Wrotham based Motorbase Performance saw their final British GT Championship race of the season at Donington Park end early after twenty minutes of the two hour race.
An encouraging opening performance during Saturday’s opening free practice session saw the #8 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 make an appearance in the top 3. A strong qualifying session on Sunday morning was then rewarded with a 4th row start on the grid for Wylie and Dryburgh with the duo securing P8 during the rain-soaked session.
Dryburgh took the opening stint of the two hour race and made a tremendous start, working his way up into 6th before trading places with Stinton’s Ginetta G55 as the pair wrestled for fifth place. Unfortunately, on the 7th tour of the former GP circuit Dryburgh made contact with the back of the Ginetta, puncturing the Aston’s oil cooler and forcing the #8 Vantage to retire from the race.
“It was a real shame for our race to end the way it did;” said Motorbase Team Boss David Bartrum. “We were only 20 minutes into the race and at a point where I think Phil would have gotten past Stinton and we could have well ended up with a fourth place.
“There was so much oil in the car when we got it back into the pits that it wouldn’t have been safe to send it back out;” Bartrum added. “It could have been a good end to a difficult season and it would have been really nice for Ross and Phil to have ended on a high. They really showed great determination this weekend and both drove very well.
“The season didn’t exactly pan out the way we wanted but it wasn’t through lack of effort or trying – it just didn’t go our way this year.”
The weekend cements what has been a tough year for the Motorbase squad, with accidents and bad luck hindering the squad’s progression in the Championship. Despite decent performances from Wylie and Dryburgh and an outstanding supporting pit-crew, 2016’s results have failed to show the team’s true capabilities and the Wrotham-based outfit end the season mid-table in 7th place overall in the Teams’ Standings.