Media Release: Walkinshaw Records Best Ginetta Supercup Result Despite Torrid Time At Knockhill

9/4/2011 6:01 PM EST

The young Scottish driver, however, endured a challenging weekend at his homeland circuit. Non-fault contact put him out of the running for round 18. After rebuilding the car he took his best class result in round 19 despite suffering from clutch failure. With essential repairs complete just in time for round 20, a split carbon intake then ruined his round 20 chances.

Tackling only his second Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup event, Walkinshaw joined the series last month at Snetterton just hours after completing the car. Recording double eighth-place class finishes on his championship debut, hopes were high of moving further up the results sheets on his return to race at his homeland circuit for the first time in three years.

Walkinshaw immediately proved his pace with an outstanding qualifying performance in challenging wet conditions on Saturday morning, running as high as second before settling for third fastest, just 0.192 seconds off pole position, in only his second session of the year.

A gear selection problem hampered his second row start for round 18, dropping him down the order around the back of the circuit. A swift recovery enabled the recently-joined FML driver to make a clear challenge for fifth down the straight into Leslie Corner on lap two, but contact with Lee Pattison put an immediate end to Walkinshaw’s race.

With the front of the car effectively written-off, Walkinshaw and the FML team faced a hefty repair job to replace the front crash structure, wishbones, uprights, splitter and bumper, left rim and tyre. The crew worked tirelessly through the night, only grabbing a couple of hours sleep in order to get the number 91 car back on track for Sunday, achieving their goal with just 30 minutes to spare.

A solid start from the back of the grid for round 19 helped Walkinshaw on his way to an impressive recovery drive. Expertly avoiding an opening lap incident, he made up four places to lie 11th. Moving up to 10th on lap two, Walkinshaw took Connaire Finn and then closed the one second gap to Josh Fielding in four laps to take ninth place, out-braking the Ginetta G50 into Leslie Corner.

Promoted to eighth on lap 10, Walkinshaw set his sights on the top six some three seconds up the track. Closing by over half a second a lap, Walkinshaw slashed Tom Ingram’s advantage to just 0.7 seconds to join the tail end of the fierce four-car battle for fifth by lap 14.

Walkinshaw was unable to make any further impression due to clutch failure in the closing stages which allowed Marino Franchitti to slip past. A rare spin from the celebrity driver allowed Walkinshaw to re-take eighth place on the last lap as he nursed his car home to record his best class fifth place finish.

Another magnificent effort to make repairs ensured that the clutch and gearbox were replaced in record time. But when Walkinshaw fired the engine to join the round 20 grid the carbon intake split, taking with it all hope of a homeland podium.

Walkinshaw commented: “It’s been a bit of a challenging weekend to say the least but my sincere thanks go to my lead race engineer Ryan Connolly and team FML for their outstanding efforts.

“It was such a shame we couldn’t get the car back out for the final race as I’m confident I could have repaid them with a podium. In fact, I think I was in with a chance of strong finishes in all three rounds this weekend, so I’m naturally disappointed.

“Although the gearbox problem started yesterday I could have driven around the issue if I hadn’t been knocked out. The fifth place class finish salvaged something from the race weekend, but I was certainly on for an outright top five result before I suffered clutch failure.

“I’m really starting to get the feel of the car. I’m about there with the set-up but that’s something I’ll continue to tweak. I’ve proved my pace, it’s just a case of getting race results and there’s not much I could have done to change those results this weekend. So now I’m just looking ahead to a more successful round at Rockingham.”

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

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