British Motor Show supported rising star Ruben Hage secures double victory at Cadwell Park
Ruben, who will be joining us the this year’s Show in the Bridgestone Motorsport Arena, and as a guest on the eBay Live Stage, returned to victory in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship last weekend where he produced a dominant performance to scoop up two victories and a second place at Cadwell Park.
Qualifying
As the downpour of rain caused tricky conditions out on track, Ruben experienced an eventful start to the weekend as he got pushed onto the grass whilst making his way through traffic from the GT5 class on the first lap of qualifying.
Unfortunately, this caused a puncture and damage to the rim of the tyre, but thanks to the Breakell Racing team’s quick reactions, he managed to get back out on track to push on and secure double pole position with 0.4 of a second left to spare.
Due to the poor weather conditions, the first race of the weekend began with a rolling start and Hage made a good start to lead the way into the first few corners. By lap three, Ruben had already built a nearly two-second gap to Davies behind as he pushed on and set the fastest lap despite the challenging conditions.
In the final part of the race, Ruben closed up on the slower GT5 class ahead and managed to cleanly lap them as the field made their way around the narrow circuit.
As the commentators praised his ability, Hage crossed the line with the fastest lap and a mighty 8.8-second gap to the car behind as he secured his fourth victory in the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship.
Race Two
With the conditions having improved slightly overnight, Ruben once again started race two from pole position thanks to his stellar qualifying performance. Hage made a good getaway off the line and held the lead into the first few corners as the grid battled behind.
As he crossed the line to embark on his second lap, Ruben had maintained a half a second gap to Davies behind and pushed on as the pair broke away from the pack behind.
With just over ten minutes of the race to go, the safety car was brought out after two unrelated incidents out on track, which then evolved into a red flag to allow the marshalls to attend to the two stranded cars safely.
As had seemed to be the theme of the weekend, the rain began to pour whilst the cars lined up in preparation for a race restart, causing everyone to move to change to wet tyres for the remainder of the race. Ruben struggled off the line in the second start and lost position to Reade as the pack flew into the first few corners.
Despite losing ground on the restart, Hage managed the gap well and remained close to Reade in front but unfortunately found no opportunity to overtake in the treacherous conditions, and he crossed the line in a respectable second place.
Race three saw Ruben once again facing mixed conditions and whilst the track was dry, the rain persisted and threatened another wet race. Hage made a great start off the line and held his position despite defending with White into the first few corners.
As his rivals behind began to battle on the second half of the first lap, Ruben began chasing down Reade ahead, looking for an opportunity to overtake.
With just over ten minutes to go, Ruben made a move up the Park Straight and went side by side with Reade but lost out on the outside line as they exited the corner. Ruben attempted a second move into Mansfield but found himself making contact as Reade moved across, damaging Hage’s front bumper and knocking his steering out of line.
Pushing on and determined to pick up his second victory of the weekend, Hage had impressive pace and continued to pile on the pressure. With just five minutes to go, Ruben made a third move around the outside of Park Bend and moved up into P1 as Reade dipped a wheel onto the grass as he tried to hold his line on the inside.
With just minutes to go, Hage managed the gap well as he lapped the slower GT5 class and crossed the line to take his second victory of the weekend, rounding off his dominant performance at Cadwell Park with two victories, a second place, two pole positions, and three fastest laps.
Ruben Hage said: “It’s been a brilliant weekend. I was slightly skeptical coming into Cadwell Park given the tight nature of the track and the size of the cars, but it’s been great to walk away with two wins and a second place. I couldn’t ask for much better!”
“Thanks as always to all of my partners, including those who came down to watch this weekend, and the Breakell Racing team for another great job this weekend.”
Ruben remains fifth in the championship, with just two points between himself and White ahead, and will be back to continue to build on podium tally when the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship heads to the iconic Brands Hatch circuit on the 8-10 September.
