Scottish sportscar driver Fergus Walkinshaw returned to the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup to contest his homeland series rounds at Knockhill this weekend, showing his pace with a pair of seventh place finishes at the Fife circuit.
Qualifying set the tone for a highly competitive weekend among the closely matched field. With 0.183 seconds covering the top eight, Walkinshaw clocked in tenth with plenty more time to come from him and his FW Motorsport Ginetta G55.
A combination of two safety car periods and heavy rain showers made for a shortened first race of the weekend, with half of the 16 lap race distance necessitating full course yellows. Despite suffering an engine cutout into the Hairpin approaching the lap four restart, Walkinshaw recovered in the challenging conditions to claim his second seventh place finish of his season racing select GT4 Supercup rounds.
The FW Motorsport driver then doubled up, taking another seventh place finish following a strong performance in round 19 on Sunday morning. Running as high as fifth on the opening lap, Walkinshaw vied with Andrew Watson for sixth until the latter made his move stick on lap three.
Heading the mid-field, Walkinshaw led the four-car challenge for seventh, first staving off Reece Somerfield before the order changed and Rory Bryant began to challenge from lap 11. Although allowed little more than 0.5 seconds of breathing space from his fellow countryman for the following 13 laps, Walkinshaw set improving personal best lap times to stay ahead.
The 23 year-old carried his form in to the final race of the weekend, another strong start securing sixth until Jamie Orton claimed the place while setting the fastest lap of the field. Regardless, Walkinshaw remained a strong contender in seventh but was spun out of contention at Duffus Dip due to contact with David Pittard on lap 15, for which Pittard received a penalty.
Rejoining at the back of the field, Walkinshaw pushed to close the gap and then challenge Reece Somerfield. The pair raced wheel-to-wheel in the final race stages, with Walkinshaw finishing ahead in 11th place. An incident on the roll down lap, involving both Somerfield and Walkinshaw, resulted in both drivers being excluded from the round 20 results.
Walkinshaw commented: “It means a lot to return to the Ginetta GT Supercup for my homeland event. This is a fiercely competitive championship and to take two seventh place finishes is encouraging after all the hard work our small team has put in to get here. We made some positive steps forwards with the car’s development this weekend. I’m obviously disappointed with what happened after race three and accept the Stewards’ decision. Now we’re just looking forward to focusing our efforts on returning to the series before the final rounds at Brands Hatch.”
