ANDWELL driver Nick Halstead enjoyed a double Am class victory at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, as the Protyre Ginetta GT5 Challenge made its annual overseas visit.
The Fox Motorsport race helped the team secure a sensational double one-two finish, as team mate James Townsend was second twice.
Having set the second-fastest time in the class in practice, Andwell's Halstead suffered from a congested circuit in qualifying as 60 cars were on the 4.5-mile circuit in the Ardennes at any one time.
After failing to get a clear lap, he qualified third in the Am class, but started well in both races and then made a pair of clean safety-car restarts to charge to victory.
His win in race two came saw him finish 15th overall – a new season’s-best for the Hampshire driver.
He has three class wins and six podiums to his name in 2018.
Halstead said: “To come to one of the most challenging circuits in the world, with all its Formula One history, and go away with two wins and two fastest laps makes this easily the best weekend of my racing career.
"Practice was good, but my theoretical best was actually a top-five time overall, so I knew I had the pace.
"Yellow flags meant I only got one clear lap in qualifying and that put me a bit further back than I’d planned, but the races went extremely well and I managed to pick my way to the front, keep the car in one piece and win both races. The next target is to get an overall top-10 finish.”
The next meeting is at Knockhill on the weekend of August 25 and 26
This weekend, BTCC returns with Rob Collard in action at Snetterton, while Louis Foster drives in the Ginetta Junior Championship which is one of the support races.
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