The opening race of the weekend at Oulton Park for the Protyre Ginetta GT Championship and Ginetta GT Academy delivered drama from start to finish.

As the lights went out at Oulton Park, Elite Motorsport’s William Antrobus defended the race lead into Turn 1 with a tight line, holding off E3 Sport’s James Nicholas. Further behind, there was early drama for Alex Duncan, who was pitched into a spin by Elliot Foster. Fortunately, Duncan managed to keep the car out of the tyre wall and continue.

The GT Academy field enjoyed a much cleaner start, with Want2Race driver Luis Beilicke leading the pack and no position changes during the opening lap.

Back at the front of the GT Championship field, Harry Gamble and James Nicholas went side by side in a fierce battle for second place, allowing Antrobus to extend his advantage to more than two seconds by the end of lap one.

However, heading through Cascades and onto Lakeside Straight, the pair made contact before Gamble attempted a move down the inside at Island Bend. The contact fired Nicholas off the circuit, sending him across the grass and into the gravel trap, fortunately avoiding the oncoming traffic.

The incident brought out the first safety car of the weekend and would later result in Gamble being disqualified from the race.

In the GT Academy battle, Connor Blackburn spent much of the race fighting with American driver Joseph Ostholthoff. Ostholthoff briefly exceeded track limits at Cascades after a small mistake, but Blackburn would later receive a five-second penalty for repeated track limits violations, handing Ostholthoff third place in class.

On the final lap, Elliot Foster suffered a rear-right suspension failure at Druids Corner, ending a difficult race for the driver.

At the front, however, it was Elite Motorsport’s William Antrobus who continued his impressive form following his Race 2 victory at Silverstone last time out.

The overall podium was completed by Cameron Pratt Thompson and Louis Darling. Jamie Caudle claimed victory in the AM class, while Alex Duncan produced an impressive recovery drive from the back of the grid to finish fifth overall and second in class. Lucie Hodgson completed the class podium in third.

In GT Academy, Luis Beilicke secured the opening victory of the weekend while also taking Silver Class honours. Ian Beaumont finished second, with Tom Walker rounding out the podium places.

Race two for the Ginetta GT Championship and GT Academy gets underway on Monday at 12:20pm, shortly after the opening British GT race of the weekend.