Hucknall racing driver Ruben Hage salvages solid points haul at Croft following qualifying drama

Hucknall racing driver Ruben Hage claimed a solid haul of points last weekend during rounds 11 and 12 of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge at Croft in North Yorkshire last weekend (25 & 26 June).

The Total Control Racing driver managed a sixth and a seventh place finish across the two races and moved level on points with sixth placed Nat Hodgkiss in the championship standings.

The weekend began in promising fashion as Ruben topped the times during practice, only the second time in his career he has topped a session.

The lap was particularly impressive as unlike many of his close competitors he had managed to set his best time without using the slipstream of another car which is usually worth a couple of tenths of a second.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, he said: "It really gave me the confidence going into qualifying."

However, if Friday had provided Ruben with one of his high points of the season, the Saturday qualifying session gave him one of his lowest.

A small mistake at the first corner, Clervaux, saw him lose grip and take a trip through the gravel. He managed to keep the car out of the barriers and re-joined the circuit but a lap later he realised he had sustained major damage.

"I came into Sunny Out it was as if I'd just had two blowouts on the rear, the back end literally snapped round on me and then cut out, so I was like it's definitely something to do with going off.

"And then when we took it back into the awning to sort it out there had been about 15 holes blown in the block from the gravel, you could put your whole fist through from one side to the other of the engine."

Fortunately, he was able to borrow a spare engine from Ginetta and the team finished fitting the new engine just half an hour before the first race.

Ruben was extremely complimentary and appreciative of his team's efforts.

He said: "They did a great job. I thought it was over really once I came back in and I'd seen what had actually happened. I really had no hopes of getting out for the rest of the weekend let alone that day so for the team to turn it round that quick shows how good of a crew they are."

Starting from ninth on the grid in the first race Ruben made a good start to move up to eighth on the first lap and gained a further position later in the race when one of his competitors picked up a puncture.

In the second race, he found himself shuffled down to tenth on the first lap but an impressive and gutsy fightback saw him work his way up to sixth by the time the chequered flag fell.

Asked about his thoughts on the weekend as a whole, he said: "Although the results aren't what I wanted on the Friday coming into the weekend, once you put it into context after what happened in qualifying, if you told me I was going to get two top ten finishes I'd have snapped your hand off at that moment."

The season now pauses for a summer break before resuming in September at Brands Hatch for a triple header of races.