Paddock Motorsport showed the sort of potential that breeds podium finishes during British GT’s showcase weekend at Silverstone, even though a place on the rostrum ultimately slipped away.

Paddock Motorsport’s McLaren Artura GT4 shared by British GT rookies Blake Angliss and Alex Walker was a standout competitor in a packed GT4 entry, with both drivers fighting on the fringes of the class podium throughout before being denied by an unlucky penalty late on that would leave them fifth.

The McLaren GT3 crew of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman put on a stunning show early in the race, with American driver Smith thriving in the rain and going toe-to-toe with some of the best GT drivers in the world in tricky conditions. Soon after though, the car would fall foul of bad luck on its strategy, leaving the pair fighting against the odds to make up time.

Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 impressed with its speed, but was hamstrung early on by first electrical troubles and then ABS failure. Regardless, the drivers nursed the problems to the flag to at least score their first points of the season.

The first flashes of Paddock’s potential around Silverstone’s fast sweeps came in qualifying, when Plowman set the eighth fastest time of the hulking GT3 grid, out-pacing drivers such as BMW factory ace Raffaele Marciello, long-term Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam and reigning British GT champion Dan Harper. With the grid set on the combined best times of each driver, he and Smith would line-up for Sunday’s race 14th on the grid, knowing they had the pace to move forward.

The headline result from qualifying came from Angliss and Walker, who grabbed fourth overall in the GT4 order after a superb effort from both drivers. McDermott and Cowley’s combined times put them ninth in the Pro-Am field.

With the grid forming up under persistent rain, the opening stages were played out behind the safety car, which left the door wide open for teams to experiment with strategy. While many opted to stop at the first opportunity, Paddock decided to leave Smith out for a long first stint, in the hope of him achieving the majority of his minimum drive time of 80 minutes early, so Plowman could be installed for longer later in the race.

Smith thrived on the pressure. As the amateur drivers around him stopped to hand to their pros, Smith soldiered on and soon had professional racers swarming over the rear of the McLaren. Undeterred, Smith put up an epic defence, holding both Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maxi Goetz and Barwell Motorsport’s Ricky Collard behind for multiple laps, even running as high as second overall at one point.

When Smith eventually did stop inside the second hour he handed to Plowman just as the tide of the race turned. Shortly after the stop, the race was neutralised, handing Paddock’s rivals the chance to gain chunks of time in the pits. Allied to that, Plowman was then caught behind the safety car for an entire lap, essentially losing a lap against those who enjoyed a faster stop under the yellows. From there on, it was an uphill battle, with Smith and Plowman ticking off the laps on their way to seventh in class on an outing that could have delivered more had it not been for misfortune.

Angliss and Walker backed up their qualifying pace by going on the attack early. Angliss worked his way up to third in the early stages before settling into the fight inside the top five. His and Walker’s combined pace kept the car firmly in contention for a podium finish, and things looked even brighter after they got their final pit stop done under a full course yellow period in the last hour, however, the car was pinged for speeding under the same 80kph caution period shortly after, earning a drive through that left the crew fifth. Still, it was solid points and both drivers did themselves proud with their performance.

Lastly, the race simply didn’t go to plan for McDermott and Cowley, who were never able to show their true colours amid the technical issues with the Mercedes-AMG. They lost time at their first stop having to power cycle the car to cure an electrical glitch, then midway through the race the ABS failed. They stopped the car to power cycle it a second time to cure the issue, but were left to nurse the issue to the flag in the name of scoring at least some points.