Greystone GT scored a sensational back-to-front victory in the GT Cup and added two more podium finishes on a fantastic weekend for the team at Oulton Park.
Iain Campbell and Oli Webb were victorious for the second time in 2022, claiming an outright triumph in the opening race aboard their McLaren 720S GT3 while Mark Hopton and Euan Hankey added more success with a runner-up finish in the GTH class.
After qualifying fourth overall – and in the GT3 class - Iain was forced to drive off the track at the first corner of the race to avoid being hit by two spinning rivals; narrowly missing the tyre wall and dropping to the back of the field as a result.
But the Sandhurst racer recovered to fourth spot by the mid-race pitstops and his professional co-driver Oli continued the fightback after he took over driving duties and closed on the lead.
The Knutsford driver hit the front with two laps left when the long-time leader slid off the road on fluid dropped by another car and powered to a second win of the year.
Slowed by a 20-second success penalty in Race Two as a result, Iain and Oli finished third; #23’s fifth podium of the season and a result that promoted the duo to third place in the GT3 points.
Mark Hopton and Euan Hankey added their fourth podium of the season to maintain their push for third place in the GTH points; the duo overcoming a switch of cars to an alternative McLaren 570S GT4 after a gearbox issue put the regular #77 car out of action.
From seventh on the grid, Derby racer Mark handed over to Euan in sixth spot and the former British GT Champion continued the fightback, picking off rivals one-by-one, moving into second place and lying just 1.9s off the class lead when the chequered flag was shown two laps earlier than anticipated.
They added a fourth-place finish in Race Two; Mark having gone forwards from seventh to fourth in his stint and Euan then recovering from a 15s success penalty to finish there and hold fourth in the points.
Phillip Carter began raceday on the back foot after an incident at Old Hall corner in Friday testing left the Greystone GT mechanics needing to make cosmetic repairs to his 570S GT4.
The York-based driver, who was competing at Oulton Park for the first time, qualified 10th in GTH and ran a solid stint to reach the first stop one place higher; he and Michael Broadhurst serving a 15s success penalty after finishing second last time out.
Michael, who lives in Northampton, rose to sixth by the end of the race and he and Phillip added seventh in Race Two to end the event with a pair of points finishes.
The next round takes place at Greystone GT’s home circuit, Silverstone, on July 30-31.
Iain Campbell said: “It’s been one of the most surreal weekends… Oulton isn’t my favourite track, but the pace has been good all day. I had a lot of speed to find after the times I set in testing on Friday, but the pace felt good. I probably should have nailed qualifying a bit more, but I really enjoyed both races. Coming through from the back to win Race One was brilliant, but I knew that in Race Two if I couldn’t make up the ground on the first lap, I’d probably have to focus on banking a podium. We’ve moved up to third in the points, so I’m delighted with that.”
Oli Webb said: “It’s been a good day. Oulton Park is such a tough track to drive in a GT3, which is just about the quickest thing you can race here and is a big lump of metal to move around. The big job was getting Iain comfortable with a circuit that isn’t his favourite, but he did a really good job and the laptimes were very competitive in the second race. We’ve scored good points, moved up to third in the Championship and had some really good practice for when we go to Spa in a few weeks for the British GT round.”
Mark Hopton said: “It’s been a really good day. Oulton Park’s quite a daunting track and it took me a while during the Friday testing to get into a comfortable rhythm. But once I was there, we were on it. The change of car for raceday wasn’t an issue at all – last year it would have affected my focus – and I can see how much I’ve developed as a driver since then thanks to the team here and Euan’s coaching. To go from seventh to fourth in that second race is one of the best stints I’ve ever driven. We’ve had no contact, I’m confident in the McLaren and we’ll go to Silverstone looking for a win.”
Euan Hankey said: “We’re leaving Oulton with another trophy – and nearly had two – and that makes it a great weekend. Mark’s progress has been incredible this year and he’s had no testing at Oulton Park before Friday, so considering all of that – and the change of car – he’s done a mega job. He’s given the car to me in a position where I could get up to second in Race One and then in Race Two, even with the 15s penalty at the pitstop, we’ve still finished fourth and only two seconds off the podium. He had the bit between his teeth and that’s great news heading to Silverstone.”
Phillip Carter said: “It’s been a good weekend, and after the incident on Friday I feel lucky to even have raced here thanks to the job the team did to repair the car. I’ve only had wet and damp running here before this weekend and it’s such a hard track to learn that without that experience, it takes a while to really feel able to find the limit. I’ve enjoyed working my way up towards that limit this weekend, but I need to get quicker. GTH is such a competitive class that if you’re not right on it, you won’t win, but we’ve had two solid points finishes and we march on to Silverstone.”
Michael Broadhurst said: “Off the back of two podiums at the past two events, we’d hoped to carry the momentum into Oulton, but with Phillip having never even driven here in the dry – let alone raced here – this one was always going to be a bigger challenge. We knew with the success penalty in Race One that a good result was going to be tough, but we’ve taken two solid points finishes, stayed clear of any incidents on raceday and now we’ll regroup for Silverstone. It’s a track that Phillip has a lot more experience of so I think we’ll be in a strong position from the get-go.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “I’m extremely proud of everybody to come away with the Team of the Weekend trophy. Motor racing is 100 per cent a team sport and that recognises the job everyone’s done to prepare three cars for the races after what was quite a challenging Friday afternoon. Oulton is a tough track and our Sporting Drivers don’t have a huge amount of experience here, so to see Iain come through the field and win overall with Oli is absolutely fantastic and the podium for Mark and Euan in Race One was just as good. Phillip’s recovered extremely well after what happened on Friday and I think we can all be very pleased about what we’ve achieved here.”
