Ruben Hage secured a dream clean sweep of race wins in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship during the opening day of G Fest at Silverstone (02 June).
The GT Championship action kicked off with the rescheduled race from the British GT event last month. Hage (Breakell Racing) started from pole position after qualifying fastest that weekend, however his advantage was short-lived as Luke Reade (Wolf Motorsport) got ahead into Copse for the first time.
Hage made a move a couple of laps later though to regain the lead, before pulling clear to take his maiden win by two seconds. Reade was a comfortable second, while after a slow start to the race dropped him from the front-row to fifth, Callum Davies (SVG Motorsport) fought back to complete the podium.
Carl Garnett (Breakell Racing) overcame Conner Garlick (Xentek Motorsport) to finish fourth, with Garlick grabbing fifth after trading places with Colin White (CWS 4×4). Liona Theobald (SVG Motorsport) and Shawn Fleming (SF Racing) completed the GTA finishers.
Sam Harvey ended the opening lap in the GT5 Pro class lead, but his Xentek Motorsport team-mate and pole-sitter Ella Lloyd got ahead on lap two and drove clear to a seven second win. Harvey held on to second after a good battle with Will Rochford (TCR) in the closing laps, while Bal Sidhu (Xentek Motorsport) secured the GT5 Am honours.
The official G Fest action then started with qualifying and it was Hage who made it back-to-back pole positions at Silverstone ahead of Davies. Blake Angliss (Breakell Racing), one of a number of drivers to join the grid for the festival, was an impressive third on his first race outing of the season.
Reade was fourth fastest ahead of Garnett, Garlick and Theobald, whilst Rochford took a first GT5 Pro pole position of the year ahead of Lloyd and the returning 2022 race-winner Nat Hodgkiss (Race Car Consultants).
The first of the G Fest races saw Hage carry the momentum from his earlier victory to lead from start-to-finish as Davies tailed him throughout. Reade and Angliss, who went toe-to-toe for the GT4 SuperCup ‘G55 Pro’ class title last season, reignited their duel over third place.
Reade’s valiant defence was breached at the final corner of the race as Angliss stole the podium in his first Ginetta race in eight months. Garnett had a quiet race in fifth as Theobald rounded out the top six ahead of White and Fleming.
An exciting tussle for the GT5 Pro honours saw Hodgkiss keep Lloyd at bay to mark his return to the championship with a win, while a last lap issue for Karim Sekkat (Breakell Racing) dropped him out of third and gave a podium to Rochford ahead of Luke Garlick (Xentek Motorsport).
Hage completed his hat-trick with another lights-to-flag victory in the closer, however it was far from easy as his team-mate Angliss heaped on the pressure. Despite his best efforts to force an overtaking opportunity, the leader held firm to secure the win.
Davies dropped from second to fourth at the start of the race, but got back ahead of Reade into Stowe corner for third and stayed there for his eighth podium finish of the season. Reade remained fourth to the finish, with White fifth after passing Garnett on the opening lap. Behind Theobald and Fleming, Conner Garlick was ninth from a pitlane start and Gary Wager (SF Racing) completed the top ten.
Rochford was the star of the show in GT5 Pro as he stormed clear to an eight second win. The action was fierce behind though as three cars battled for second, with places changing almost every lap. Luke Garlick finished second on the road after some great late moves, but he accrued 15 seconds of track limits penalties to drop him back to fifth in class.
Hodgkiss therefore was second ahead of Lloyd and Harvey. Sidhu completed a triple win in GT5 Am ahead of the Pro contenders Sekkat, the returning Paolo Santi (Raceway Motorsport) and Lexie Belk (Privateer).
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/232221
All three races can be watched back as part of the G Fest coverage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5gDHWtnNzM
The Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship teams and drivers face four more races this weekend (03-04 June) at G Fest on the Silverstone National circuit.
