This challenging track, just shy of 2 miles in length and with a dozen corners to negotiate became host to Round 3 of the British GT Championship on 29 April. There has been no consistant manufacturer winner at this round/location in 5 years, and this year wasn’t without a little twist, or two either in how the results were eventually announced…

The Team HARD run, RCIB Insurance Racing Ginetta G55’s were again up against some impressive, and highly expensive rivals including Bentley, McClaren, Aston Martin and Ferrari. Whilst the two pairs of RCIB Insurance Racing put up a good fight (and let’s face facts, they looked pretty gorgeous too), they finished the day with most of the other Ginetta’s on this occasion in the bottom half of the results table.

But, the 2 hour long race was not without controversy. A safety car came out for a brief spell on lap 3, and the eventual race winners were Team Parker Racing with their Bentley Continental GT4. But this wasn’t before ‘Spirit of Race’ (Ferrari) were knocked back into 2nd place as a result of a post race penalty.

Whilst some in the crowd wondered what was going on, and questions were inevitably asked about the Safety Car procedure which led to the course of events on track, it seems things were handled correctly ‘by the letter of the regulations’. But there was a 2nd, subsequently un-warranted investigation too regarding possible ‘avoidable contact’ between other drivers, meaning the whole race was fraught with nose to tail driving at the front in the big supercars, and a close checking of rules and scrutinising of driving behaviour after the event by officials too.

One thing is for sure, and that is that this round at Rockingham is never dull and if you like seeing the likes of Ferrari battling head to head with old foes, Lamborghini, or traditional British marques including Bentley, Aston Martin, and of course our own Ginetta’s showing the world why they’ll always be red, white and blue in the sport for the forseeable, you’ll not go away disappointed.

Next round is at Snetterton on 27 – 28 May.

Photo courtesy of Craig Wheeldon Photography.