Carl Garnett enjoyed the best weekend of his motorsport career to date with a sensational hat-trick of Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup class victories at Thruxton this past weekend (19/20 September), which extends his current record in the series to five consecutive wins. Full of confidence following a breakthrough double win during the last outing at Oulton Park – the first wins of his motorsport career – Garnett made the long trip south to Hampshire hoping to enjoy another positive weekend at the fastest circuit in the UK. A fantastic start to the meeting saw the Yorkshireman top the class timesheets in both of Friday’s free practice sessions. He carried that pace in qualifying the next morning too, securing a first ever pole position in the series by a brilliant margin of eight tenths of a second. Garnett followed that up with a faultless display behind the wheel of his Telescope-backed Ginetta G55 in race one. Maintaining his lead into an early safety car period, a composed drive after the restart netted the York racer the opening class win of the weekend in style. The first of Sunday’s two races was Garnett’s 30th start in the GT4 SuperCup and he marked the occasions with another supreme performance. A good start ensured he stayed in the class lead and he ran there throughout in his AK Motorsport Ginetta to post another win. The 44 year old lined up at the back of the reverse grid for race three and another great start put him on the road to victory number three. This was by far the most comprehensive, with a sublime drive securing him the win by over 30 seconds to his next class rival. It also completed a superb hat-trick of overall top ten finishes. Garnett becomes the first driver since 2017 to record five consecutive wins in any class in the GT4 SuperCup, and now the Astrolite, ValetPro and AC Database Services supported racer will be aiming to continue his success at home circuit Croft next month (10/11 October). Carl Garnett: “This weekend has given us more than we could have ever dreamt of. After a nightmare visit to Thruxton last year with power steering issues, we didn’t know what to expect coming into the weekend, but we certainly never anticipated three wins! “AK Motorsport gave me a perfect car for every session. Getting my first pole position in qualifying was great and for all three races, the most important part was getting a good start. Once I’d got that gap to the pack, I was able to control the races and get the victories. “Considering the terrible luck we had at the start of the season, which effectively ended any thoughts of a title challenge from the off, to come back with five wins in a row is amazing. We’re enjoying every second of this run and hope for more success at our home circuit next.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.