Hucknall's teenage racer Ruben Hage to get his Ginetta GT Championship season underway this weekend at Oulton Park

Hucknall's teenage racing driver Ruben Hage gets his 2023 season underway this Easter weekend.

The 17-year-old has moved into the Ginetta GT Championship where he will drive a brand new Ginetta G56 GT Pro car.

Ruben had planned to remain in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge for a second year, after an impressive rookie season which saw him finish sixth in the standings, and had essentially struck an agreement with TCR to once again race for them.

However, rather unexpectedly Ginetta announced late last year that they would be scrapping the GT5 Challenge as a series but that the cars would still be eligible to run in their own class within the newly launched GT Championship.

This changed Ruben's plans as he admitted that the idea of going from running at the front of a one class championship with equal machinery to running in a category where he wouldn't be able to fight at the front of the field felt like a backward step.

Instead, he has opted to switch to driving the much more powerful GT Pro car, though he does feel his GT5 experience from last year will be an advantage.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, he said: "I'd test driven the car at Donington on one of Ginetta's taster days a few months ago. It's a really good car. When you put your foot down it sort of pins you to the back of your seat. It still handles relatively similar to the GT5 despite it being a lot heavier than the GT5 it's still comparatively light to other cars that have the same amount of power so it still has a nimble front end, it sort of handles the same round corners. The only real difference is it's wider and I'm sat on the other side of the car. It's definitely a good feeder car into the GT Pro due to the characteristics being relatively similar."

Ruben has moved to a new team for this season, joining Lancashire based squad Breakell Racing and has 'settled in well.'

Asked what made him want to sign with them, he said: "Their ethos, they had the same mindset as us, a particularly ambitious one I'd say of just going out there and giving it our very best shot. They seem very organised as well, they have a good plan of attack. Everything's done down to the minute detail which is always good to know.

"They've even carried across some of the mechanics from TCR, so Chris who was the mechanic for my car last year on the GT5s, is still my mechanic this year at Breakell, so there is a bit of familiarity still in the team, it's a really good team."

He will be joined in the team by Carl Garnett who was previously a frontrunner in the Pro-Am and Am categories of the GT4 Supercup which used to support the British Touring Car Championship.

Having an experienced and quick teammate is a prospect which Ruben is relishing.

"To have someone who's up there and can help me progress, is something that will help me this year and in the future by giving me track advice, setup advice and everything in between."

On his aims for the season, Ruben said: "At the minute the aim is just to get as much silverware as possible, just to be at the front of the grid, constantly fighting for podium positions maybe even wins, sort of put the championship aside for the first few rounds, get a feel for it. And then depending on our pace and the amount of points we've picked up after say round two or three, really start to look at the championship and see where we are, reset our aims at that point."

He is quick to acknowledge that like most drivers he wouldn't be able to go racing without the support of his sponsors whose backing he is extremely appreciative of.

These include GardX, who enter their tenth consecutive year of sponsoring him.

"They were my first sponsor when I started with Cadet karts, they've always been there which is excellent," said Ruben.

There is also significant backing from Autotech Group, Automotive Repair Systems, and Lindleys Autocentres who have a branch in Hucknall.

The series gets underway this weekend on Easter Saturday (8 April) and Easter Monday (10 April) at Oulton Park in Cheshire.