Greystone GT maintained a 100 per cent winning record in the McLaren Trophy as the all-new series staged its second event at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium in support of the track’s annual 24-hour race.
Shaun Pendrigh and Stuart White triumphed in the Pro-Am division of the 570S Trophy and scored a double-pole position on a weekend that also featured career-best qualifying and race results for two long-time team drivers in the GT Cup at Oulton Park.
McLaren Trophy
After a disrupted season-opener at Paul Ricard, South African duo Shaun and Stuart came out all-guns blazing with the former topping Pro-Am qualifying in the 570S Trophy in Friday morning’s session.
That led on to an intense battle during the second half of the race between pro racer Stuart – who climbed aboard at the mandatory driver change – and his chief rival that went all the way to the chequered flag.
It was the first win in the series for the pair and Shaun continued his brilliant weekend by scoring another class pole in the night-time session that followed. Sadly, following intense rain on Saturday morning, Race Two was cancelled.
Joining Shaun and Stuart on the podium were Rafa Martinez and Jem Hepworth.
Texas racer Rafa had made a couple of classy moves during his stint to regain positions lost at the start, and Jem continued the strong run for a third podium in as many races.
Unfortunately for Devon driver Jem, a pitlane marshal erroneously sent her back to the team awning instead of Parc Ferme post race, meaning she was absent from the podium celebrations.
They finished one place ahead of another US/UK pairing, Ron Trenka and Jon Lancaster, who had started fifth and – thanks to a lightning start by Ron – ran inside the top three early on.
In the Artura Trophy, run for McLaren’s latest GT racing car, Iain Campbell and Oli Webb scored their first podium in the series after an incredible three-way fight over the final two laps of the 50-minute race.
Iain, from Sandhurst, ran third throughout the opening stint, but dropped a spot before handing over to Oli as the pit window opened. From there the Knutsford racer chased down the cars in front and was within one second of the runner-up spot with a lap to go.
He brilliantly grabbed the final podium spot after running side-by-side with two other cars while lapping slower traffic through Eau Rouge on the last lap and was within inches of snatching second in a four-wide move at the final chicane.
Double Paul Ricard winners Mark Hopton and Euan Hankey – who arrived at Spa as the overall series leaders – started fourth on Friday. Mark, from Derby, was making up positions when contact at Les Combes caused race-ending damage to his car.
Mark bounced back with fourth in Race-Two qualifying, but with that race being cancelled, he and pro co-driver Euan were denied the chance to regain lost points. Greystone GT continue to head the Teams’ Championship however.
GT Cup
Andrey Borodin and Ed Pead enjoyed their best weekend of the season as the duo scored a pair of podium finishes at Oulton Park aboard their McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
Andrey was a career-best third in GT3 in a damp, but drying, qualifying session and finished there in an opening race that was cut short before Ed could climb aboard.
Ed was given his opportunity to shine in a shortened 30-minute second Pitstop Race; taking over the McLaren third in class, but fifth outright following a fine opening stint by Andrey. He chased down the cars in front and snatched third overall at the race’s final corner.
The reason for the shortening of both races was a high-speed incident for the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of the returning Rich Mason on the third lap of the opener.
While the Harrogate racer – who was paired with international sportscar racer Duncan Tappy and qualified a career-best fourth in GT3 – was able to walk away from the impact at the fast Druids bend, necessary barrier repairs created delays for the rest of the day.
An inspired call to start Race One on slick tyres promoted Phillip Carter from fourth on the GTH grid – where he qualified – to second at the start as others pitted to take dry-weather tyres.
The red flag, with a result declared after just two laps, allowed he and Michael Broadhurst to make it back-to-back second-place finishes, equalling their best result as a duo in the series. Saddled with a ‘success’ penalty for their podium result, they were fifth in Race Two.
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “We’ve had some terrific high points this weekend, but the most important thing is that Rich Mason was able to get home safely after the incident in the GT Cup. Andrey and Ed have had their best weekend of the year and taken a big step forwards recently while Phillip and Michael have had another podium and scored good points. To have three wins from three starts and the Teams’ Championship lead in the McLaren Trophy is extremely pleasing. Congratulations to Shaun and Stuart on their first Pro-Am win and to all our podium finishers. Oli’s charge at the end had us all on our feet and he got what he and Iain deserved.”
