FIGHTING FINISH FOR WALKINSHAW AT CROFT
Croft, North Yorkshire – Saturday, June 23, 2012; Fergus Walkinshaw continued his points-scoring form of the last rounds of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup with a strong performance in the opening race at Croft on Saturday June 23. Following two eighth place finishes at Oulton Park last time out, the Oxfordshire-based automotive engineering student headed north for rounds 12, 13 and 14, and took a strong seventh place to move up to joint seventh in the championship points.
The 21 year-old's visit to the track, his first in three years, started well with the sixth fastest time in both of Friday's official practices ahead of this morning's qualifying. Held in cool, overcast conditions, the 20-minute session proved successful for the Century Motorsport driver who delivered a controlled display to record the fifth fastest time and secure a third row grid position for the race this afternoon.
Signalling his intentions of scoring a top five finish in the 10-lap race, Walkinshaw blasted away from the lights past Jake Hill and into fourth place as the field negotiated the first corner. The advantage however was shortlived as two corners later, a determined effort by Hill, half on the grass, saw him pass Walkinshaw at Tower, to retake the place. A close-following Tom Sharp made the most of the move, to force him way through also, pushing Walkinshaw slightly off line on the way.
Up at the front, the leading duo had pulled away slightly, and immediately in front of Walkinshaw, the three-way battle for the final podium spot rapidly became four-way, with the Scot quickly tagging onto the back of the battling trio. As the race headed into the mid-way point however, Walkinshaw now suffering with slight oversteer, dropped back slightly and was caught by Colin White, the pair then delivering a ding-dong battle for sixth place over the remaining four laps.
Swapping places four times over the remaining laps, White dived up the inside at the Hairpin on the penultimate lap to retake sixth and despite a spirited last lap bid to retake the position, the Oxford Brookes University student narrowly missed the spot by less than a cars length at the flag, to finish seventh and record his eighth top eight finish of the season.
“I made a good start and managed to get by Jake Hill off the line to get into fourth," said Walkinshaw. "But at Tower, he came up alongside me half on the grass, and retook fifth. Tom Sharp then made the most of the opportunity, pushing me wide and getting past to take fifth. I started to struggle with a bit oversteer but generally the car was good and over the last laps, I had a really good battle with Colin White, right up until the last lap.
"Tonight we'll work on making some changes to the car to try and sort the oversteer for the next race tomorrow. We start seventh in the first race, and I'll be aiming for another good start and to make up some places and get a good finish so I can capitalise on my joint seventh position in the championship and hopefully extend that to pull away a bit before we leave Croft."
Supporting the British Touring Car Championship once again, tomorrow's Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup track activity resumes with the first of two 15-lap races starting at 12.45 with the second, scheduled to start at 15.55. Live timing of both races is available via www.ginetta.com/live while Fergus' official Facebook and Twitter feeds will follow his progress throughout the day at www.facebook.com/FergusWalkinshaw and www.twitter.com/FergusPR
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Media Contact: Emma Spearing
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