YOUNGER MCKENNA IMPRESSES ON GT5 DEBUT
As mid-season debuts go, they don’t come much better than Ben Mckenna’s in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. The younger brother of British GT racer Scott, who won the GT5 title in 2019, he hopes to complete the season after claiming two podiums first-time out.
Mckenna, who turned 17 last Friday and has no karting background, had previously only contested two races in historic machinery – a TVR Grantura in Equipe GTS at Silverstone last October, and an Austin-healey 100 in Equipe Pre-’63 at Brands Hatch. He belied his lack of experience by qualifying third on his GT5 debut, before finishing second and third in two hard-fought contests.
“After watching Scott do it and having [prioritised] working and school, the opportunity came along with a sponsor – they kindly offered to let me have a go so I took it,” explained Mckenna, who drove the same chassis used by his brother. “I stole his set-up so that should be working nicely! I’ve not really got any goals or expectations so I’m just going to go with it.”
Mckenna hit the front within two laps and, along with Will Aspin, opened a small gap to the pursing pack. But their battle allowed Mckenna’s Xentek Motorsport team-mate Josh Steed to catch, and it was Steed who led Mckenna when a safety car was called at around two-thirds of the scheduled 25 minutes.
An unsighted Aspin passed the leading pair on the Wellington Straight just after the yellow flags came out, for which he would later be penalised. That handed Steed his fourth win from six races, ahead of Mckenna and Aspin as the race was declared early. Confusion had reigned when yellow flags remained out after the safety car pulled in, because another car had stopped in an unsafe position, and the yellows were upgraded to reds halfway round the lap.
“We went to put our foot down but there was no green flag at the start/finish line and we didn’t know whether to start fighting,” said Steed. “We thought, ‘No, this isn’t right,’ so we did what was right – all tucked in together.”
After a couple of clashes and a spin left him 10th in the opener, championship challenger John Bennett bounced back with victory in an action-packed race two. David Ellesley charged through from row six to briefly lead, but spun at Brooklands having only just passed Mckenna. Aspin also exited while leading when, inevitably, three into one didn’t go at The Loop. That left the Elite Motorsport car of Bennett in front, and he edged clear on the final lap to win by 0.6s from Steed and Mckenna.
Mckenna’s verdict? “It was hectic! I just dropped into a rhythm really, learning racecraft as we went. That [a 1-2 with Steed] is what was planned so it couldn’t have gone much better. A lot of fun.”
Having taken his maiden win in the concurrent G40 Cup race earlier in the day, Thomas Holland made it two by nosing inside previous dominator Marc Warren as they exited Luffield on the final lap.