GT racing driver Carl Garnett saw an unfortunately timed safety car period cost him and Project 29:7 Racing a potential podium challenge in the latest round of the Britcar Endurance Championship at Snetterton (11 July).

Garnett headed to Norfolk in high spirits after enjoying a brilliant second class victory of the Britcar season with Project 29:7 Racing last time out at Spa-Francorchamps. For this round, he would share the team’s Ginetta G56 GTA with experienced tin-top racer Ryan Bensley for the first time.

Track time was limited during testing on Friday, meaning Garnett only had a couple of short sessions to get reacquainted with the technical 2.97-mile Snetterton 300 circuit. With the usual free practice session missing from the timetable on Saturday too, the York-based racer was straight in to qualifying.

Garnett couldn’t quite maximise the speed of the Telescope and Clearsilver Brand Marketing-backed Ginetta during the short ten-minute outing, with his best lap securing the #297 crew fourth on the grid in the ‘Trophy’ class for the 90-minute race that afternoon.

It was Garnett who would start the race in the hot seat and he put in a good opening stint. Maintaining fourth place in class throughout the opening half of the race, he kept in touch with the leaders in the class and was set to hand over to Bensley in a strong position.

Unfortunately, the emergence of the safety car shortly after their first stop ended up costing them dearly. It played into the favour of other teams who pitted at different times, and once the #297 Ginetta had completed its two mandatory stops, they were down in ninth in class.

Bensley was able to make some progress in the closing stages though, bringing the car home seventh in class. After that frustrating conclusion, Garnett and Project 29:7 Racing are determined to get back in the fight for silverware when the 2026 season continues at Donington Park on Saturday 8th August.

Carl Garnett: “It’s always a great time racing with everyone at Project 29:7 Racing and I enjoyed getting to work with Ryan [Bensley] for the first time. It was a challenging one at Snetterton for a number of reasons, including really high temperatures, but everyone put in a good effort.

“We had a lot less track time than usual to get up to speed ahead of qualifying and the race, which made it difficult. The team put a great setup on the car though and while fourth was an okay result, I was frustrated to leave some time out there.

“I was relatively happy with my opening stint, I felt I kept us in touch with the leaders and we looked to be in a strong position ready for Ryan to take over. Sadly the circumstances of the race went against us though, with the timing of the safety car really not going in our favour.

“We tried to make the best of the situation by getting both pitstops out the way quickly, but it wasn’t to be. Ryan put in a good run once racing resumed, but in the end we didn’t get the result we wanted. It’s a shame, but we’ll learn from it and come back stronger next time.”

Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.