BLAKE Angliss ended the 2023 season with two podium finishes on his return to the Ginetta GT Championship at Donington Park.
The Coventry racer recovered from a puncture in race one to finish second in race two and third in race three racing for 2023 GT Championship Teams’ champions Xentek Motorsport.
And after finishing the campaign with 11 podium finishes from 12 races, the 20-year-old was pleased to end the season in style.
Angliss said: “Considering the circumstances this weekend, I’m really pleased to come away with a couple of podium finishes.
“The cancellation of testing led to me shaking the car down in qualifying and that put me on the back foot for the races with our grid positions.
“Once we’d put the frustration of that and the puncture in race one behind us, we had a really good weekend.
“The car felt great in the dry and I enjoyed getting in the thick of the action. A win would have been nice, but I’m not going to complain at getting a couple more trophies for the collection.
“Thank you to Xentek Motorsport for all their help, it was great racing with them for the first time.
“Thank you also to Concept Garage Equipment, Topdon UK, Transend UK, Haigh Engineering and M.C. Rowe Civil Engineering Ltd for helping get me on the grid again.”
Angliss went into the weekend having secured nine podium finishes from as many races in the Ginetta GT Championship this season after also appearing at Silverstone and Snetterton.
However, after the cancellation of testing due to heavy rainfall in Leicestershire, Angliss’s weekend did not begin as planned.
That meant he had to shake down his Ginetta G56 GT Pro during the first half of qualifying.
Angliss eventually had to settle for seventh on the grid with rainfall increasing as the young driver began his flying laps.
And the frustration continued for Angliss in race one, despite a great launch off the line, as he suffered a slow puncture caused by cars making contact on either side of him.
However, with the track now dry, Angliss showed his class in race two, recovering from a slow start which saw him drop to ninth.
Angliss picked his way through the field in a dramatic opening lap, rising to fourth, before going on the offensive after a safety car period.
A slick move helped him take third place which he managed to hold until the finish before a penalty for the car ahead saw him promoted up to second place.
That meant he began the final race on the front row and took the lead following a superb launch before slipping back down to second place later in the lap.
He remained in a battle for first place as the race developed before a gearbox glitch cost Angliss a number of places with just two laps to go.
Angliss battled back up to fourth only for another penalty for the driver ahead to see him promoted into third place.
