Greystone GT drivers Mike Price and Callum Macleod enjoyed one of their strongest British GT Championship race performances of 2024 as the series visited the iconic Circuit Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, last weekend.
And with Steve Gray making his International GT Open debut alongside Stewart Proctor, it proved a busy weekend for the team from Silverstone.
British GT Championship
Mike Price and Callum Macleod produced their strongest raceday performance since the season-opening round at Oulton Park as they claimed a sixth-place finish in Pro-Am in Belgium.
Having shown strong pace in a damp, but drying pre-qualifying session on Saturday, the crew of the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 were disappointed to put the car 11th on the grid in Pro-Am; Mike finding himself exactly where a multi-car, red-flag-inducing incident took place at the start.
Fortunately for the New Forest racer, he sensed the hazard that was approaching and backed off the throttle in good time to avoid becoming involved himself. While this cost him several positions, it left him well placed to attack when racing resumed.
Running eighth in class for most of his stint, he then watched the #3 machine climb to sixth in Pro-Am with his pro co-driver Callum at the wheel. They finished just one place behind their best-ever result as a pair; the fifth in class they scored at the season-opener.
A spin for Andrey Borodin in his wet section of qualifying was followed by quick laptimes by co-driver Oli Webb as the duo put the #99 McLaren 12th on the Pro-Am grid.
Like Mike, Andrey had to use evasive action to avoid the opening-lap turmoil and then drove well; his laptimes improving by over two seconds from the start of his stint until the mandatory driver changes with less than 40 minutes to go.
Oli – who had been second-fastest in Pro-Am in Saturday’s pre-qualifying session - continued #99’s race and climbed into the Pro-Am top 10, but was forced to retire late on with a steering-related issue.
While the British GT Championship resumes at Snetterton in just under three weeks, the Greystone GT crew remain at Spa for this weekend’s McLaren Trophy Europe and GT4 European Series rounds – the latter event as technical partner to the RAFA Racing Team.
International GT Open
With Lewis Proctor unavailable for the trip to the Hungaroring, Steve Gray made his series debut alongside Stewart Proctor; the duo both racing on the Budapest circuit for the first time in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
Having set a solid pace in Friday practice, Stewart’s wet Race One qualifying session was thwarted by a wheel-bearing issue early on that caused him to miss most of the running and restricted him to a back-of-the-grid start.
He and Steve raced on the edge of the Pro-Am top 10 but #66 was withdrawn in the pits as a precautionary measure with five of the 70 minutes remaining as a late rainshower unleashed chaos on the track and created treacherous driving conditions.
Steve qualified 13th on Sunday morning as the duo finished 15th in class in a race where ‘bronze’-graded driver Stewart’s fastest lap was quicker than several of the Pro drivers. The next round takes place at Paul Ricard, France, on July 19-21.
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “Mike and Callum did a terrific job at Spa. Mike’s no-risk approach at the start stopped him getting involved in the multi-car incident that caused the red flag and, once he got into his rhythm, just got faster and faster. He, Callum and their crew – who were very slick in the pits – deserved their result. Andrey drove well; his laptimes improved a lot during his race stint and the more seat time he has, the more he'll keep making progress. It certainly puts us in a good position as a team heading to Snetterton – a track where we’ve always gone well previously. The GT Open squad enjoyed racing in Hungary and it was fantastic to welcome Steve, who did a very good job on his GT3 debut on an unfamiliar track, to the team. Stewart’s laptimes in the second race were very strong – some of the best we’ve seen from him in the series – which is great news for the coming races.”
