Hucknall racer Ruben Hage signs off the season with another podium to secure sixth in the championship

Teenage Hucknall racing driver Ruben Hage enjoyed his biggest points haul of the season, including a podium finish, at Donington Park earlier this month.

Competing in the final round of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge, Ruben claimed three top seven finishes to consolidate sixth place in the final championship standings.

However, he was left with a feeling of what could have been. A last lap collision in the first race denied him his best result of the season and he was only promoted to third after the final race had finished which prevented him from being able to stand and celebrate on the podium.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, reflecting on the weekend, Ruben said: "Coming away from the weekend with mixed emotions, obviously a really good weekend points wise and results wise with probably the best races and the most fun races I've had all season up in the front group. To not stand on the podium, obviously not to get the win, which is what I really wanted coming into the weekend, is disappointing."

Heading into the final meeting of the season, Ruben was aiming for podium finishes and even race victory. However, qualifying once again proved the trickiest part of the weekend and significantly decreased his chances of winning.

Once again, he didn't have a team mate and this meant that unlike all of his competitors he couldn't benefit from a slipstream, costing him an estimated half a second per lap.

Despite this setback, Ruben still set some very competitive lap times to secure fifth on the grid for the first two races.

 In the first race, after some incredible bumper to bumper racing Ruben worked his way up to second place, which would have been his best result of the season. However, on the final lap, eventual champion Will Jenkins tried an ambitious overtake that didn't work and he punted Ruben into the barriers.

Ruben managed to limp over the line fifth which later became fourth when Jenkins was handed a post-race time penalty and given three penalty points on his licence, costing him 15 precious championship points.

Speaking about the incident, Ruben couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice: "A bit of a devastating race, to be sat in second for the last three laps of the race, holding off the championship leader and going de by side down The Craners was probably the highlight of my season, with the moves and the constant jostling for position.

"Coming onto the last lap in second place with a train of four cars right up the back of me and then to hold them off lap after lap, it all looked fine heading into the last chicane. Will Jenkins was up behind me, and the yellow flags were out. He essentially left the track to gain an advantage at the second part of the Fogarty Esses on the right hander, to get right up the back of me, and he got right up the back of me, so I defended it, moved right up to the white line and then he essentially tagged my backend trying to get up the inside on the grass going into Melbourne Hairpin which sent me off into the wall, bent all my backend. I somehow managed to gather it up without getting collected because I have no idea how they didn't hit me but got going again and just about crossed the line in fifth.

"I didn't really know what to make of it. It's your worst nightmare really when you think about it, when you look at in basic form. You've worked your way up through the grid, you've overtaken the championship leaders, you've kept them behind you the entire race, wheel to wheel action and then on the penultimate corner you get taken out from your best position all year. I was just devastated. I wasn't necessarily angry because I knew it wasn't a malicious move but it's just the what could have been which seems to have been a theme this year."

Ruben showed similar pace in the second race but was given a post-race penalty for exceeding track limits which demoted him to seventh.

He recovered in the final race, finishing fourth over the line after coming out on top of a thrilling duel with title contender Harley Haughton. He was later promoted to third when Mikey Doble was given a time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags; a punishment which cost him the championship and is set to be appealed.

Speaking about battling it out with the championship contenders in the final race, he added: "That was really good racing.

"To know that one mistake from you when you're millimetres off the back of them can change the whole championship and you know how much effort and money and time other people have put it in to get to that point is definitely something you need to bear in mind when you go side by side down the Craners. You don't want to be remembered as the one who took out the championship leader."

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Ruben said he was proud of the season he'd put together, having headed into the final meeting with a mathematical chance of claiming the title himself.

Asked about his highlight of the season, he was almost immediate in his response.

"The podium at Donington (in April) by far, the weekend as a whole was great. That last race just topped it off really.

It couldn't have been a better stage to do it on really. The first round that was on ITV, to come from the back of the grid to the front as well it makes it even more of a story than just starting at the front and finishing at the front. And obviously being on the Touring Car podium on the back of the truck was great and then being interviewed live on ITV, it's all stuff you see on TV and you see trackside other people doing but you don't realise the enormity of what you're doing until you step back and think about it."

Ruben is now working at putting together a deal to race in 2023, anyone interested in supporting him can contact him via his website or his Facebook page.