WSR FlexiFly scored a superb podium finish as the team contested their debut endurance race at the opening round of the British GT Championship at Silverstone last weekend.
Drivers Ernie Graham and Colin Turkington finished the Silverstone 500 third in the fiercely-contested GT4 Pro-Am class aboard their new BMW M4 GT4 Evo, having fought for the category victory through most of a tense three-hour race.
The result marked an excellent series debut for the pair of Northern Irishmen; Ernie’s achievement coming less than a year since he made his circuit-racing debut.
The three-time European Historic Rally champion had acquitted himself well as he built experience through Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Ernie and four-time British Touring Car Champion Colin – who topped the outright GT4 times in Pre-qualifying – combined to put themselves sixth on the Pro-Am grid and kept clear of chaos during the first lap of Sunday’s race.
A mistake-free opening stint by Ernie – his first aboard a GT car of any kind – helped the Surrey-based racer reach the first round of pitstops in fifth place in Pro-Am.
Handing over driving duties to Colin, Ernie watched his co-driver tear through the field to reach the halfway point of the three-hour race in the class lead; a number of clinical and impressive moves helping the #61 BMW to establish a small advantage.
A mid-race Full-Course Yellow (FCY) was to derail hopes of class success, however, as radio contact was lost with Ernie, meaning the team were restricted to communicating with him via pit board.
It was during this phase of the race that Ernie briefly and narrowly exceeded the maximum speed allowed during FCY running; a resultant drive-through penalty dropping the #61 BMW to third in class, which is where it finished.
The result continued WSR’s remarkable association with Silverstone for ‘firsts. It was at the Home of British Motor Racing where the team won on their race debut in Formula 3 in 1981 and where they scored their first BTCC victory in 1998.
WSR FlexiFly next travel to Oulton Park in a month’s time for the first ‘Sprint’ race weekend, which will feature a pair of 60-minute races on Bank Holiday Monday.
Ernie Graham said: “What an exciting weekend. There was so much to learn. It wasn’t so much a steep learning curve as a vertical one! I mucked up one little thing which was just going above the 80kph speed limit during the Full-Course Yellow momentarily and getting a drive-through penalty, which cost us some time. But we’ve come away with a podium, which is a terrific way to start and meant we could spray some champagne.”
Colin Turkington said: “We got a podium, which was an ambitious target in my head, but something we actually achieved too. We learnt so much in that race. The driving’s the easy bit. It’s the pitstops, the Full-Course Yellows, the safety cars, trying to get everything correct in terms of procedures, which I think we did about 90 per cent of the time. We’re super-happy to finish the race and to spray some champagne. I know we can make the BMW faster and do a couple of things better, but it’s still a great result. It’s bronze this time, but we’ll set our sights a little higher for the next one.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “To finish on the podium in our first GT race is an excellent result and one that everybody within WSR FlexiFly should be proud of, especially with the level of competition being as high as it is in British GT. Getting our programme up and running has taken a huge effort from everybody and they’ve all done an excellent job. Ernie is learning extremely quickly and Colin has once again shown the class that’s made him a multiple champion.”
Carl Mitchell, Sporting and Operations Director, said: “This has been the toughest race I’ve ever experienced in terms of constant intensity and focus for three hours. To start a completely new project like this from scratch has been such an intensive process over the past two months and jumping into a new series with different rulebooks, different procedures and different everything has been such a challenge for the whole team. But to come away from our debut weekend with a podium, and having done an awful lot right, is such a huge achievement for everyone and I’m really proud of how we’ve pulled together. This is just the start of something special.”
