Carl Garnett secured a superb pair of podium finishes in the latest rounds of the Ginetta GT Championship at Donington Park (27/28 May), ending the weekend as the highest-points scoring driver on the grid as he moved up to second in the championship standings.
Following on from impressive performances in the opening two meetings of the season at Oulton Park and Silverstone, Garnett remained a consistent presence towards the sharp end of the grid as he raced a Ginetta on the full Donington Park Grand Prix circuit for the first time.
The York-based driver built on some solid progress during pre-event testing on Friday to produce an impressive qualifying performance, securing fourth and third on the grid for the opening two races in his Breakell Racing prepared Ginetta G56 GTP.
A characteristically fast start saw Garnett shoot into second place heading into Redgate corner for the first time. Unfortunately, it proved to be a tough race from that point as he struggled for pace, defending valiantly before eventually slipping back to fourth position in the end.
Lining up on the front row for race two after a penalty for another driver, Garnett kept tabs with the race leader in the early stages before a safety car period. When the action resumed he enjoyed a thrilling battle for second, trading the place multiple times before just missing out in the end as he finished third
The Telescope, AC Database Services and Demon Tweeks backed driver lined-up third for the final race of the weekend, before an issue for the pole-sitter combined with another quick launch saw him lead the field into Redgate for the first time.
Garnett went on to lead his first laps in Ginetta racing, before a small mistake dropped him back to third. Briefly moving back up to second, he would eventually take the chequered flag in third place to make it four podium finishes for the season so far.
Carl Garnett: “I’m over the moon to come away with a couple of podium finishes from the weekend. I didn’t quite have the pace to match the top guys across the races and found myself making a few mistakes, but I stayed out of trouble and made some moves where I could.
“It was a good feeling to lead a Ginetta race outright for the first time and a useful learning experience if I find myself in that situation again. Thank you to Breakell Racing for a great job with the car and hopefully we can get some more podiums next weekend.”
Garnett’s 2023 season continues this week with Ginetta’s ‘G Fest’ event at Silverstone (02-04 June). Three days of competition will include a trio of GT Championship races on the Grand Prix circuit on Friday, and then four more outings on the National layout over the weekend.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.