On the first of two visits to the circuit this season, it was Warren (Raceway Motorsport) – double race-winner in the season opener three weeks’ prior – who topped the timesheets ahead of Leo Karavasili (Breakell Racing), the latter scoring the race two pole on second fastest times.
Thomas Holland (Raceway Motorsport) and the leading rookie class contender Ravi Ramyead scored row two starts for the opening two encounters, with Danny Dwyer (Xentek Motorsport) and championship newcomer Stewart Linn (W2R) completing the top six.
From pole position, Warren put in a supreme performance in the first race. Building a one second advantage within the opening couple of laps, he continued to edge clear over the remainder of the race and ultimately secure a third consecutive race win by almost three seconds.
Holland worked his way past Karavasili through the opening couple of corners of the race and held the position to the end as Raceway became the first team to achieve a one-two finish in the championship. Karavasili scored his maiden podium finish in only his third ever car race.
An impressive drive from Ramyead saw him run fourth throughout to score a comprehensive rookie class victory, with his fellow podium finishers Jon Kearney and Marc Elman finishing back in 16th and 19th overall respectively.
Dwyer held fifth from start to finish, while Tom Hartley Jnr (Century Motorsport) gained a couple of spots to finish sixth. Nick White (MRM) climbed up from 13th on the grid to seventh, emerging from an exciting late battle with Assetto Motorsport’s Mackenzie Walker and Martin Wills.
There was close racing in the final laps between W2R duo Richard Sykes and Linn, with the former holding on to the top ten berth. Julian Wantling finished 12th on the road, however a time penalty for track limits infringements dropped him back three position.
Sebastien Dubois (Motus One) therefore went from 19th to 12th, while Edward Acres (Century Motorsport) superbly fought back from 27th at the end of lap one to 13th. Joel Wren was next up for reigning champions SVG Motorsport, his best result of the season so far.
Robin Grimwood (Assetto Motorsport), Maurizio Sciglio (Datum Motorsport), Mike West (Assetto Motorsport), Gary Wager (SF Racing), Mark Steel (Toro Verde GT) and Steve Williams (MRM) ended the opening race of the weekend in the points-paying positions in the GTA class.
Race two unfortunately proved to be a stop-start encounter, with a couple of red flag stoppages limiting the racing laps. Warren grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Karavasili at the original start and went on to make it four wins in a row for the season so far.
Ramyead continued his own winning streak in the rookie class with his highest overall race result so far of second, as W2R duo Linn and Sykes completed the GTA top three. Walker was fourth on the road, however a time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage put him behind Dwyer.
Acres rose to seventh ahead of his team-mate Hartley Jnr, with Wantling matching his best result of the year in ninth. Kearney took a maiden overall top ten result as he finished second of the rookies ahead of Wills and Marco Anastasi (Datum Motorsport), who bounced back well from a race one retirement.
The final race of the weekend saw Warren untroubled at the front of the field as he converted pole position into another lights-to-flag success, a result that means he’s still led every single lap of the season. Ramyead ran second throughout as he maintained his own 100% success rate in the rookies.
Sykes and Walker ended up in a near photo-finish as they completed the GTA class podium, while Hartley Jnr picked up three places through the race to secure a seasons’ best fifth overall. Holland completed the top six, following a great charge from 15th on the grid.
Behind Dwyer, the drive of the race came from Karavasili. Starting 23rd on the grid after a race two retirement, he scythed his way through the order to eighth ahead of the trio of Wills, Thomas Shelley and White, who produced some fantastic wheel-to-wheel racing in the closing stages.
Sciglio was right on their tail at the finish too, with Grimwood finishing 13th ahead of Dan Rathbone and Shawn Fleming (SF Racing) – all three drivers taking their best results of the weekend. Rathbone also took home a rookie class trophy, as Shelley completed a double class podium for the day.
Warren’s continued dominance means he also extends his unbeaten run in the Chairmans Cup, a class for drivers aged 45 and over. Ramyead joined him on all three podiums, with Sykes and Wills also picking up silverware.
Full race results can be found at https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/222105
Races two and three can be watched back at https://www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The 2022 Ginetta GT Academy season continues in two weeks’ time (11/12 June) as it makes its annual appearance on the British Touring Car Championship support bill at Oulton Park in Cheshire.
