William Antrobus made in three consecutive wins in the Ginetta Festival at Croft before Cameron Pratt Thompson secured a long-awaited maiden victory in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship on Sunday (28 June).
Qualifying
Antrobus was unstoppable across Saturday’s action, and picked up where he left off in qualifying. The Elite Motorsport ace topped the timesheets in an incredibly close-fought session, with less than a tenth of a second splitting the top three cars.
Pratt Thompson (SVG Motorsport) secured second on the grid for race one and pole for race two based on second fastest times. Harry Gamble (Elite Motorsport) was close behind, while James Nicholas (E3 Sport) set the pace in the AM class in fourth overall.
Race Three
Just like he did in both of Saturday’s races, Antrobus led the way from start-to-finish in the opening encounter of the day. It was far from easy for him though, with Pratt Thompson tucked up under his rear wing for the majority of the race.
Pratt Thompson pushed hard to try and create an overtaking opportunity, but Antrobus soaked up all the pressure to secure another victory. Gamble couldn’t quite match their pace as he finished third, with Louis Darling (Orion SPR) finishing fourth after gaining a position on lap one.
Some of the best action of the race came in the battle for AM class honours. It all changed on the opening lap as Nicholas dropped behind Jamie Caudle (E3 Sport) and Alex Duncan (Xentek Motorsport), with Caudle going on to lead a close battle between the three.
Laps of pressure culminated in a move from Duncan on Caudle on lap 12, with Nicholas then passing his team-mate a lap later too. The battle didn’t stop there though, with Nicholas getting ahead on the last lap to secure the AM class win from Duncan and Caudle.
Race Four
Antrobus and Pratt Thompson reignited their battle in the final race of the day, with the duo once again running nose to tail in the opening stages. This time around Pratt Thompson was able to make a move stick though, diving down the inside into the hairpin on lap six.
The second-year driver kept the advantage to the chequered flag for an emotional first win in the GT Championship. Antrobus and Gamble followed him home to complete the class podium, the latter having to fight back past a fast-starting Darling in the early laps.
It proved to be a tough race from there for Darling, who lost three further positions before eventually retiring in the pitlane. One of those to pass him was Duncan, who had previously overtaken Nicholas on the opening lap, to eventually secure his second AM win of the weekend in fourth overall.
Nicholas dropped back to third in class at one stage, but got back ahead of Caudle with a move around the outside at Tower on lap six. They rounded out the AM podium, as Elliot Foster (MDD Motorsport) and Lucie Hodgson (Orion SPR) finished fourth and fifth in class for the second consecutive race.
Antrobus picked up the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award, with his 1:22.394s lap in race three being the quickest racing lap of the event. In the process, he establishes a new GT Championship lap record on the series’ first visit to Croft.
Full race results can be found at https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/262631
All of the weekend’s qualifying and race sessions can be watched back now at www.youtube.com/gtworld
