A Festival of Ginettas – G-Fest – took place at Anglesey on 29th/30th June when the BRSCC’s North Western Centre oversaw the on-track action which featured no less than 4 races of 20 minute duration for each of the manufacturers’ 3 one make series which were all visiting this circuit for the first time.
Damp conditions on Saturday gave the drivers a challenge but at least it was dry on Sunday. Each day had qualifying sessions and then 2 races for each category.
Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship
Race 1
A daring piece of late braking at Rocket on the first lap of the opening Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship encounter saw Harry Mangion move into second ahead of Nick White. He then tried to go round the outside of the leader, Mckenzie Douglass, in the second element of the complex but they emerged wheel to wheel with Douglass using the inside line to move ahead. He then pulled away to win by 7 seconds as Mangion held off White.
Race 2
Next time out, White made the best start and he was pursued by Douglass and Luke Garlick. The latter had come through from fifth on the grid and his car appeared to be handling much better in the wet conditions.
Everything changed at The Banking on lap 2. White was slow out of the corner and, in a flash, he was down to third as Douglass and Garlick zapped by. Immediately behind them, fourth placed Mangion spun promoting Luke’s brother, Connor, to that position.
Connor closed in and put White under pressure. Before long White again had difficulties exiting The Banking handing third to C. Garlick… and then he was into second when his brother spun at Seaman’s. Finishing runner-up to Douglass would have been an excellent result for C. Garlick but with 2 minutes remaining, his car coasted to a halt exiting Rocket. Therefore, White was second with James Taylor third.
Race 3
Douglaas was out front for the duration of the third Ginetta GT contest but he received a 10 second penalty for a false start. This meant Luke Garlick was declared the winner with his brother, Connor, second. His penalty dropped Douglass to fourth behind Nick White.
Race 4
After his win earlier in the day, Luke Garlick lost second place to White the first time the field tackled Rocket in race 4. He fought back on lap 2 but White kept him at bay and opened out a small gap. Garlick had more speed in the closing stages but couldn’t get near enough to make a challenge.
Upfront, there were no penalties for Douglass this time as he took the chequered flag with a comfortable lead.
Early on, Connor Garlick put himself out of contention when he ran wide on the exit of Church after which his engine temperature rose and he needed to pit to have the grass removed from his radiator grille.
Ginetta GT Academy
Race 1
There was mayhem at The Banking on lap 1 of the first Ginetta GT Academy race which saw 4 of the first 5 on the grid delayed. Gareth Thomas, James Nicholas, Luke Shaw and Harry Gamble were the drivers affected. This left Mike Taylor with a healthy advantage which he maintained until the finish. Thomas was the least delayed by the incident at the second corner. He came home runner-up to Taylor having pushed Jamie Caudle back to third with 5 minutes remaining. Nicholas came home fifth, Shaw was tenth, one place ahead of Gamble.
Race 2
There was more drama at the start of the second encounter as the two drivers who set off from the front row of the grid, Nicholas and Taylor, traded paint on the run to the first corner. There was more side by side action exiting The Banking. As they compromised each other’s line, Gamble got a better run than the pair of them down the back straight and overtook Nicholas.
Taylor broke away as Gamble defended second from Nicholas but eventually he had to yield at the Bus Stop on lap 4. Nicholas then charged off after Taylor as Gamble fell into the clutches of Thomas who took third at Peel after Gamble ran wide exiting Rocket.
Upfront, Nicholas caught the leader but Taylor hung on to take the win despite losing his clutch half way round the last lap forcing him to leave his car in third gear.
Race 3
In the third thrash, Nicholas took the lead at the first corner but when he reached Rocket, he ran wide at the first element of the complex, went across the grass and then clipped Taylor as he exited the second part. The impact spun both cars around with Nicholas collecting Thomas and Caudle.
The race was red flagged and, of the 4 cars involved in the incident, only Taylor took the restart. He was the first to see the chequered flag ahead of Luke Shaw.
The championship has strict limits on the number of tyres competitors can use. During qualifying on Sunday, Gamble fell foul of this rule which meant he had to start from the back of the grid in this and the next race. Nevertheless, he still worked his way up to take third.
Race 4
Many drivers had a great deal of work to do to repair their cars for the final outing of the weekend.
It was another frustrating opening lap for Nicholas. He led into Target but was passed by Taylor at The Banking before losing places to Thomas and Caudle at Rocket. After a few laps Nicholas was back ahead of Caudle, who had a front brake that was locking, but by this time both had been passed by Shaw.
Just after half distance, Nicholas took third from Shaw at Rocket with a textbook manoeuvre. He made no further progress, finishing behind Taylor and Thomas. Taylor completed a clean sweep, winning all 4 GT Academy contests.
Gamble once again had to work his way through from the back of the grid during which he clipped the left rear wheelarch of Emma Tomlinson and caused her to spin. As a result, he received a 3 position penalty and was classified eighth.
Ginetta Junior
Race 1
Race number 1 for the Ginetta Juniors saw Ethan Jeff-Hall break away as Charlie Hart battled to hold on to second place ahead of Henry Joslyn and Marcus Saeter. After a couple of laps Joslyn passed Hart at Rocket. With Hart on the wrong line, Saeter got through too leaving Hart to defend fourth from Isaac Phelps.
On lap 6, Joslyn ran wide at The Banking’s apex. He ended up with 2 wheels on the grass and dropped a couple of places. The mistake from Joslyn tempted Saeter into also out-braking himself but he kept his car on the tarmac to move up to second just ahead of Hart. When the chequered flag came out, Jeff-Hall and Saeter had comfortable margins in first and second while Joslyn battled back to finish third on the road but the stewards decided he had gained an unfair advantage at some point and applied a penalty which put him behind Hart in the final classification.
Race 2
Saeter recovered from a poor start, which saw him down in fourth at the first corner, to be running second to Jeff-Hall at the end of the opening lap. He put the leader under increasing pressure until he moved ahead with 6 minutes remaining. Jeff-Hall then ran a little wide at The Banking which meant third placed Joslyn caught him up. The pair made contact at the Bus Stop on the penultimate lap after which Jeff-Hall was able to pull away to come home a comfortable second.
Race 3
For the third contest of the weekend, Chase Fernandez qualified second but dropped to third on the opening lap after contact. He soon got back ahead of Saeter but Jeff-Hall already had a race-winning advantage despite putting a wheel on the grass at Church.
Just after half distance, Saeter overtook Fernandez on the approach to Target by which point Archie Clark and James Shotton had joined in the fun. Clark tried to go round the outside of Fernandez at Rocket but only succeeded in allowing Shotton to pass him.
Saeter pulled away in second as Hart joined the fight for third. Clark got back ahead of Shotton and then tried again to pass Fernandez on the last lap. This time he was successful but they both ran wide allowing Shotton to take third – his first podium – and Hart fourth.
Joslyn finished ninth after being knocked into a spin at Rocket by another competitor on lap 1.
Race 4
Jeff-Hall and Fernandez broke away at the front of the fourth and final encounter. Behind there was an epic battle for third between Phelps, Joslyn and Saeter. Eventually, Joslyn broke away to make the position his own while Saeter was carrying a 10 second penalty for an out of position start. Such was the closeness of those running outside the Top Three that this dropped him all the way down to fifteenth in the final classification.
Marshals
The BRSCC would like to thank all officials and marshals for their help in running this meeting. We hope you enjoyed the weekend of Ginetta racing
Dave Williams