Motorbase Performance got their 2016 British GT Championship campaign off and running at Rockingham last weekend.

They finished fifth in the second two hour race of the season, following their massive accident at the opening round at their home track of Brands Hatch a few weeks ago.

The weekend’s results marked a strong return to the GT3 grid for the Wrotham-based outfit after a massive race-ending incident during the season opener at Brands Hatch halted the start of its 2016 championship campaign.

After almost topping the time sheets during free practice the #8 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 was unfortunately penalised for allegedly exceeding track limits during qualifying; resulting in a ninth place start for Motorbase duo Wylie and Dryburgh.

Dryburgh took the opening stint comfortably running in eighth position before handing over to fellow Scot Wylie with just over an hour remaining.  A perfectly executed pit stop saw the 24-year-old re-join in fifth place where he remained to the chequered flag – recording his best GT3 result to date on the oval circuit.

“It was a great team effort at Rockingham last weekend;” commented Motorbase Performance Team Principal David Bartrum.  “To get the car home in P5 after such a dramatic weekend at Brands Hatch was a fantastic achievement for the drivers and the team and fair play to Phil for getting straight back on the horse after such a major crash at Brands. It takes a lot of courage to race at Rockingham at the best of times let alone two weeks after such a horrendous crash.

“I think that the team and the drivers did a great job and I’m really looking forward to building on the weekend and going to Oulton Park in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Giving his thoughts after the weekends racing, Wylie said: “I’m delighted, it’s a solid result especially after the Brands dramas, and something that Phil and I can now build on. I had been particularly disappointed to be denied a third row race start – losing the time due to an apparent track violation. We showed clear video evidence that this was not the case but ultimately didn’t get the lap reinstated. Thankfully that was all forgotten 24 hours later with my first-ever top-five overall British GT race result.

“Hopefully a top-five result is some reward for the tremendous effort the team has undertaken in getting a ‘spare’ chassis ready for us to use after our Aston Martin was written off at Brands combined with the fact that this car was racing at Monza last weekend. We’re planning at test at Oulton Park later this month prior to the next two races that are staged at the Cheshire venue. Oulton’s a great driver’s track, if somewhat fast and narrow for a GT3 car these days. The spectators will be in for treat with a packed grid.”

The Motorbase Performance squad now has a short break before heading to Cheshire’s Oulton Park circuit for the first double header event of the 9 round series on May 30.

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk