Round-up: Tough time for Ghiotto; podium for Brundle

The Alex Brundle-led United Autosports LMP2 Ligier heading to third place at Monza Picture: ELMS 2019 (Image: Archant)

"From pole to seventh, from seventh to last, from last to fourth," summed up race one for the UNI-Virtuosi racer.

Ghiotto fought against some car issues to put in a stunning qualifying lap to grab top spot for the Attleborough team while team-mate Guanyu Zhou was placed third.

While Zhou made a brilliant start to grab the lead, Ghiotto was away slowly and then ended up at the rear of the field after a first-lap collision, requiring a pit stop.

As Zhou continued to lead Ghiotto was steaming his way up the race order to finally secure fourth place to follow his rookie team-mate home after Zhou lost two positions in the final laps.

Shipdham’s James Hillery standing on the third place podium position after the opening race of the Mini Challenge Pro series at Snetterton alongside racer winner Robbie Dalglish with Martin Poole completing the top three Picture: Bessie Goldsmith (Image: Archant)

In Sunday's shorter race Ghiotto raced to second place with his team-mate fourth having claimed his first podium in the series in Saturday's race.

King's Lynn's Alex Brundle claimed his first podium place of the season in round two of the ELMS at the super-fast Monza Circuit in Italy.

"P3 and a podium, I'm really happy with that," he said. "A tremendous job by my co-drivers Will Owen and Ryan Cullen and faultless by the team at one of the toughest tracks of the year for our chassis."

The Brundle-led #32 Ligier was started by Cullen from ninth place and a cracking stint saw him up to fourth before handing over to Owens, who moved up to second before Brundle climbed aboard.

Clement Novalak heads to the Snetterton round of the British Formula Three Championship this weekend after a pair of podium places at the opening round at Oulton Park Picture: Jakob Ebrey Photography (Image: Jakob Ebrey)

However, Brundle was unable to hold the position and had to settle for third place.

"I got unlucky in traffic but it was great to claim the team's first podium of the season," he said.

"Great start to the season," said Shipdham's James Hillery on his first race in the Mini Challenge Pro series at Snetterton with the local youngster claiming third place.

Sadly, race two yielded only ninth as the AReeve Motorsport car suffered rear suspension problems having started on the front row of the grid.

The start of the opening race of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park with Ian Loggie leading into the first corner in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Ryan Ratcliffe alongside in the Bentley Continental GT3 Picture: Jakob Ebrey Photography (Image: Archant)

Brockdish GT Cup racer Bonamy Grimes swept to victory in the opening GT Cup race, helped by Richard Chamberlain suffering a puncture in his potent Porsche 935.

Chamberlain bounced back to win race two with the Lamborghini Huracan of John Seale and Jamie Stanley cleaning up in race three with Grimes, partnered in the longer race by Johnny Mowlem, claiming third place in his Ferrari 458.

The Attleborough duo of Jordan and Ray Honeybone had no answer to the flying Ben Davis in the Trackday Championship while Darren Goes suffered a post-race penalty for his last-lap pass on the Hugh Gurney/Colin Tester BMW M3 in the MSV SuperCup race.

The Aston Martin Vantage has recently been the dominant force at Snetterton in the British GT Championship but with Bentley, Mercedes and Lamborghini all proving quicker at the opening round the Aston teams will be keen to hit back this weekend.

The Scott Maxwell/Seb Priaulk Ford Mustang GT4, prepared by Multimatic Motorsports which has a base in Thetford, jointly lead the junior category in the British GT Championship which resumes at Snetterton this weekend Picture: Jakob Ebrey Photography (Image: Jakob Ebrey)

The Lamborghini Huracans of Sam De Haan and Jonny Cocker and Adam, Balon and Phil Keen head the series from the Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris Bentley with all three crews keen to maintain momentum at the Norfolk venue.

The consistent Clement Novalak leads the British Formula Three series, chased by Johnathan Hoggard and Ayrton Simmons, who registered a non-finish at the previous round and any repeat could prove costly to his title aspirations.

Dereham's Dan Zelos proved extremely quick during the opening Mini Challenge JCW round but fell foul of officialdom during the races which he will need to put behind him as he chases after the series-leading James Gornall while rookie racer Lewis Galer, from East Lexham, is aiming for the top 10 on home turf.

The Ginetta G40s open the racing at 12.55am on Saturday. It restarts on Sunday at 9.55am with the VW Cup and Ginetta GRDC series completing the programme.

The Sam De Haan/Jonny Cocker Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO which leads the British GT Championship which continues this weekend at Snetterton Picture: Jakob Ebrey Photography (Image: Archant)