Mckenzie Douglass and Nick White have stormed clear at the top of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship points standings after both producing dominant performances in their classes during the G Fest event at Anglesey (29/30 June).
Welsh ace Douglass was the class of the field on home tarmac as he took three PRO race victories from the four races contested, with Luke Garlick enjoying the other success, while White has made it eleven consecutive wins in the AM class with a clean sweep across the event.
Saturday
Wet weather greeted the field for the opening qualifying session on Saturday morning, with Douglass (Fox Motorsport) setting the pace in North Wales by four tenths of a second from leading AM contender White (Raceway Motorsport).
Harry Mangion secured his seasons’ best qualifying result of third overall ahead of his Raceway Motorsport team-mate Matt Shaw. James Taylor (W2R) finished fifth ahead of Xentek Motorsport trio Luke Garlick, Conner Garlick and Callum Noble.
Douglass made a good start to the opening race to hold onto his advantage through a close-fought opening lap. Behind, a terrific dive into Rocket corner secured Mangion second at the expense of White. That move kicked off a thrilling race-long duel between the two.
As Douglass broke clear at the front and went on to take the victory by over seven seconds. The battle for second went right down to the wire. White made multiple challenges for the spot but a spirited defence from Mangion netted him a first podium of the season in second.
Third overall was still enough for White to take the AM class win though ahead of class rivals Taylor and Shaw, who switched places on the opening lap. In the battle of the Garlick brothers, Conner got the upper hand on lap one to ultimately secure the final spot on the PRO class podium.
White started race two from pole position courtesy of posting the best ‘second fastest time’ in qualifying. He held the advantage through the first few corners, as a fast-starting Luke Garlick shot from fifth to third and mounted a challenge on Douglass for second.
Next time round, a slow run out of The Banking for White opened the door for Douglass and Garlick to draft past. Douglass got his head down from there and started pulling clear of the field. Garlick wen on to have a tough race as a spin and then contact ultimately led to retirement.
His brother Conner took over second in the PRO class and went on to grab second overall from White on lap five too. However, he faced misfortune of his own a few laps later as he pulled off circuit into retirement. The various troubles behind meant Douglass was untroubled as he won by almost 13 seconds.
White took the AM honours once again in second overall ahead of fellow class runners Taylor and Noble. Noble took his first podium in only his fifth Ginetta race. After an early spin, Harry Mangion recovered to fifth overall. He also took second of the PROs ahead of his father Peter Mangion (Raceway Motorsport).
Sunday
Following his Saturday dominance, Douglass started Sunday on top as well. He set the pace by four tenths of a second in qualifying. The Garlick brothers bounced back from their race two frustration to finish in the top three. Luke led Conner, while White scored the AM pole in fourth overall.
Douglass put in another controlled performance in the third race of the weekend. Luke Garlick put him under pressure in the early laps, but the leader started edging away and took the win by 2.7 seconds on the road.
Post-race however he was handed a ten-second time penalty for a false start. This promoted Luke Garlick to the victory for a one-two finish with his brother Conner. Douglass was ultimately classified third in the PRO class.
White comfortably led the AM contingent from start-to-finish. Taylor was next in class after a lap one battle with PRO runner Harry Mangion. Shaw was a non-starter in race two due to a mechanical issue. However, he bounced back from that frustration to finish third of the Ams in race three.
Douglass completed his impressive weekend with another lights-to-flag victory in the final race. Making no mistake from pole position, he wouldn’t be troubled as he pulled away to a 5.6 second victory. That makes it 10 podium finishes from 12 races for the season so far.
White meanwhile has a perfect 12 podiums from 12 record in the AMs. His latest victory was coming in second overall after he passed Luke Garlick at Rocket on lap one. Garlick pressured him all the way to the finish as he finished second in the PRO ranks.
Conner Garlick ran fourth early on before a trip across the grass at Church dropped him back to an eventual finish of eighth. Harry Mangion benefitted to complete the PRO class podium, finishing fifth overall at the flag behind AM front-runner Shaw.
The destination of the final AM podium berth was decided late on. Taylor overtook Noble to complete a perfect four-podium haul for the event. Behind Conner Garlick, Peter Mangion signed off his weekend with fifth in the AM class.
You can watch the full race results at: www.tsl-timing.com/event/242631
The four races can be watched back as part of the G Fest coverage at: www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship teams and drivers don’t have to wait long for their next race action! Our trip to Snetterton in Norfolk is coming up in less than two weeks’ time (13/14 July).
