Protyre News

R&J Motorsport’s Lewis Brown secured the 2017 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge championship title at Donington Park on Sunday. With a win & a third place, Brown saw off closest rival Shane Stoney, who ended the season finishing fourth & seventh.

Brown moved into the points lead after a win in the morning’s race. Century Motorsport man Max Bird moved ahead at the start, which provoked a race-long battle between Brown, Bird & Stoney. After 15 minutes of frantic action, Brown overtook Stoney and Optimum Motorsport’s driver, Ollie Wilkinson. Due to a five-second time penalty, given for exceeding track limits, Stoney finished fourth in the official result. This adjusted Wilkinson to second & Matt Palmer to third, filling the final podium position.

Brown’s second race saw him starting in tenth position and Stoney in seventh, in a reverse grid affair. By the end of the first lap, R&J Motorsport’s Hadfield was leading from his starting position of sixth, with Milner in second, Wells dropping down to third and Bird moving up to fourth.

A lap later, Brown had risen to sixth whilst Wells dropped to fifth. It began to look very likely that there would be a wheel-to-wheel battle between the championship contenders, Stoney and Brown who crossed the line in sixth & seventh. Yet, Brown, focused on the fight for a podium position, pulled away meaning the Stoney faltered into eighth position.

When the red flags came out, the scrap at the head of the field was underway! Cars were becoming stranded in potentially dangerous positions in the gravel, so the result was called at the end of the sixth lap, meaning that Hadfield, Bird & Brown took the podium slots.

In fourth, fifth and sixth were Pinder, Wells and Milner, Stoney was seventh and Ashley Marshall, Palmer and Carlito Miracco rounded of the top 10.