Greystone GT scored breakthrough results at home and abroad last weekend as Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda achieved the team’s best class finish to date in the International GT Open and Phillip Carter recorded a maiden GT Cup Sprint Race pole position.
International GT Open
Anglo-Spanish duo Gilbert and Rueda scored a fourth-place finish in Pro-Am as the European-based series kicked off at the Portimao circuit in Portugal.
Chosen for Saturday qualifying for the first time, Andrew put the Altitude Racing by Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 ninth on the Pro-Am grid – his career-best result in only his third event racing a GT3 car.
He lost ground at the start and fell to 13th but gained positions during his stint and handed the McLaren over to two-time series runner-up Fran ninth in class.
Fran continued the recovery charge Andrew had begun, systematically picking off his rivals one-by-one to finish fourth in Pro-Am – two places higher than the duo achieved in two exploratory outings in the second half of 2022.
He qualified third in Pro-Am on Sunday morning and ran there until the driver changes. Andrew’s stint was highly impressive as the Dubai-based Briton set strong laptimes and finished seventh.
Team-mates Lewis and Stewart Proctor made their series debut in Portugal, also in the Pro-Am category; the 2021 British GT Silver-Am champions driving the #66 Prosource-backed McLaren.
Lewis qualified a strong fifth on Saturday but suffered floor damage on the third lap after running over a piece of debris, leading to a handling issue that would last the rest of the race.
Adapting his driving to cope with it, he reached the driver changes fourth in class and his Stewart was able to complete the race in a points-scoring seventh place.
After losing ground at the start on Sunday, Stewart made up several positions during his stint and Lewis continued the recovery during the second half of the race; the Aberdeen-based father-and-son pair finishing eighth.
GT Cup
Fresh from his first solo podium at the Donington Park season opener; York racer Phillip Carter stormed to his maiden GTH class pole position on Saturday morning at Brands Hatch aboard his McLaren 570S GT4.
He converted that into a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Sprint Race; having been forced into a mid-race spin when squeezed off the circuit by a car from the faster GTC class and combined with his professional co-driver Michael Broadhurst to come home fourth in the Pitstop Race.
A couple of classy late passing moves brought him into third place just a few minutes before the end of Sunday’s Sprint Race, but an unfortunate incident on the penultimate lap led to a gravelly end to his race.
An ultra-strong performance in the Pitstop Race brought him to the mid-race driver changes in third spot and Michael pulled the car even further up to lie second with two laps remaining. Unfortunately, a safety-car infringement meant the #14 McLaren was not classified.
Nor, for the same reason was the #24 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Andrey Borodin and Ed Pead, who were making their first appearance in the GT Cup for Greystone GT since the 2022 season finale.
Andrey qualified seventh in GT3 on both days and scored a best finish of sixth in Saturday’s Pitstop Race in partnership with his pro co-driver Ed Pead.
The duo fared even better in Sunday’s 50-minute, two-driver race to cross the finish line fifth in GT3 before the safety-car issue led to their exclusion.
Greystone GT have less than a week to wait before their next race; the Silverstone 500, the longest round of the British GT Championship, which takes place at their home circuit.
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “It’s been a solid start to the GT Open season. Achieving our best Pro-Am result is largely down to the focus Andrew has put into his racing during the winter. He’s faster and more consistent than at the end of 2022, which shows how much he’s developed. Lewis and Stewart did an excellent job to finish as high as they did in Race One after the early floor damage severely affected the handling of the McLaren. It’s fantastic to see Phillip get not only his first pole position in GT Cup, but also our first as a team for a Sprint Race. He really grew in strength as the stints wore on through the weekend and it was unfortunate he and Michael didn’t get the results they deserved.”
