Following an enthralling season opener over Easter weekend at Oulton Park, the Ginetta G40 Cup headed east to Norfolk for the second meeting of the campaign and an 18 car field assembled for three races in support of the British GT Championship.
Daniel Morris (Quattro Motorsport) kicked off the weekend in perfect fashion in qualifying with his first two pole positions in the championship. Chris Salkeld (Assetto Motorsport) secured himself a pair of front row starts, with Rob Keogh (W2R Motorsport) getting third for both races.
Morris and Keogh went on to go wheel-to-wheel for victory in the opening race on Saturday afternoon. Despite the best efforts of former champion Keogh, it was Morris who emerged with his first victory in the championship by just shy of four tenths of a second.
Behind, there was another duel for third position between Salkeld and Alistair Barclay (SVG Motorsport), who headed into the weekend as the early points leader courtesy of a treble victory across the season opener at Oulton Park.
Barclay crossed the line in third however a post-race penalty moved him back a spot, securing Salkeld his second podium finish of the season so far. Jimmy Thomson (W2R Motorsport) took fifth, while Martin Wills (Assetto Motorsport) completed the top six and won the Chairmans Cup class.
Daniel Smith (Privateer) made an impressive start to his debut weekend in the championship with a seventh place finish ahead of Chairmans Cup podium finishers Roy Alderslade (W2R Motorsport) and Mike West (Assetto Motorsport), while Bill Forbes (Quattro Motorsport) completed the top ten.
It proved to be a similar story at the front of the field in race two on Sunday morning as Morris headed Keogh at the front of the pack. The leader’s hopes of victory were dashed however by a ten second time penalty for being out of position at the start.
The win therefore went the way of Keogh, who had piled on the pressure throughout the race to try and take the lead on track. That was his first win of the campaign and it continued his positive track record at Snetterton, having also won there in 2016 and 2018.
Barclay and Thomson enjoyed a great battle for third place on the road and with Morris’ penalty dropping him to fourth in the classified results, they were both rewarded with a podium visit. It was Thomson’s second ever G40 Cup top three finish, his first having come at Snetterton last year.
Fifth overall was more than enough for Alderslade to take a dominant Chairmans Cup victory, while the rapid Smith posted the fastest lap of the race as he fought back from 12th at the end of the opening lap to sixth at the chequered flag ahead of Salkeld, who also recovered from early drama.
Wills was another to produce an eye-catching comeback drive, rising from 17th on lap one to eighth position and second in the Chairmans Cup. The close-fought nature of the G40 Cup was shown by the fact that Wills led a pack of five cars split by just seven tenths of a second at the finish.
That gaggle of G40’s also included Forbes, Julian Wantling (Assetto Motorsport), Gary Wager (SF Racing) and West. Behind, John Wall (SF Racing), Robin Grimwood (Assetto Motorsport) and Charlotte Birch (SVG Motorsport) completed the top 15 for their best results of the weekend.
Keogh led the field away for the final race of the weekend that afternoon, while there was some early changing of positions behind as Morris climbed up a couple of places to second and Thomson briefly grabbed third before losing out to Barclay and Smith.
The top three soon broke clear and put together a fascinating battle for the race win. Regularly running side-by-side and even three abreast at one stage through the Wilson hairpin, their battle provided lots of entertainment for the trackside crowd.
Just after the halfway mark Barclay made his decisive move into the Bomb Hole and went on to take his fourth victory of the season so far. After trading places in the closing stages, Keogh kept Morris at bay for second place as he completed a podium hat-trick for the weekend.
There was plenty of position swapping behind also in the battle for fourth position, with Salkeld eventually coming through to take the place ahead of Thomson and Smith; the latter ending a strong debut outing with his second top six result of the day.
In the Chairmans Cup, Alderslade made it four wins in the opening six races of the campaign in seventh overall. Wills and West joined him on the podium this time around, those two having completed the top ten behind the consistent Forbes.
Shawn Fleming (SF Racing) and Lee Goldsmith (Assetto Motorsport) picked up weekend best results of 12th and 13th respectively, while Ian Duggan (Fox Motorsport) suffered an unfortunate retirement – his highest finish coming with 15th in race one.
In three weeks’ time the Ginetta G40 Cup is back in action for the third meeting of the season at the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ Silverstone on 08/09 June, where they will be sharing the grid with their Ginetta Racing Drivers Club counterparts.
