Greystone GT enjoyed a superb end to both the British GT Championship and the International GT Open with a landmark set of results last weekend.
After Fran Rueda scored the team’s maiden GT3 pole position at Barcelona, it was the turn of Andrey Borodin and Ed Pead to claimed a first Silver-Am podium finish at Donington Park 24 hours later to round off a magnificent weekend of racing.
British GT
Having missed Sunday at Brands Hatch following a qualifying incident, Donington Park provided the first opportunity for both Andrey and Ed to compete in a British GT race.
They did so having qualified a superb seventh overall and fourth in Silver-Am in a session that was hit by heavy rain early on, putting Andrey ahead of five British GT Champions plus most of the title contenders at the start.
But despite his lack of experience of Britain’s most prestigious GT series, he drove consistently and stayed clear of much of the chaos that unfolded elsewhere, rising to third by the end of his hour-long stint.
Ed – three times a series runner-up in Britain’s Renault Clio Cup earlier in his career – took over the #24 McLaren 720S GT3 and maintained station to finish third.
Coincidentally, the duo also scored a podium finish for Greystone GT in the first GT Cup race they contested together at the same circuit one year ago.
The team’s full-season entry featured a change of line-up for Donington with Le Mans 24 Hours winner Warren Hughes partnering Stewart Proctor in the #5 Prosource-supported McLaren.
The duo scored Greystone GT’s best-ever British GT qualifying result with fifth overall and second in Silver-Am to set themselves up for a race in which Stewart could have potentially finished second in the class points.
Aberdeen-based Stewart started strongly, but a left-rear puncture just 20 minutes into the race forced him into the pits for a replacement tyre and lost him more than a lap.
Frustratingly he was later spun at the chicane by a reckless rival, who was penalised by race officials for the offence. The rear-end damage put him out of the race and denied Warren a chance to drive. Stewart ended the season sixth in the Silver-Am standings.
International GT Open
Following a debut at Austria’s Red Bull Ring in September, Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda were again in action at the final round of the series at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, and scored a landmark result for Greystone GT.
A superb effort by Fran in Saturday qualifying gave him pole position in the Pro-Am class – a major first for the team – and fourth place on the overall grid for the first of two races.
A succession of slow-speed safety car laps – a legacy of several incidents – prevented the Spaniard from either making progress or pulling clear of his class rivals, but his stint was good enough to take him to the mid-race pitstops in a strong position.
Nottingham-born Andrew – taking part in only his second race weekend in GT3 machinery – resumed in both the Pro-Am lead and a sensational second place overall aboard the Node4-supported McLaren.
But the now UAE-based racer was cruelly denied a shot at a class win when he was hit from behind by a rival and spun into the gravel trap. He resumed and finished ninth.
Andrew then qualified 10th in Pro-Am in a chaotic Sunday qualifying session that featured many incidents and a red flag. A strong race stint brought him into the pits to hand over to Fran 10th in class.
Fran – twice a GT Open series runner-up – began carving through the field as he magnificently climbed to sixth in Pro-Am by the flag; a result that equalled the best achieved by the team in Austria previously.
Ed Pead said: “Getting on the podium in my first British GT race feels pretty good. It’s great to be part of this championship and I hope this result means we can take it and build on it for the future. I was behind the wheel for almost an hour and that’s twice as long as I’ve ever done in a race in the McLaren. It went surprisingly quickly though as it’s a long lap here. We all did a good job this weekend; Andrey especially. When you have the title contenders all behind you, it’s so easy to get sucked into what they’re doing. He stayed clear of all that, kept the McLaren out of trouble and let me do my job when I got in. He’s done very well.”
Stewart Proctor said: “This weekend promised such a lot, especially after qualifying, when we scored the team’s best-ever result in British GT and equalled my own, but it just wasn’t to be. The puncture was a result of a fault with a valve, so I lost a lot of time pitting for a new tyre and then I was nerfed off at the chicane by the Paddock car [driven by Mark Smith], which was unnecessary contact and something that spoiled our race. Most of all I’m sorry for Warren because he was looking forward to this and didn’t get the chance to race. I did my first race in 2015 with him so I was happy to have him with me this weekend – it was a bit of nostalgia.”
Fran Rueda said: “Qualifying on pole position in the class and fourth overall shows that we have a lot of potential and being the quickest McLaren in qualifying again reflects on what a great job the Greystone GT team have done. Overall it was quite a tricky weekend because I had to drive at the limit and not make mistakes and that was also the case in the races, but in Race Two the speed was very good and I was the third or fourth fastest driver overall. It was a challenge for Andrew because this is a new track for him in a car he’s still unfamiliar with, but he got some really good mileage and learned what is a very tough track. We’ve made a good start to our programme and that’s extremely encouraging in terms of our plans for next year.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “We’ve had some fantastic milestones this weekend; our first GT3 pole position in Pro-Am at Barcelona with Fran and a first Silver-Am podium for Andrey and Ed at Donington to add to the four that Stewart and Lewis [Proctor] scored earlier in the year. It was great to see Stewart back to his best and to see Andrew at the head of an extremely competitive GT Open field, and when we look back on the season we can be proud of the progress we’ve made. But 2023 is already well and truly in our sights and we are taking steps to make sure we continue to progress as we strive for race and championship success.”
