Greystone GT were cruelly denied a double-podium finish in the GT4 European Series at Circuit Paul Ricard last weekend as late drama twice robbed Tim Whale and Adam Carroll of deserved results.
British duo Tim and Adam had been two of the star performers at the French Grand Prix venue; the pair in the heart of the action aboard their GETTRX McLaren 570S GT4 throughout the second round of the 2022 season.
But their weekend results do not even begin to reflect the level of performance extracted from the car by the pair and by the Silverstone-based Greystone GT outfit.
Sunday’s second race began with Tim - who was taking part in only his third event since breaking a 20-year layoff from racing - starting from an incredible third place in the Pro-Am class, and he was well and truly in the hunt for the top positions as his opening stint progressed.
Professional racer Adam climbed aboard the McLaren when the mandatory pit window opened after 25 of the race’s 60 minutes; the car having suffered a damaged exhaust that would cause a resultant rear-end heat build-up for the rest of the race after Tim was hit from behind by a late-braking rival at pit entry.
The Northern Irishman - whose top-level career has included a stint as a Formula 1 test driver - immediately put his skills to the test, making some decisive passing moves and incredibly overtaking three cars in one go on the penultimate lap to snatch second place.
But there was heartache within sight of the finish as his car suffered a loss of drive with just two corners of the last lap left; Adam crawling over the line in a hugely unrepresentative 13th place in class and 29th overall.
There had been disappointment in Saturday’s opening race too. Having qualified seventh in class in the morning’s Pro session, Adam brought the McLaren into the top 10 overall and a slick pitstop enabled Tim to emerge third in Pro-Am.
Running as high as second on the penultimate lap, Tim was involved in a frenetic moment as eight cars jockeyed for position on-track, resulting in another car spinning his McLaren around and dropping him 11 positions.
He spun out of the race for good on the final lap; coolant having leaked onto his tyres and brakes as a result of a holed radiator - possibly due to the earlier contact - and leaving him gripless on entry to Turn Nine.
For the Paul Ricard weekend, the team expanded to a two-car line-up with Germans Richard Distl and Alex Woller driving the #60 McLaren that will contest three events this year.
From 18th on the Pro-Am grid and 50th overall on Sunday, Munich-based Richard - making only his second appearance in an international racing series - tore through the field to climb to 34th overall and 15th in class by the time the pitstops began.
Alex continued the progress of the car to come home 30th overall and 14th in Pro-Am; both drivers having lapped significantly quicker in qualifying and race trim than when they made their series debut at the same circuit last year. They were 18th in Pro-Am in Race One.
Greystone GT’s next appearance in the GT4 European Series will be at Misano, Italy, on July 1-3, but the team will be in action in both the GT Cup and British GT Championship at Snetterton before then.
Tim Whale (#47 McLaren 570S GT4) said: “It’s been a bittersweet weekend because we had two podiums within our reach and ended up with neither. We’ve taken a huge step forward since Imola both with the car and personally with my driving and getting used to the McLaren. That’s the real positive. I don’t think I could ask for a better co-driver than Adam, who was just on fire all weekend. He managed to extract everything, had us in the top 10 overall in Race One, gave me a car in a podium spot in Race One and so nearly got us second place on Sunday. We’re still a little bit off where we need to be with race pace to compete right at the front, and I need to improve on managing traffic in qualifying, but we’re getting closer and I’d like to think we can operate at this kind of level for the rest of the year.”
Adam Carroll (#47 McLaren 570S GT4) said: “We should have had two podiums this weekend and instead we’ve had none, which is such a shame and not at all reflective of the job done either by the team or by Tim, who was just fantastic. It’s easy to forget that he’s hardly raced in 20 years and that he’s given himself such a steep learning curve to come into the most competitive GT4 series in the world, against a 50-car grid, and to try and be somewhere near the sharp end. He’s a fast learner and we’ve definitely been at that sharp end this weekend; and on Sunday especially as the team put a very different set-up on the McLaren that made it handle a lot better. It was a huge effort to extract that speed from the car, but we did it and I think we’re going to reset our goals for the year now.”
Alex Woller (#60 McLaren 570S GT4) said: “It was a pleasure to race with Greystone GT and to come back to racing a GT car for the first time in 2022. The team are very confident about the direction they’re heading in and have excellent mechanics, engineers and support staff. It’s a very good place for someone like Richard to be. He needed some time to get used to things again, but he adapted very well and by Sunday you could see how much his confidence had grown. Together we overtook 20 cars, which was a lot of fun. I think I made four different overtaking moves at Turn 10. It’s been a great experience and I hope I can come back again later in the season for more.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “Losing two potential podiums within sight of the finish is tough to take. Tim’s last-lap retirement in Race One was down to radiator damage that made the coolant leak out onto his tyres and brakes; maybe due to the contact or maybe just with a stone going through it, and once the cars are back at the workshop, we’ll fully investigate the root of the issue that caused Adam to lose drive in Race Two. But there are many positives to take from this weekend. Overnight work from the team resulted in a great set-up on both cars for Sunday and Tim and Adam extracted everything they could from the McLaren. It’s the first time we have raced at Paul Ricard and we were faster than teams who have been coming here for years. It was always going to be a steep learning curve for Richard and Alex as they didn’t do the Imola round, but by Sunday you could see how confident they both were in making so many passing moves. They’ll be even stronger next time out. Of course it’s hugely disappointing not to be going home with some trophies, but we’re in the fight and that’s a huge positive for the rest of the year.”
