Alex Walker and Blake Angliss celebrated their breakthrough British GT Championship podium on a challenging weekend at Donington Park, the McLaren Artura GT4’s success proving a superb highlight for the Paddock Motorsport team.
 
Walker and Angliss were in the mix throughout Sunday’s three-hour race, which was made tougher by constantly changing conditions and a string of caution periods. In fact, if it hadn’t have been for sheer bad luck with the timing of the penultimate full course yellow, the #11 McLaren could well have won the race outright. As it was, second place in GT4 Silver for Walker and Angliss still stands as a superb result.
 
In contrast, there was disappointment for both the McLaren GT3 crew of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman, who endured a bruising race, as did the Mercedes-AMG GT4 shared by Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley. Both cars showed flashes of pace, only to be left unrewarded by sheer bad luck.
 
All three of Paddock’s crews showed top-five potential across their various classes during the opening practice sessions, something that was backed up by a strong qualifying performance. Smith in particular shone in the GT3 session, setting the seventh fastest time with a terrific effort. Plowman backed up the hard work by going eighth in the Pro session, securing a start on row four. The combined efforts of Walker and Angliss meant the Artura would start sixth, with McDermott and Cowley sixth on the Pro-Am grid.
 
The race itself would prove treacherous, with intermittent showers soaking all or part of the track at various intervals, leading to more than a few doses of chaos. Through it all, Walker and Angliss shone with Paddock’s Artura GT4 being a star of the show.
 
A tremendous opening stint from Walker brought the car up as high as second, with Walker pressuring the championship-leading Optimum McLaren before handing across to Angliss, who kept things tidy during a difficult second stint on slicks when the rain returned and grip levels dramatically reduced.
 
The race suffered a lengthy stoppage when multiple cars hit standing water at Redgate, but the Artura navigated the trouble brilliantly, with Walker resuming his hunt of the Optimum McLaren heading into the final hour. Knowing his rival would have to serve an extra 20 seconds during its pit stop after Optimum’s win last time out at Silverstone, Walker didn’t actually have to pass to be in with a shot of the win. However, luck intervened when Walker made his final stop to hand to Angliss with the race at full speed, only for a full course yellow period to be called soon after, handing their rivals a free stop at reduced speed. The events cost Walker and Angliss a lap, but a combination of their early pace and great work from Angliss during the final stint meant they were still comfortably clear of those behind. While fourth overall at the finish was the limit, but they were rewarded with second in the Silver category.
 
This high came against a tough race for both the GT3 and Mercedes-AMG. Smith ran comfortably within the top seven during the first stint, but ultimately stayed on wet-weather tyres too long as rain threatened to return but didn’t arrive soon enough. The further combination of a puncture and Plowman being rudely turfed into the gravel after being caught by the understeering RAM Racing BMW made it a fruitless weekend.
 
The Mercedes ran well early on, but lost time behind the first safety car and McDermott then suffered an unlucky spin entering the chicane that put the car into the gravel.
 
Still, all three crews head to the next event at Spa-Francorchamps knowing they have the pace to score big.