Bad luck blights race 2 at Silverstone

20 April 2008

Phil Quaife and Stuart Hall finished 31st in race 2 at the opening weekend of FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone, a position that belied their race pace.

Starting 15th, Hall picked up a couple of places off the line and was posting strong, consistent lap times in the opening stages. Unfortunately, early in the race he was hit by an Aston Martin DBRS9 and suffered bodywork damage which eventually caused a puncture.

After losing a lap in the pits, Hall returned four laps later as the driver change pit window opened, to hand over to Quaife. More misfortune was to follow however when the team were adjudged to have released Quaife too early, each pitstop having to be more than 70 seconds in duration, and the 22-year-old had to pit again for a stop/go penalty.

Despite lost another lap thanks to the penalty, Quaife posted some strong times, lapping in formation just behind the top three, and brought the Apex Motorsport Jaguar XKR home 31st.

Full weekend report to follow.