Carl Garnett endured a frustrating conclusion to the 2023 Ginetta GT Championship season as a number of issues outside of his control limited him to a sole eighth place finish at Donington Park this past weekend (21/22 October).
With pre-event testing on Friday cancelled due to heavy rainfall, Garnett headed into the weekend armed solely with the knowledge and experience gained during the championship’s first visit to Donington Park back in May, during which he scored a brilliant pair of podium finishes.
Unfortunately a braking issue on his Ginetta G56 GT Pro in the early stages of qualifying meant Garnett couldn’t take advantage of the circuit when it was at its best, with increasing rainfall meaning that despite his best efforts, he had to settle for ninth on the grid for the first two races.
There would be further frustration for the Telescope, Clearsilver, AC Database Services and Demon Tweeks backed driver in the opening race. Wheel-to-wheel contact with another car led to a puncture and damage, which ultimately forced him to retire in the pitlane.
The misfortune sadly continued for the York based driver on Sunday. A driveshaft failure ruled him out of race two before it had even started, before further issues in the final race of the season left him having to settle for an eighth-place finish.
Carl Garnett:“It’s incredibly frustrating to end the season with such a luckless weekend. From the moment testing was cancelled due to the weather, everything seemed to go against us and stopped us from being able to show what we could do on the track.
“Huge credit goes to Breakell Racing, they worked really hard to resolve issues with the car that were completely outside of their control. They’ve been brilliant all season and given me a quick race car to do the best I could with.
“This weekend takes nothing away from the season as a whole though, as I’ve loved going racing again and had some great fun out there against some great people. To compete in a Pro category, pick up five podium finishes and lead a Ginetta race overall for the first time is all a great bonus for me.
”Also thanks and congratulations to my team-mates Ruben and Karim on their great seasons. I’ve really enjoyed working with them and the Breakell team this year; a huge part of racing is the people and I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to go racing in.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.