Ross steers Motorbase Performance Aston Martin home to sixth & seventh places in latest races
Dumfries and Galloway Race ace Ross Wylie recorded his fourth British GT Championship top-seven finish of the year when the Doonhamer placed sixth and seventh in the latest races at Snetterton yesterday (7 Aug). Ross and fellow Scot Phil Dryburgh head for the final round of the nine-race series at Donington Park next month still 10th in the championship standings.
Wylie, aged 24, from Dumfries, and “AM” co-driver Dryburgh, recorded sixth place in the opening one-hour race around the 13-turn, 2.969-mile ‘300’ track layout at the Norfolk venue. The duo had placed their Motorbase Performance Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in fifth (Rockingham) and sixth (Silverstone) earlier this year.
Ross went into qualifying with just 14 laps under his belt from Free Practice 2 in which he set the ninth fastest time – a gearbox issue at the end of the first trials allowing only Dryburgh lappery. The Wylie/Dryburgh Aston lined-up on the fifth row of the grid for the opening race after the combined efforts of Phil (ninth in the “Am” group) and Ross (10th in his “Pro” section) in time trials the previous day, the session allowing just enough time for five laps. Dryburgh completed the opening lap in eighth place, comfortably holding position until the “pit window” opened, Phil actually making his regulation pit-stop from the lead, Ross taking over the Aston with 28mins to run. Wylie resumed seventh but took the chequered flag sixth after a solid drive.
Another fifth row start for the second race, marking Wylie’s 25th BGT career race, saw Ross briefly slip to 12th on the opening lap but lay ninth with 15mins gone and was up to eighth with 38mins remaining. Wylie pitted early to Dryburgh five minutes later, Phil still seventh after all of the pit-stops were completed – a position Dryburgh comfortably consolidated until the finish. The two-hour Donington race is on 11 September.
Ross Wylie (GB): Age 24. Born & Lives Thornhill nr Dumfries, Scotland:
“It was pleasing to score two solid results on Sunday but we still need to work hard to get to where we want to be, i.e. the very front. Lack of seat time has been the biggest issue all season, the pace is fierce and the competition in the BGT is very high! It was good to post a couple of top-seven finishes especially as I had new partners present from A.W. Jenkinson Forest Products – its support is very, very welcome. Just one race of the season remains, at Donington Park, a track that I absolutely love. I’ll be aiming to finish what has been a tough season on a high.”
