William Antrobus and Jamie Caudle have strengthened their title bids in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship by both claiming a hat-trick of class victories in the sunshine at Snetterton (15-16 August).
Qualifying
Antrobus (Elite Motorsport) continued his brilliant run of form in qualifying, topping the timesheets for the fourth session in a row. He secured a double pole position by less than a tenth of a second from Felix Livesey (Orion SPR), who matched his seasons’ best qualifying result in second.
Harry Gamble (Elite Motorsport) went fastest in pre-event testing, but had to settle for third on the grid ahead of his debutant team-mate Vladislav Tomenchuk. Alex Duncan (Xentek Motorsport) went quickest in the AM class in fifth overall, ahead of class rival Caudle (E3 Sport).
Race One
Antrobus got a great launch off the line to lead the field into Riches for the first time. There was drama behind though as Gamble, Tomenchuk and Louis Darling (Orion SPR) went three-wide into the first corner, with contact sadly causing retirement for Tomenchuk in his debut race.
As Antrobus and Livesey settled in to the top two positions, Gamble was able to fend off an opening lap challenge from Caudle to remain third. That left the latter to lead an exciting five-car train battling over fourth place as the race ticked towards mid-distance.
After a frustrating qualifying session, PRO title contender Cameron Pratt Thompson (SVG Motorsport) was making forward progress as he passed James Nicholas (E3 Sport) for sixth and then benefitted from a wide moment for Darling to grab fifth.
Soon after, Caudle encountered a backmarker at Murrays and ran wide. As he recovered to the circuit, he ended up running three-abreast down the start-finish straight alongside Pratt Thompson and Darling, with the latter pulling off a stunning double move into Riches to grab fourth.
Ahead, Antrobus led throughout to win by almost three seconds. Gamble pushed hard to try and make a move for second, but Livesey soaked up the pressure to hold the spot. Darling finished up fourth, as Caudle secured the AM class win in fifth ahead of Pratt Thompson.
Duncan pulled off a move on Nicholas into Oggies on lap seven to secure second in the AM class on the road, however those positions were swapped back in post-race judicial. Fellow AM competitors Elliot Foster (MDD Motorsport) and Lucie Hodgson (Orion SPR) rounded out the race finishers.
Race Two
Antrobus followed up his race one performance with a similarly dominant display on Sunday morning. After keeping a spirited Livesey at arms’ length in the opening stages of the race, he edged clear to a three second victory to continue his brilliant run of form.
Livesey’s podium challenge came to a premature end as he had to pull off circuit, promoting Gamble to second position. Darling looked on course for the podium behind, but a move into Murrays on the penultimate lap secured Tomenchuk a top three result in his debut race.
That meant Elite Motorsport became the first team in three years to record a one-two-three result in the GT Championship. Darling had to settle for fourth, while Caudle doubled his AM class win tally for the weekend with a lights-to-flag victory in fifth overall.
Pratt Thompson made a move on Duncan at mid-distance for sixth overall, with the latter keeping Nicholas at bay in the closing laps for second in the AM class. Foster and Hodgson once again completed the field as they finished fourth and fifth in the AM’s.
Race Three
Antrobus completed his perfect weekend with another lights-to-flag win in the final race. Breaking clear within the first few laps, he had a comfortable march to victory from there to sign off the event with a double pole position, three wins, three fastest laps and every lap led.
Behind, Darling made a rapid start to proceedings and rose to second briefly, before Gamble fought back to regain the position by the end of the lap. Tomenchuk slipped back to fifth through Riches for the first time, but fought back to fourth ahead of Caudle.
The driver on the move behind was Livesey, having started from the back of the grid following his race two retirement. Gaining four positions on the opening lap alone, he then picked his way past Nicholas and Caudle before pulling off a brilliant switchback move on Tomenchuk for fourth.
As Gamble ran second to the chequered flag, there was a late change for the final podium position as Livesey’s brilliant charge culminated in a move on Darling for third. Behind the Orion SPR duo was Tomenchuk, while Pratt Thompson grabbed sixth late on.
Caudle completed his AM victory treble in seventh overall, with Duncan moving up to second in class with a dive into the Wilson hairpin on Nicholas in the latter stages. As they rounded out the class podium again, Foster and Hodgson completed their weekend in fourth and fifth respectively.
Antrobus’ efforts also secured him the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award. He recorded the quickest racing lap of the event and a new GT Championship lap record for the Snetterton 300 circuit with a 1:56.163s lap in race two.
Full race results can be found at TSL Timing. All three races can be watched back now at GT World on YouTube.
