Returning from a knock back at Donington Park, Ruben Hage made a mighty return to Silverstone on the 1-4 June where he achieved an unbelievable hat-trick of consecutive race wins around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, one of which being his first ever win in senior circuit racing.
Making it’s return to Silverstone for the second time this year, the Ginetta GT Championship headed to the inaugural Ginetta G Fest to celebrate their 65th anniversary. The long weekend saw all four of Ginetta’s championships compete on the Grand Prix and National layouts throughout the busy four day event. As well as inviting spectators along to view the action, Ginetta streamed all four days live for viewers at home, picking up an impressive 23,000 views over the race weekend.
After clinching his first pole position of the year at Silverstone just four weeks prior, Ruben was determined to build on the success and bounce back from the disappointment at Donington Park, with full focus on getting onto the podium.
Round 4
The Ginetta G Fest weekend kicked off early Friday morning when the Ginetta GT Championship headed out for their rescheduled race from last month, which was postponed due to heavy rain conditions. Sitting in pole position on the grid, Ruben made a good start and led the grid into Copse, until Reade made a move around the outside going into Maggotts Becketts.
Chasing down the new race leader, Ruben was hot on his tail in the first two laps, trying to find the right moment to make his move. Putting on a show, Hage and Reade battled door to door as they jostled for position whilst 3 seconds in front of the pack behind.
With just over ten minutes to go, Ruben made a superb move into Brooklands, taking the outside line to place his car into the lead of the race. With his eyes firmly on his first win in senior circuit racing win, Hage had incredible pace around the circuit, pulling a two second lead out front by time he took the chequered flag.
Round 9
Having qualified on pole position for the first official race of the event, Ruben made a great start in his Ginetta G56 GT Pro, holding the lead in the first couple of corners. With Davies in hot pursuit during the first few laps, Ruben pushed hard to build a gap out in front.
With just a minute to go in the race, Ruben had opened a mighty 4.3 second gap to the car behind, and brought the car across the line to take his second race win of the day!
Round 10
Hage made another brilliant start from pole position in the third race, and after some exhilarating side by side racing with teammate Angliss, fought hard to maintain his race lead going into the second lap.
Five minutes into the race, Hage had again built an impressive gap to Angliss behind, giving himself a second worth of breathing room as he pushed on in front.
Having set the fastest lap, Ruben hit traffic halfway through the race as he caught the rear of the Ginetta GT5 class pack, losing a portion of his advantage as he attempted to overtake the slower cars.
With Angliss now in touching distance within the remaining few laps, Ruben went on the defensive and fought hard to retain the lead. Not giving into the pressure, Hage kept a cool head to keep Angliss behind as he flew past the waving chequered flag to secure his hat-trick of race wins!
Round 11
Having qualified second in Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Ruben got a decent getaway but dropped to second as Angliss made a move around the outside going into Copse.
Managing to hold off teammate Garnett behind him, Ruben held his ground and began to extend his gap to the pack behind. With ten minutes to go, Ruben had built a one second gap between himself and Garnett in P3, but as he caught the slower Ginetta GT5 pack, he lost his advantage and soon found himself having to defend from behind.
With five minutes to go, Hage suffered a devastating tyre blowout which forced him into the pits as he dropped down the pack. Thanks to a rapid pit stop from the Breakell Racing team, Ruben was able to get back out on track and despite being a lap down, attempted to regain some lost positions but crossed the line in 11th place.
Round 12
Back on the front row of the grid thanks to his stellar qualifying performance, Ruben once again found himself dropping a place to teammate Angliss, who was allowed to run new tyres as a guest driver, going three wide into the first set of corners whilst jostling for position with his rivals behind.
Retaining his second place spot, Hage stuck with the leaders during the first half of the race, but struggled to maintain his position as his tyre performance fell off, dropping him down the order.
Having held off his rivals as long as possible, Ruben slipped to fifth position near the end of the race, but still managed to deliver a solid result and pick up valuable points for third place due to the two guest drivers further up who were illegible to score championship points.
Round 13
Putting in an impressive performance on old tyres, compared to his teammates in front who were able to use new sets of tyres, Ruben managed to qualify in third, placing his Ginetta G56 GT Pro on the second row of the grid alongside Reade. As expected due to the 130km old rubber, Ruben dropped to fifth at the start of the race whilst he battled side by side going into Becketts.
Now in fifth position with just ten minutes remaining, Ruben held off Davies, Garnett and Garlick behind as they hit the GInetta GT5 traffic, until he lost out to Davies going into Copse.
Battling hard for sixth position, Ruben held his ground as he went three abreast with his rivals going down the pit straight, but as Garnett made a move into Copse, another rival behind tried to follow him through, hitting Ruben and sending him into a spin.
Disappointed, but thankful for only picking up minor damage, Ruben was able to continue and regain a position, but ended the race in seventh spot.
Round 14
For the final race of the weekend, Ruben made a poor start with minimal grip from his older tyres which were ruined by the earlier spin, and he found himself dropping back to third.
Hage was able to stick with the leaders early on in the race, but his tyres were simply destroyed by the halfway mark and he found himself having to focus on managing his tyres to the end of the race. Having impressively held third position despite pressure behind, Ruben moved up to second spot as his teammate unfortunately suffered a similar fate with a tyre puncture.
In the final stages of the race, Hage was struggling with rear grip on the older tyres and despite some excellent defensive moves, he couldn’t quite hold off the two faster cars behind, dropping him to a respectable fourth by the end of the race. Once again, Ruben picked up points for third place due to the guest driver up ahead.
Ruben Hage said: “It’s been an unforgettable weekend at Silverstone. From my first win in senior circuit racing, to turning it into a consecutive win, and then a hat-trick!”
“A massive thank you to all of my partners without whom I wouldn’t be able to go racing. I’m so pleased to be able to reward them with such a mega result.”
“Thank you also to the Breakell Racing team who were non-stop all weekend on a really busy schedule and made sure the car was at it’s absolutely best when I was out on track. And lastly, thank you for all the kind messages of support throughout the weekend – weekends like this are a rarity, and I’m savouring every moment”.