Walkinshaw Salvages Top Eight at Brands
Fergus Walkinshaw did well to salvage an eighth place class finish in round 24 of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup despite a disappointing debut race weekend around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
The 20 year-old battled back after a puncture in race one to work his way through from 16th on the grid to 11th and eighth in class in race two, only for a brake issue to cause him to run wide into the gravel while lying seventh in class and ninth overall in race three.
Switching to Century Motorsport for the penultimate series rounds, Walkinshaw showed promising pace after slashing his personal best lap time by an astonishing two seconds between the Friday and Saturday sessions. Running on the new harder Michelin compound for the first time in qualifying, Walkinshaw secured the sixth fastest time after showing lap-on-lap improvement in his newly-liveried self-built Ginetta G55.
Unfortunately, the poor luck that has plagued the Oxford Brookes automotive engineering student since his mid-season racing return, preventing him from completing a full race weekend, continued with a disappointing start to Saturday’s opening round.
Walkinshaw swiftly set about regaining places lost off the line but ran wide on the marbles at Hawthorn allowing Phil Broad and Jake Hill to nip through. Making a move to re-take the latter at Stirlings, Hill closed the gap causing Walkinshaw to tap the rear. The spinning G50 then made contact with the front of the G55 and with damaged bodywork rubbing on the front right tyre, Walkinshaw pitted to remove the offending pieces and rejoined at the back of the pack still circulating under the safety car.
Green flag racing resumed on lap five and Walkinshaw quickly climbed the order, taking two places by the end of lap six to run 14th. He slashed Robert Gaffney’s 1.4 second advantage and took 13th out of Clearways on lap seven, but a puncture to the left rear tyre forced him to retire with three laps remaining.
Owing to Saturday’s disappointment, Walkinshaw started 15th on the grid for the first of two 14 lap feature races on Sunday. A good getaway, however, helped him to re-address the balance and take two places on the opening lap. Struggling on cold tyres, the rear of the car stepped out onto the grass at Stirlings on lap three, although consequently dropping him down to 15th place his expert save kept him in the fray.
Once again faced with mounting a recovery charge, Walkinshaw kept his cool to pass Mark Johnston next time around and then reeled-in the one second gap to Andy Richardson for 13th place going into Paddock Hill bend on lap eight. With Jody Fannin next in his sights, the Oxfordshire racer swept past at Surtees before rapidly closing the one second margin to Louise Richardson to claim 11th on lap 11.
With just three laps remaining and Hill five seconds ahead, Walkinshaw consolidated the gap to the gaggle of G50 runners behind to take eighth in class at the chequered flag, sensibly saving his tyres to carry forward into race three.
Hopes were high to record a top six class finish in the final round and Walkinshaw’s solid start certainly helped his cause, taking Hill for 10th overall. Andy Richardson managed to make it through at Hawthorn before the safety car, deployed at the end of lap two, brought a temporary halt to progress.
Back to green racing on lap six of the extended 17 lap race, Walkinshaw wasted little time re-taking Richardson for ninth overall and seventh in class, then turned his attentions to the battle for sixth some 2.5 seconds up the track. He was in the process of posting improving lap times to attack Patrick Watts when he experienced a brake issue entering Clearways. Struggling to make the turn, he ran wide and into the gravel trap, bringing a premature end to his race.
“It’s obviously been a bit of a challenging weekend for my first outing on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit,” said Walkinshaw. “I was satisfied with eighth in class in race two but the rest of the weekend was more than disappointing as I was determined to finish all three races.
“We had a positive test and I was pleased to improve my lap time by over two seconds in qualifying. It gave me a good confidence boost going into race one but I didn’t get a great start and contact with Jake Hill was really unfortunate. The resulting damage ruined the front aero, so I did well to recover three places before the puncture but with only three laps left it wasn’t worth changing it.
“Race two was much better. I enjoyed battling through the field to take five places but I had to be sensible as Saturday’s issue meant I had to carry the tyres into the final race. I was confident I could get a good result and I was running seventh in class when I had the brake issue and just ran wide.
“There was a bit of a gap to Patrick Watts in eighth but with nearly half the race to run I was aiming for at least a top six class result. It was a shame but now I’ve just got to put it all behind me and concentrate on the final series rounds at my home circuit, Silverstone, in two weeks time.”
For full race results visit www.tsl-timing.com and for further information on the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup visit www.ginetta.com/championship_supercup
Imagery: Jakob Ebrey 
