Media Release: FW Motorsport Team Spirit Wins Out At Silverstone
Silverstone, Northamptonshire – Sunday 29 September 2013: Outstanding team spirit carried FW Motorsport through the team’s home circuit debut at Silverstone this weekend. The Chipping Norton outfit pulled out all the stops to replace the Ginetta G55’s engine and gearbox in record time, while team owner/driver Fergus Walkinshaw delivered faultless drives to secure strong Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup finishes.
Founded in January 2013 by seasoned Ginetta racer and podium winner Walkinshaw, the team’s home circuit debut at Silverstone marked another meaningful milestone in FW Motorsport’s young history. However, the weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts when Walkinshaw retired just two laps in to Saturday’s qualifying session.
Facing the mammoth task of stripping and replacing the gearbox and engine in little more than four hours, the four-strong team worked flat out to complete repairs with minutes to spare ahead of the first race of the weekend.
Clean away from the back of the bumper 22 car grid, Walkinshaw rewarded his team’s efforts with one of his characteristic charges through the field, taking eight places to finish 14th and ensure a strong mid-field starting slot for Sunday’s second 24-lap feature race.
Another brilliant start for round 24 ensured Walkinshaw picked up places right off the line to put FW Motorsport firmly in the midfield once again. Only briefly dropping to 15th on lap seven as the battles unfolded, the 22 year-old worked his way back to lie 13th for much of the race before snatching 12th at the chequered flag.
Walkinshaw commented: “It’s been an interesting weekend for FW Motorsport’s home circuit debut at Silverstone. I can’t thank the guys enough for their amazing efforts all weekend. We had a cracked gearbox that we had to replace during the two test sessions on Friday, and we thought that was our poor luck done for the weekend.
“Instead we had a catastrophic engine failure in qualifying and had to replace the engine and gearbox to be in with a chance of racing. But once again, the FW Motorsport crew pulled together and got the job done.
“We obviously had no time to run the engine in so it was tight and naturally didn’t have much bottom end power which cost me some time through the corners. But considering we didn’t have a working car to race early yesterday afternoon we have to be happy with 14th and 12th place finishes amid the biggest Ginetta GT Supercup grid we’ve had all year.”
FW Motorsport now head to Brands Hatch, Kent, for the final battles of its debut season on 12-13 October.
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FW Motorsport Press Office:
Emma Spearing: +44 (0)7736 341828 | emma@fwmotorsport.com
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