Luke Reade has been provisionally crowned winner in the inaugural champion in the Protyre Motorsport
Ginetta GT Championship. He shared the victories with Ruben Hage across the penultimate
meeting of the 2023 season at Brands Hatch (09/10 September).
For the fourth time this season it was Hage (Breakell Racing) who set the pace in qualifying. A tight
session saw him edge out Reade (Wolf Motorsport) by just 0.073s, with the latter getting the upper
hand on second fastest time for the race two pole.
The top two were almost a second clear of the next quickest duo Colin White (CWS 4×4) and Callum
Davies (SVG Motorsport), while a last gasp effort from Will Rochford (TCR) netted him the GT5 pole
ahead of Xentek Motorsport trio Ella Lloyd, Luke Garlick and Sam Harvey.
It was Reade who made the best start to the opening race, hanging it around the outside of Hage
through Paddock Hill Bend and Druids to take the lead. Another fast-starter was Carl Garnett
(Breakell Racing) who shot up from sixth to fourth, while White slipped back to fifth.
Spins into the gravel for Bal Sidhu (Xentek Motorsport) and Karim Sekkat (Breakell Racing) led to
successive safety car periods, with the latter leading to a red flag stoppage. Reade controlled the
restart and the final run to the chequered flag to provisionally secure his second consecutive Ginetta
title with a victory.
An issue for Hage caused him to pull off circuit from second place, meaning that Davies and White
completed the podium ahead of Garnett. A thrilling finish behind saw Conner Garlick (Xentek
Motorsport) pip Liona Theobald (SVG Motorsport) by just 0.139s at the line, however a five second
track limits penalty for Garlick meant their positions swapped back on the final result.
In GT5, Lloyd got the jump on Rochford on the first lap of the race to lead the class. She went on to
lead every lap for a crucial victory ahead of title rival Luke Garlick, with Rochford left to settle for
third ahead of Harvey and series returnee Paolo Santi (Raceway Motorsport).
Hage bounced back from race one disappointment with a supreme drive in race two, storming past
pole-sitter Reade on the run to Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. He led every lap from there,
including successfully negotiating a safety car restart, to take the race victory.
Davies ran third throughout while a late move saw Conner Garlick pass White for fourth. An incident
between Garnett and Theobald whilst battling for sixth led to a double retirement, with Sidhu taking
the top six berth ahead of SF Racing pair Shawn Fleming and Gary Wager.
Rochford led GT5 from the start to the safety car period, however Luke Garlick swept past at
Hawthorns on the restart lap to take the victory. Rochford finished second on the road, however a
ten second penalty for an out of position start dropped him back to fifth behind Pablo Jequier (Race
Car Consultants).
Harvey and Lloyd completed a Xentek one-two-three therefore, the latter having run second for a
long spell before having to visit the pitlane to remove an advertising board from the front of her car
after an off-track excursion.
The final race of the weekend began with a fast-starting Davies shooting past Reade off the line for
second place, before benefitting from a trip across the grass for pole-sitter Hage exiting Stirlings to
take the race lead.
Davies’ advantage was short-lived however as Hage dived back down the inside at Paddock Hill
Bend, with Reade following him through. Hage aimed to complete a double win for the day, but a
slight moment opened the door for Reade to slide past and take his 12 th win of the season.
Davies lost third position to Conner Garlick out of Westfield on lap five and ended up slipping further
down the order. It was Garnett who ended up pressuring Garlick late on after a superb charge from
tenth on the grid, but the latter held on for his third podium of the year.
White was hot on their heels in fifth as Theobald rounded out the top six ahead of Davies, Wager,
Sidhu and Fleming. The GT5 contest was as action-packed as ever, with Lloyd and Luke Garlick
enjoying another close-fought duel for the victory.
Lloyd was on course for the win until a last lap incident with Garlick left her in the gravel trap and
out of the race. Garlick received a post-race penalty for the contact, which demoted him from the
race win to second before Rochford, while Jequier finished up third for his maiden Pro class podium.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/233605
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The 2023 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship season comes to a close with three races on
the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit over the weekend of 21/22 October.
