Fergus Walkinshaw had an incident-strewn weekend in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup at Brands Hatch this weekend.
The 20-year-old battled back from 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. 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.
Walkinshaw started 15th on the grid for the first of two 14-lap races on Sunday. A good getaway 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.
The young driver kept his cool to pass Mark Johnston next time around and then reeled in 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 of recording a top six class finish in the final round and Walkinshaw’s solid start certainly helped his cause. 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. 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.”
