Total Control Racing made a welcome return to the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge podium at Snetterton 300 Circuit over the weekend, 15th/16th June, with category newcomer Jake Giddings just missing out on race victory on his championship debut.The 18-year-old from Wisbech, who more regularly competes in the Renault UK Clio Cup with a family-run car, delivered a series of star performances over the weekend at his home track but the first encounter was by far the highlight.Although only qualifying 10th on the grid during a tough, rain-affected session on Saturday morning, Giddings proved he had the pace to have been on the front row with a sensational drive through to second placejust 0.079 seconds shy of a dream victory.Running fastest lap pace from the off, Giddings rocketed into the top four and then took third on lap four before gaining second a lap later following an error from Mark Daviesthe latter, who races with TCR in the sister Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup, making a one-off return to the Challenge with another team.Pressuring new race leader David Pittard, Giddings tried everything he could to get ahead and on the sprint to the line on the seventh and final lap the TCR man was a mere 0.079 seconds away from the win. Even so, second from the fifth row of the grid was an outstanding performance coupled with the fastest lap of 2m10.719 seconds (81.76mph).Callum Pointon, the Wednesbury teams regular Ginetta Challenge driver, qualified just 0.2 seconds behind Giddings in 11th place for the opening encounter and carved his way through into a career best sixth place with a very impressive performance.Moving into ninth on lap one, the 18-year-old from Cheddleton took eighth on lap three and set about challenging the vastly experienced Clive Richards. Moving into seventh on lap five, Pointon then grabbed sixth on the penultimate lap when Davies slipped down the order.In round 11 on Sunday morning car racing rookie Pointon lined-up in ninth position, the best placed of the two TCR drivers thanks to a consistently strong second fastest lap time in qualifying, but hopes of another top finish were ruined on lap one when an excursion dropped him down to 20th place.Giddings also encountered trouble on lap one, falling to the tail of the field in 26th position, but the team-mates both battled back through the order impressively with Pointon finishing in 13th place and Giddings taking the flag five seconds further back in 14th spot.Lining up on row seven for round 12, by virtue of their finishing positions from the previous race, Pointon and Giddings both got away cleanly with the former moving into 11th position and Giddings holding 14th place.By lap three, Giddings had managed to get ahead of his team-mate into ninth and then took eighth on lap four where he remained to the flag. Post-race though, a penalty for Will Burns elevated the TCR driver into seventh place. Pointon, meanwhile, took the flag in 10th place to cap another highly competitive weekend.Its been a great weekend for us in the Ginettas, said TCR team principal Lee Brookes, Its been really good working with Jake and he did a fantastic job in the first race, he was so close to taking the win on his debut which really would have been something special.Callum is improving all of the time and his race one performance was very encouraging, we know hes got the potential to be on the podium before too long. Were really pleased with his progress, to take his best finish of the season so far this weekend is as much as we could ask.Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge will see the championship venture into Europe for a visit to the world-famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The fifth event of the season will take place on Friday, 12th July, and Saturday, 13th July.

Before then, TCR will be in action at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire for the latest rounds of the 2013 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup and Renault UK Clio Cup next weekend, 22nd/23rd June.Provisional 2013 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge Standings (after Rd12):8th Callum Pointon, 144pts; 16th Jake Giddings, 54pts; 17th Neil Delargy, 51pts