Marc Gene thrills crowds at Goodwood's Festival of Speed

Ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the motoring and motorsport spotlight firmly focussed on Goodwood House in West Sussex for the annual running of the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed - a highlight of the motorsport summer season.

Capacity crowds attended the four day festival, which again witnessed many famous drivers and riders demonstrate cars and motorcycles 'Up The Hill', the main driveway to Goodwood House - home to the Duke of Richmond.

Marc Gene, was on hand to drive a Grand Prix car for Scuderia Ferrari, the former Buckingham University student is the Italian team's test driver and brand ambassador. Gene drove a F1 car from the 2009 season across the weekend, and speaking on Monday, he said, "The Goodwood Festival of Speed is incredible. I have been very lucky to attend many times and drive cars for Ferrari. The British public have an amazing love for Ferrari, and all things connected with motor racing, and I really enjoy the chance to meet so many people and show them an F1 at speed."

Continuing, "We now focus on Silverstone and this weekend's British Grand Prix. Silverstone has so much history, and has been a great track for Ferrari. The team scored their first F1 win at Silverstone in the 1950s, and now the 2022 championship is very exciting. Ferrari almost won at Silverstone last year, I know everyone is looking forward to the weekend and I hope Silverstone have another great event."

Sir Jackie Stewart OBE was also at Goodwood, and drove a number of cars, including a BRM. The Ellesborough resident said, "The Duke of Richmond organises a wonderful event each year, and again I am pleased to have been able to attend. It was also a privilege for my 'Race Against Dementia' charity to be the chosen charity of the Festival of Speed as we continue our fight against this awful disease."

James Wood was seen 'Up The Hill' in a Maserati and as a passenger to Isle of Man TT racer, Maria Costello, on her F2-specification Sidecar. Wood said, "It was the first time I have been on a racing sidecar, and it was a tremendous experience. Goodwood was again very special, and I now head to Le Mans to race a Lotus 15 at Classic Le Mans this weekend."

* Great Horwood's Newbridge Motorsport have taken the lead of the GT4 class of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship courtesy of podium finishes in two races at Norfolk's Snetterton on Sunday. The team's Aston Martin Vantage GT4, driven by Matt Topham and Darren Turner, finished third in both one-hour endurance races at Snetterton, and and the duo now hold an eight point lead in the GT4 class with three races remaining at Spa-Francorchamps, Brands Hatch and Donington Park.

The Vale-based 2 Seas Motorsport team cruelly missed out on victory in the opening GT race, when their Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam suffered a puncture during the closing laps. Adam was leading the race, and heading to the chequered flag when he cut a tyre, and was forced to slow. The duo were able to finish third overall in the second race, but the loss of victory was a major disappointment to the duo.

Driving the second 2 Seas team entry, James Cottingham and Lewis Williamson continued their strong season by finishing fourth and seventh from their two outings. Overall victories were scored by Ian Loggie/Callum Macleod and John Ferguson/Ulysse de Pauw, both pairings driving Ram Racing-entered Mercedes cars.

* Tom Ingram holds a three point advantage at the head of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Drivers' Standings following last weekend's race meeting at Croft. The Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars racer scored a best result of second from his three starts during Sunday, and now has a total of 195 points with five race meetings remaining this season. Ingram finished fourth and seventh in his other two outings, with team-mate Daniel Lloyd and Gordon Shedden recording overall race victories.

* Following the 24 Hours of Le Mans event that took place three weeks ago, European Le Mans Series teams and drivers head to Monza in Italy this weekend for the third round of the 2022 ELMS season. Alex Kapadia will be on-track for RLR MSport, driving an LMP3 Ligier JSP3-Nissan for the team alongside Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock. A total of 42 cars will line-up for the 4 Hours of Monza, with the race combining LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 specification cars.