Winning debut for Sai Sanjay in his first GT Cars race weekend in England

Snetterton (UK), Oct 10 (IANS) Indian racing star Sai Sanjay made his international debut winning a race in the GT Cup Championship 300 finale here on Tuesday, at the GTH class.

During the weekend, Sai won two races and finished P2 in the second feature race. For his stellar performance, he was also awarded the ‘Driver of the Day’ in a grid of seasoned competitors.

"Competing in the UK for the first time in a GT4 car has been an exhilarating experience. I was elated to know that I would’ve been at the Top-5 of the British GT Championship with my time in Qualifying. Looking ahead, I’m planning to explore the car more at Silverstone as we had very limited track time prior to the race weekend," said Sai Sanjay.

On Day 1, teammate Davies put the car on the pole with a best timing of 1:55:744 and won the first Sprint race in 25:39.518. In the first Feature race of the weekend, Davies started as the first driver and after the pit stop, Sai did a creditable job to keep the lead and finish the race with ease and grace. The Racelab pair clocked 51 minutes, 45.513 seconds in the 25-lap race. They clocked a best lap of 1:58.009.

On Day 2, Sai, who hails from Salem, proved the pace in the #13 Racelab McLaren Artura by putting in a storming 3rd lap with a timing of 1:55:472 to qualify 1.4s ahead of Hart's Morpheus Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 in Group GTH. 

Sai won the 13-lap second Sprint race of the weekend from pole-to-finish in 25:40.512 and with a more than 30-second gap. The team managed a second place with a time of 51:31.167 in the Feature (Pit-Stop) race. 

Davies pulled well clear in the early stages for Racelab but due to an incident, the pair had to settle for a second. Competing in his first weekend in sportscars, the Indian showed that his Qualifying speed was no flash in the pan, pulling clear to take an emphatic team victory.

Jon Lancaster (Driver Coach) said: "It is an unbelievable start to his GT career. Sai adapted well making his transition from single seaters to GT cars. We had an open mind before the first test but just after five laps in Donnington, I was super excited. He has been very professional and his feedback about the car has been good. He’s been the fastest man all weekend and a very promising start indeed.”

The 20-year Mechatronics student of VIT, Chennai was driving in the GTH category for the first time. The Indian National champion of 2022 in the Formula 2000 car was encouraged and supported by mentor Aditya Patel, who was instrumental in Sai making his international debut in the UK. He was coached by Jon Lancaster, a seasoned race driver and qualified instructor.

The GT Cup Championship is one of the UK’s leading sports car categories, catering for all levels of driver ability and a huge range of gorgeous machinery. Sai Sanjay and Team Racelab are now gearing up for the test at Silverstone today.