An 18 car entry gathered for the opening rounds of the season in Cheshire, with an exciting mix of familiar faces and championship newcomers preparing to battle it out over three races around the Oulton Park International circuit.
In glorious sunshine on Saturday, it was Barclay (SVG Motorsport) who had the honour of taking the first pole positions of the season. His closest competition came from Chris Salkeld (Assetto Motorsport), Daniel Morris (Quattro Motorsport) and Rob Keogh (W2R Motorsport).
Barclay went on to produce a faultless performance in the opening race later that afternoon, leading from lights to flag to start adding to his breakthrough win in 2018. Morris and Keogh chased him to the finish, having climbed into the podium places on the opening lap.
Jimmy Thomson (W2R Motorsport) held fourth place throughout ahead of a thrilling three-way battle for fifth overall and the Chairmans Cup win between Roy Alderslade (W2R Motorsport) and Assetto Motorsport team-mates Martin Wills and Mike West.
After trading the class lead on a couple of occasions, it was Alderslade who took top spot ahead of G40 Cup debutant Wills and West. One of the drives of the race came from Bill Forbes (Quattro Motorsport), who rose from 13th on the grid to eighth overall.
Front-row starter Salkeld emerged from a rollercoaster race in ninth place, with Robin Grimwood (Assetto Motorsport) completing the top ten ahead of fellow Chairmans Cup competitors Ian Duggan (Fox Motorsport), Julian Wantling and Lee Goldsmith (Both Assetto Motorsport).
After a day off from on-track action, the final two races of the weekend took place on Easter Monday and it was a similar story at the front of the field in the first encounter. From pole, Barclay led throughout to make it two wins from two races.
Morris was in hot pursuit and finished within touching distance in second, while behind the destination of third position was decided on the final lap. Battling back after slipping to sixth on lap one, Salkeld picked his way past Alderslade for a maiden podium finish.
Fourth overall was still more than enough for Alderslade to take a comprehensive victory in the Chairmans Cup category. Next up were his two W2R Motorsport team-mates, with Keogh impressively climbing from 11th at the end of lap one to fifth ahead of Thomson.
Wantling came home seventh overall and second in the Chairmans Cup, with the final class podium finisher Duggan taking the chequered flag in ninth behind Forbes. West rounded out the top ten ahead of SF Racing team-mates Shawn Fleming and Gary Wager.
Barclay completed his supreme weekend in the final race on Monday afternoon, with another dominant display seeing him pull clear to a six second victory and in the process completing the record of leading every lap across the three races.
A fast-starting Keogh immediately challenged Morris for second on the opening lap. After some great side-by-side racing between the two, Keogh slipped through and held the place to the flag, while Morris finishing off his own podium hat-trick for the meeting in third.
Salkeld and Thomson completed the top five to cap off impressive weekends for them both, while Wantling picked up his maiden Chairmans Cup victory in sixth overall. Ian Duggan took his best result in the class so far with second, while Wills completed the podium.
Fleming enjoyed his first top ten finish of the season in ninth, while his SF Racing team-mate John Wall picked up his best result of the meeting in 13th. Debutant Charlotte Birch (SVG Motorsport) enjoyed her strongest result of 14th in race two, while Charles Corner (Privateer) enjoyed a high of 15th in the same race.
The 2019 Ginetta G40 Cup is next in action at Snetterton in Norfolk next month (18/19 May).
