Xentek Motorsport Battle To Podiums And Points At Oulton Park

Xentek Motorsport emerged from a challenging trip to Oulton Park with a deserved haul of seven podium finishes, as bad luck befell a number of their drivers during the third round of the 2025 Ginetta season over the bank holiday weekend (24-26 May).

After a brilliant first two rounds of the season, the South Yorkshire team were full of confidence with an expanded six-car entry for the ever-popular bank holiday event at Oulton Park – a staple part of the British GT calendar, albeit moved from its traditional Easter weekend slot.

Rising stars Hadley Simpson and Alex Duncan were joined in the GT Championship ranks by returning race-winner Conner Garlick, while Phil McGarty was back for his second appearance of the season in the GT Academy alongside Paradine Competition duo Alex Deighton and Shiv Sapra.

Duncan enjoyed a strong weekend in the GT Championship, overcoming his limited experience driving his Ginetta G56 GTP8 in the wet to produce two great race performances. Charging his way to third in the PRO AM class in Saturday’s sprint race, he then showed tremendous resilience in Monday’s endurance run.

A nightmare start saw contact from behind exiting the first corner send him off circuit into the barriers, before a puncture soon after forced an unscheduled pitstop. He didn’t give up though, fighting to the finish in tricky, changeable conditions to secure another richly deserved class podium finish.

Simpson had a tougher weekend than hoped in the headline PRO class, as intermittent issues with his windscreen wiper slowed his progress in the races. Finishing fourth in class on Saturday, he then produced an impressive fightback in the closing stages of the endurance race to secure a great third class podium finish of the season so far.

Garlick faced a big challenge on his series return as he raced the G56 GTP8 for the first time, but impressed with his pace and progression in the new car. Sadly his first race ended with an opening lap incident, but he started race two with a brilliant charge forward from 11th overall to fifth in the early stages. Unfortunately, he was later held out of position behind the safety car for a number of laps which resulted in him missing the pit window and limited his final race result.

In the GT Academy, Deighton once again impressed at the sharp end of the field. Finishing fifth in the GTA class in race one, he then made a stunning start to race two and charged from eighth to fourth overall within the first two corners. He held that position to the finish to make it back-to-back Chairmans Cup class wins to start the weekend, however his hopes of making it a hat-trick would be dashed when an ambitious move from the driver behind led to a race-ending incident whilst running fourth overall in the closer.

Sapra enjoyed a brilliant first race, moving up from third to the rookie class lead on lap one and going on to take the class win in third overall, his highest finish of the season to date. A sudden unforeseen sensor failure outside of the team’s control ruled him out of race two whilst sitting in the collection area ready to take to the grid, meaning he had to start the closer from the back. Staying out of trouble in an action-packed race, he superbly picked his way through to the top six overall and second in class before an unfortunate late spin led to retirement from the race.

It was third time lucky for McGarty meanwhile. After being on course for solid finishes in the first two races before retirements in the gravel and a part failure, he ended on a high note with a brilliant drive in the finale. Using all of his experience in the tough conditions, he rose up the order to match his highest overall finish of the season in eighth and pick up his first trophy of the year with third in the Chairmans Cup.

Christopher Richards – Xentek Motorsport Team Principal: “There were so many challenges thrown at the team and our drivers at Oulton Park, and it was a proper rollercoaster of a weekend. We’re proud of everyone for their efforts though and we’re pleased to come away with a good haul of podium finishes.

“Considering he hadn’t driven his car in the wet before race one, and with everything he came up against in race two, we’re delighted that Alex [Duncan] got the trophies his efforts deserved. Same with Hadley [Simpson], the races were far from easy for him and it’s great he could sign off with a podium.

“Alex [Deighton] put in brilliant drives in all three races and were it not for the contact from another driver, he’d have certainly enjoyed a perfect hat-trick of class victories. Speaking of wins, Shiv [Sapra] put in an exemplary drive in race one to finish third overall and it’s just a shame the rest of the weekend didn’t go his way.

“Conner [Garlick] showed good pace on his first outing in the new V8 car but luck just wasn’t on his side unfortunately, while it was fantastic to see Phil [McGarty] end an up-and-down weekend on the podium. After a busy few days, we’ll head back to base, reset and be ready to challenge for more trophies next time out.”

The 2025 Ginetta season heads into a seven-week break now before the fourth round of the season takes place at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of 12/13 July. Prior to that, Xentek Motorsport will be back at Oulton Park for the next round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB on 21/22 June.

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.