Greystone GT duo James & Webb crowned champions at Monza

Greystone GT duo Ryan James and Oli Webb cliched the McLaren Trophy Europe 570S title as they continued a dominant season with a double win at Monza.

And with a class pole position for Jon Lancaster and Rafa Martinez in the GT4 European Series, it was yet another strong weekend for the Silverstone-based team.

McLaren Trophy Europe

It was a perfect weekend for Anglo-American duo Oli and Ryan. Fastest in the 570S Trophy class in both of Friday’s practice sessions; Ryan then claimed his sixth pole position of the year on Saturday morning.

After initially losing the category lead, he took just three laps to reclaim the top spot in Saturday’s opening race and pulled out a commanding advantage over the field before handing over to co-driver Oli during the mid-race pitstops.

The Knutsford racer set the fastest lap during the closing stages as he cruised to a sixth win of the year; a result that clinched the title with three races still to go.

It was Greystone GT’s second crown in as many years; the Silverstone-based outfit having won the Teams’ title in 2023, and the 25th victory in its short history.

Ryan and Oli repeated their pole and win on Sunday – their seventh of the year – while Ron Trenka turned in his best drive of the season; the New Yorker defending brilliantly throughout the second stint to take seventh in the Artura Trophy class.

His British co-driver Duncan Tappy had run fourth during the opening stint and handed over driving duties to Ron at the midway point; the latter battling for a podium place for much of the race. Their #80 McLaren retired during the first half of Race One with a spin into the gravel at a time when Ron’s laptimes were rapidly improving.

GT4 European Series

Jon Lancaster claimed a second Pro-Am pole position of the season for the Greystone GT-run RAFA Racing team aboard the McLaren Artura GT4 he shares with Rafa Martinez and equalled the squad’s best-ever outright starting spot in second place overall.

The Leeds driver led the category convincingly throughout his opening stint of the hour-long race and handed driving duties over to Rafa at the 35-minute mark.

Sadly, after putting in the performance of his life, Texas-based Rafa, who held fourth place in Pro-Am after some impressive defensive driving, was hit from behind by the #46 Porsche at the Retifilo chicane with just five minutes to go.

A totally innocent victim in the incident, Rafa was unable to start Sunday’s second race due to chassis damage that could not be repaired on-site.

It was a weekend of unfulfilled potential for the sister car of Jem Hepworth and Cameron Lawrence; British racer Jem qualifying 11th in the Silver class for the opening race and American Cameron putting the McLaren fourth overall for Sunday’s encounter.

While the safety-car finish caused by Rafa’s late Race One incident halted Cameron’s charge at 10th spot, that was still enough to net the ‘Top Rookie’ award for Jem.

Cameron battled hard after sustaining car damage when he was forced off the track at the start of Race Two – for which his assailant was later penalised – and dropping to 10th.

Fifth by the mid-race pitstops, he and Jem finished 18th. One round remains at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 29-30.

Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “It’s a very proud moment to take our first Drivers’ Championship with Ryan and Oli to add to the McLaren Trophy Europe Teams’ title we won last year. Ryan has shown exceptional speed in his first year of racing and he and Oli have barely been challenged in the 570S class. It was great to see Duncan right up there on Sunday and Ron fighting hard for a podium position and defending really well on Sunday. In the GT4 European Series we showed very strong pace with all four drivers and both cars had excellent qualifying positions with Jon’s Pro-Am pole and Cameron’s second-row overall start especially. Unfortunately, the team and drivers didn’t get the results they deserved as both cars suffered damaged caused by rival machines in the races, but Rafa defended well on Saturday and Jem won the ‘Top Rookie’ award. We have a lot of work to do to prepare for Jeddah, where we aim to finish the season strongly.”