Mckenzie Douglass and Nick White have increased their points leads in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship after each securing perfect class win hat-tricks at Snetterton (13/14 July).
Saturday
For the third qualifying session in a row it was Douglass who went fastest of all. The Fox Motorsport ace put in a dominant performance in wet conditions, securing a double pole position by a margin of 1.4 seconds, the largest in GT Championship history.
White (Raceway Motorsport) finished as the fastest AM class runner for the fifth consecutive qualifying session meanwhile in second overall. Luke Garlick (Xentek Motorsport) had set the pace in official testing on Friday, but had to settle for third in qualifying.
Douglass led the field away from pole at the start of race one that afternoon, with early moves behind seeing Xentek Motorsport pair Luke and Conner Garlick both get ahead of White. That kicked off an exciting three-car battle for the lead over the first half of the race.
Luke Garlick had a couple of moments where he got a run on the leader. But, Douglass fended him off to take the win. Those three ran in formation to the chequered flag. However, a ten-second time penalty for track limits infringements dropped Conner Garlick from third to fifth.
White was one of those to benefit as he took the AM victory in third overall, with Harry Mangion (Raceway Motorsport) the other as he completed the PRO podium. Sixth overall meanwhile was Alex Toth-Jones (SVG Motorsport) on his return for a second outing of the season.
Three drivers made their Ginetta debuts in the race; Marcus and Morgan Short (both W2R), sons of former British GT champion Martin, and sim-racing content creator turned successful racer Jimmy Broadbent (Xentek Motorsport).
After getting stuck behind a slow-moving Matt Shaw (Raceway Motorsport) off the rolling start, Broadbent fought his way from the rear of the field past Peter Mangion (Raceway Motorsport) and both Short brothers to finish seventh overall and take an AM class podium.
Sunday
Douglass kicked off Sunday’s action with a dominant charge to victory in race two. White initially challenged around the outside into Riches on lap one. But, that would be the only challenge Douglass faced as he supremely pulled clear to a three second victory.
White secured the AM victory in second. Conner Garlick swept around the outside of Shaw at Brundle on lap three to secure third position on the road. However, the additional of five seconds to his time for track limits infringements ultimately dropped him back two positions in the final result.
Shaw was therefore classified third overall and second in the AM class ahead of Luke Garlick, who fought forward from seventh on the grid to fifth on the road. Conner Garlick made it a double PRO podium for the brothers, ahead of Harry Mangion and Toth-Jones.
Another rollercoaster race for Broadbent saw him climb up three places from the back of the grid in the early laps. However, a spin whilst challenging Toth-Jones dropped him to last again. As Morgan Short finished eighth overall, Broadbent recovered to ninth ahead of Marcus Short and Peter Mangion.
The race two result set the grid for the final race of the weekend, meaning Douglass and White would line-up on the front row. They held position through the opening lap, while behind Luke Garlick moved past Shaw at Agostini for third overall.
An exciting moment behind saw cars running three abreast down the back straight. Conner Garlick and Harry Mangion had already traded fifth place back and forth. Then, Toth-Jones got a fantastic run on both of them and gained two places at once into Brundle.
Douglass once again seemed untroubled at the front. However, a late safety car period wiped out his near three second advantage. A one-lap shootout to the chequered flag followed. Douglass held firm at the front for his tenth victory of the season so far.
Luke Garlick dove past White into Riches on the final lap for second overall. Though, it didn’t stop White from securing his 14th AM class win in a row. Class rival Shaw followed him home. Conner Garlick was fifth on the road, but a 15 second track limits penalty dropped him to last place.
Toth-Jones benefitted from that to earn his first PRO podium finish of the campaign ahead of Morgan and Marcus Short. Both enjoyed their best results of the weekend. Peter Mangion picked up an AM podium ahead of Broadbent. The latter had been involved in an incident that ended the race of Harry Mangion.
Full race results can be found at: www.tsl-timing.com/event/242805
You can watch back all three races here: www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The penultimate round of the 2024 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship is coming up in eight weeks’ time (07/08 September). It will be our second trip of the season to Donington Park in Leicestershire.
