ROUND three of the 2019 Ginetta GT5 Challenge saw a trip to the iconic Silverstone Grand Prix circuit just weeks before the F1 event will be held there.

Last year’s equivalent round did not go well for Geri Nicosia so he was hoping for an improvement in fortunes this time.

Testing was a mixture of wet and very wet, the latter involving streams of water resting across the track and cars aquaplaning.

After some familiarisation on older tyres and running about a second slower than the main competitors, Nicosia changed to a new set just as the session was stopped with cars falling off the track.

Saturday morning qualifying proved just as well, Nicosia got straight down to business and posted the fastest two first laps before other drivers gained confidence in the conditions.

By the end of the session, Nicosia had fallen to third, but was happy with this given closest rival Smalley was one place behind him.

Pole was set by Mutch with third placed driver in the championship McKenna in second.

Another good start saw Nicosia immediately move up into second place on a now mostly dry track. This lasted until lap two when defending from Smalley allowed another car to pass.

A small mistake running through a puddle helped slow the car and suddenly Nicosia had fallen back to eighth place, while up from McKenna was driving off into the distance on the way to his maiden win.

Nicosia fought back and slowly moved back up the field, by the time he was back to fourth place, the cars in front were too far ahead to catch, so he recorded his first non-podium of the season.

The second race on Sunday again saw Nicosia starting third. This time all drivers around him got off to good starts and he found himself in fourth place by the second corner.

He soon got past Smalley and back into third, before Smalley was tapped into a spin by another driver dropping him right back. McKenna was leading from Mutch, the latter spinning in front of Nicosia, promoting him to second.

As the race continued, Nicosia would be under immense pressure from Golding and del Sarte. Both who were briefly able to take over second place but Nicosia recovered and was able to seal the second place and a return to the podium.

Prior to Silverstone, Nicosia led the championship from Smalley and McKenna by 18 and 37 points respectively, he leaves with a lead of 18 and 39 points, but with his challengers swapped round.

Nicosia said “Saturday was disappointing, I had the pace for a podium but made a mistake or two which set me back a long way. I was pleased to get back to a good result on the Sunday and maintain my championship lead”.