victory. Gamble secured the PRO AM class win in second, with Collins and Douglass completing the PRO podium ahead of class rivals Simpson and Pratt-Thompson.
Luke Shaw (Raceway Motorsport) moved into the AM lead on the opening lap, however following the safety car period he was powerless to prevent a rapid Juffali from moving back ahead to take the class win in seventh overall – impressively posting the overall fastest lap of the race en-route.
Nick White (Raceway Motorsport) had to produce a comeback drive after a trip across the grass on lap one dropped him to 14th. The two-time Ginetta champion fought back well to ninth overall and second in PRO AM, with Alex Duncan (Xentek Motorsport) completing the class podium behind him.
Colin White (CWS) moved ahead of James Townsend (SVG Motorsport) on the penultimate lap of the race for 11th overall and third in the AM class. That proved to be a milestone result for the Ginetta veteran, earning him a 150th podium finish in one-make Ginetta championships.
Dominic Paul (Triple M Motorsport) survived a late scare to finish fifth in class ahead of racing siblings Emma and Amy Tomlinson with DTO Motorsport and Raceway Motorsport respectively. Alongside Clark, Taylor and Garlick, James Rolling (Fox Motorsport) was also another victim of the lap one drama.
Race Two
The 40-minute endurance race on Monday started in dramatic fashion, with an incident exiting the first corner ending the race of Pratt-Thompson and Taylor. A separate incident also saw Duncan nudge the barriers, but he was able to continue.
Front-row starters Collins and Cronin both lost ground through the first corner too, with a rapid-starting Clark charging from fifth on the grid to the race lead heading into a safety car period. Douglass slotted in to second ahead of Cronin, Gamble, Simpson and Nick White.
Rainfall before the race led to the majority of the field running on wet Pirelli rubber, but during the safety car period Cronin and Collins made the decision to switch to slicks. It seemed to be the right call as action resumed, with Cronin quickly climbing from 16th to 9th, however the rain soon returned.
Gamble was also revelling in the tricky conditions after the restart, passing Douglass for second at Hislops and then sweeping around the outside of Clark at Lodge corner to move into the race lead. He quickly broke clear of his pursuers too, building a three second lead within two laps.
The drama continued as a trip to the gravel for Townsend brought out the safety car again on lap nine, just as the window opened for the mandatory pitstops. Those reacting quickest to pit before the field queued up behind the safety car gained an advantage.
Gamble emerged from the pitstop cycle in the lead ahead of Clark, Nick White, Juffali and Shaw. The two drivers who pitted latest and therefore lost track position were Douglass and Simpson, eventually lying at the bottom of the top ten as the race restarted again with eight minutes left on the clock.
Gamble stormed clear at the front again and secured his first overall GT Championship race victory by over six seconds. PRO class winner Clark soaked up late pressure from Nick White for second overall, with White finishing second in PRO AM behind Gamble.
Juffali was hot on their heels too as he secured the AM victory in fourth overall, with class rival Shaw behind him. Emma Tomlinson was running third in AM after the final safety car period, however a late contact from Paul dropped her down the field. Paul was penalised for the incident, with a five-place penalty putting him behind Tomlinson in the revised result.
Douglass and Simpson therefore finished sixth and seventh overall respectively as they both finished on the PRO class podium. Amy Tomlinson picked up her first AM silverware of the season with third in class ahead of Rolling, Emma Tomlinson and Paul. Cronin, Collins, Duncan, Colin White and Garlick completed the finishers meanwhile, albeit off the lead lap after various additional pitstops and troubles between them.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/252105
Both races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship season heads into a seven-week break before the next round at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of 12/13 July.
