Post matching 'GT Championship'
Ruben Hage and Luke Reade shared the victories in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship 2023. They raced at Cadwell Park for the first time this past weekend (22/23 July).
The Ginetta G56 GT Pro cars provided quite a spectacle around the 2.2-mile Cadwell Park circuit, with the 310bhp racers reaching top speeds of over 140mph around the ‘mini-Nürburgring’. Quickest of those in qualifying on Saturday morning was Hage (Breakell Racing).
Adapting best to treacherous wet conditions, Hage topped the qualifying timesheets for the third time this season by a margin of four tenths of a second from Callum Davies (SVG Motorsport) and Carl Garnett (Breakell Racing), while Ella Lloyd (Xentek Motorsport) led the GT5 Pro class.
The rain had relented slightly before the opening race that afternoon, though it still began behind the safety car. Hage was in dominant form once the racing started, quickly storming clear of the pack and taking a comfortable lights-to-flag victory.
Davies was untroubled as he came home in second. Championship leader Reade (Wolf Motorsport) pulled off a smart move on Garnett into Park corner to secure third. Colin White (CWS 4×4) and Bal Sidhu (Xentek Motorsport) completed the GTP class finishers.
It was typically close-fought in GT5 Pro meanwhile, with Lloyd having to work hard to keep her Xentek team-mates Sam Harvey and Luke Garlick at bay and secure a crucial win. Karim Sekkat (Breakell Racing) finished fourth in class.
The second race proved to be one of two halves, with a red flag stoppage to the original start. That came after an off for Davies whilst running second overall, plus an incident in GT5 that ended the races of both Garlick and Harvey as they battled Lloyd for the lead.
The return of the rain during that stoppage led to different conditions for the restart. Reade took full advantage off the line as he shot past pole-sitter Hage. He edged clear to his tenth win of the season. A retirement for Garnett meant the battle for third went to White ahead of Sidhu. Lloyd took the GT5 win on the road. However, she took a time penalty for her part in the earlier incident, awarding Sekkat his first class victory of the season.
The final race of the weekend featured an exciting duel for victory between Reade and Hage. The championship leader led away from pole but Hage applied constant pressure. A bold move around the outside at Park and Charlies corners moved him to the front. He claims his fifth win of 2023.
A half-spin for Reade meant he wasn’t able to retaliate and had to settle for second place. Meanwhile, Davies put in a brilliant drive from sixth to third in his repaired G56. The move put him ahead of Garnett, White and Sidhu. Lloyd made it two wins for the weekend in GT5, as Sekkat defended well to keep Harvey at bay for second.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/232921
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The 2023 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship 2023 season continues in seven weeks’ time (09/10 September). There will be a return to the British GT Championship support package on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
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