Mckenzie Douglass and Nick White have been crowned the provisional 2024 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship class champions after each scoring victory hat-tricks in the penultimate round of the season at Donington Park (07/08 September)
Saturday
Douglass (Fox Motorsport) set the pace in official testing on Friday, however in qualifying the following morning it was White (Raceway Motorsport) who topped the timesheets for the second time this season; his first pole position also coming at Donington Park back in May.
White was impressively over seven tenths of a second quicker than Douglass, who topped the PRO class ranks by almost half a second from Xentek Motorsport siblings Luke and Conner Garlick, with Alex Toth-Jones (SVG Motorsport) ending up fifth fastest overall.
A wet-but-drying circuit greeted the field for the opening race that afternoon, leading to a mix of cars on slick and wet Pirelli tyres. The action began with a slight touch between White and Douglass going into the first corner, costing Douglass places to Luke Garlick and Toth-Jones.
Garlick’s hopes of challenging White for the lead were hampered by a spin at Coppice on lap two, just before the safety car emerged on track. When action restarted, the race lead quickly changed hands as Douglass slotted down the inside of White into the Melbourne hairpin.
Douglass was one of those to gamble on slick tyres and he maximised the advantage they gave him, storming clear to take the race victory by 19.55 seconds – less than a second shy of the biggest winning margin in GT Championship history.
Conner Garlick was another to benefit from dry rubber on his Ginetta G56 GT Pro, picking off Harry Mangion (Raceway Motorsport), Alfie Davies (Breakell Racing) and Toth-Jones. He then closed down a seven second gap to White on wets, passing him on the penultimate lap for second position.
White finished third overall to take the AM win and provisionally wrap up the 2024 class title in the process. Behind, Luke Garlick impressively recovered from his early spin, charging through the order to complete the PRO class podium.
There was some fantastic wheel-to-wheel racing in the midfield pack, with Harry Mangion making two moves in the final two laps to finish fifth. Ginetta Junior graduate Davies completed the top six on his championship debut ahead of Toth-Jones.
A late move from Peter Mangion (Raceway Motorsport) secured him second in the AM class from Gracie Mitchell (MDD Racing), while two drivers who picked up strong race finishes in their debut Ginetta races were Paolo Buccini (SVG Motorsport) and Josh Mclean (Pace Performance).
Sunday
On a wet circuit for race two, White led the field out of Redgate for the first time as Douglass and the Garlick brothers ran three abreast behind. That led to contact between Douglass and Luke Garlick though, pitching the latter into the gravel trap and out of the race.
Douglass was able to maintain second place, in the middle of a close-fought three-way battle in the early stages. As Conner Garlick dropped off his tail, Douglass was able to go on the offensive and he grabbed the race lead into the Melbourne Hairpin on lap seven.
There would be no further changes from there, as Douglass took the victory and White secured AM class honours behind. Conner Garlick finished second of the PRO contenders, with Davies completing the class top three after gaining three places on the opening lap and then passing Harry Mangion.
McLean rounded out the top six overall after a last lap move on Callum Noble (Xentek Motorsport), who bounced back from a race one retirement to finish second of the AM’s. Mitchell completed the class podium ahead of Peter Mangion and Buccini.
Douglass headed into the final race of the weekend knowing that he simply needed to just finish the race to be crowned the provisional PRO champion. He’d start from back in sixth though, after receiving a five-place grid penalty for his part in the first lap incident in race two.
As White and Conner Garlick headed the field from the front row, bold moves around the outside at Redgate and Hollywood moved Douglass up to third ahead of Harry Mangion and Davies. The safety car was out soon after, with a first lap incident ending the races of Mitchell and Noble.
When the action restarted, Douglass briefly slipped to fourth behind Harry Mangion but fought back on the next lap and made it a three-way battle for the overall lead. Picking off Conner Garlick at mid-distance, his next target was White out front.
White held him off in the closing laps though to win outright for the first time this season and secure his 17th consecutive AM class victory in the process. Douglass followed him home to provisionally seal his first Ginetta title and a fourth success for the Fox Motorsport team.
Harry Mangion comfortably held fourth place through to the chequered flag, while a last lap move from Toth-Jones got him fifth at the expense of Davies. Those two drivers both made trips to the podium over the weekend, receiving a trophy for being the highest-placed guest drivers in the races.
Peter Mangion and Buccini went on to complete the AM podium alongside White, those two sandwiching McLean in the final result. Luke Garlick was a non-finisher meanwhile, after being caught up in a multi-car incident at McLeans after the safety car restart.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/243605
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The final round of the 2024 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship is coming up in three weeks’ time (28/29 September), with a trip to Brands Hatch in Kent.
