Nick White has hit back in the Ginetta GT Academy title battle with a pair of race victories on the final day of G Fest action at Silverstone (04 June).
After Ravi Ramyead (Century Motorsport) had set the pace in the opening two qualifying sessions of G Fest, there was a different name on the top of the timesheets on Sunday as White (Raceway Motorsport) took a double pole position for the second time this season.
White went three tenths of a second quicker than Mackenzie Walker (Assetto Racing), with Ramyead was left to settle for third. Matt Shaw was the top rookie again in fourth overall, with evo magazine journalist and rookie contender Yousuf Ashraf an impressive fifth quickest on his championship debut.
After an initial race start was red flagged due to an incident involving Thomas Shelley (Century Motorsport), White nailed his launch to the restart to lead Walker and Ramyead. Those three went on to run in formation all the way through to the finish, with White taking the win by 1.5 seconds.
The main action of the race came in the battle for fourth place, as GTA contenders Ed Acres (Century Motorsport) and Paul Livesey (Xentek Motorsport) battled it out with the top rookies Shaw and Ashraf, with positions changing in the group almost every lap.
Acres secured fourth ahead of Shaw and Livesey, however all three drivers had accumulated track limits time penalties. Ashraf was therefore classified ahead of them all to win the rookie class in fourth ahead of Shaw and Livesey, with Acres demoted to seventh after getting penalised twice.
Marc Elman (SVG Motorsport) was in the top six battle as well before an unfortunate spin, however he still came home eighth at the flag ahead of Emma Tomlinson and Charlotte Lowe, who ran nose-to-tail as they contested the final place on the rookie class podium.
While White enjoyed another lights-to-flag victory in the final race of G Fest to take his season win tally to five, there was drama behind as slight contact between Walker and Ramyead while battling for second position led to a spin for the latter.
As Walker finished second and Ashraf completed a stunning debut day by completing a rookie win double in third overall, Elman followed him home to secure his maiden GTA class podium finish. Ramyead’s recovery drive netted him fifth overall ahead of Livesey.
Richard Just bounced back from a tough opening race to finish second of the rookies, while Lowe was set for third before a last lap incident. Emma Tomlinson was therefore third on the road but got a track limits penalty, so sister Amy secured her first G Fest podium.
Phil McGarty (Alastair Rushforth Motorsport) completed a pair of seventh place finishes in the GTA class, while Shelley was battling for the top six early on before having to retire again. Another driver not to reach the finish was Lucy Tomlinson, who had finished as the fifth best rookie in the day’s opener.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/232221
All six races from the G Fest event can be watched back at www.youtube.com/ginettatv
The Ginetta GT Academy grid now get a weekend off before the action continues at Snetterton (17/18 June) back on the British GT Championship support package.
