Round 6 of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge

After the promising progress made at Brands Hatch, the team was targeting the top five here at Snetterton, Nick Zapolski proved last year that he has what it takes with some competitive lap times.

Testing on Friday had some mixed results and despite making changes to the set up all three Drivers were struggling to find any real pace. Glen Broster put the cat amongst the pigeons when he elected for new tyres this weekend, and his teammates followed suit, not wanting to be at a disadvantage during qualifying. Jack Minshaw was learning the circuit and struggled to find any balance on his worn test tyres. Qualifying was disappointing with, Zapolski  11th, Broster 12th, and Minshaw 13th, we were going to be up against it, to hit the targets set for the weekend.

Race 1 saw Ollie Chadwick take the top step on the podium followed home by championship leader James Kellett, they appeared to be in a class of their own lapping over two seconds quicker than 3rd place Callum Pointon. Minshaw having got to grips with his braking problems was now starting to find his way, and finished top of the trio in 8th with Zapolski close behind in 9th and Broster who had another eventful race in 11th. Although all the drivers had improved on their grid positions the mood in the camp was one of determination. We had to improve the set-up and worked with the drivers to fine-tune the settings ready for Race 2.

Kellett and Chadwick were once again out front with Pointon closing the gap slightly, the pack led by Luca Hirst was involved in some fantastic racing, with Zapolski making real progress off the line until he was spun in a racing incident with Alexis Taylor, Zapolski recovered only to be squeezed out by Antonio Ledesma during an overly ambitious move around the outside of Riches which saw his race end in the gravel. Minshaw made further progress now lapping 2.8 seconds quicker than in qualifying finishing 7th with Broster only just losing out to Robinson in 9th having shaved 0.7 seconds off his fastest lap time.

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Race 3 saw dark clouds overhead and the threat of rain was realised during the green flag lap. The most exciting race of the season so far was about to unfold with cars sliding around on slick tyres in conditions that continued to deteriorate. Chadwick resisted a last-lap lunge from Kellett to take the honours, Pointon held station as he had all weekend. But behind some superb driving from Zapolski who had started last saw him carve up the field to an impressive 6th place only the chequered flag saved Hirst from the charging driver who appeared to have something to prove as the Motors TV on board camera captured all the action. Minshaw found his way up to 5th place during the race only for the conditions to catch him out and send him spinning to finish behind his teammate in 11th. Broster who had battled to keep Minshaw behind him earlier in the race only to be passed when an aggressive move from Minshaw caused him to spin must have been happy just to stay on the circuit and come home in 10th place.

Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in the East Midlands will host the final three races of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge season on the 12th/13th of September.