Walker charges through spray from 27th to win WHT progression race

Photo: Ida Wood

Alex Walker charged through the spray on Silverstone’s National layout to win the Walter Hayes Trophy progression race from 27th on the grid.

Team Dolan’s Adam Quartermaine started on pole, with Souley Motorsport’s John Blanchard and Dominic Sheppard behind him. Rain the previous afternoon had left the track damp everywhere, and with standing water in areas where there was shade.

Sheppard made the best getaway and got into the lead through Copse, but Blanchard’s newer car then had the pace advantage down to Maggotts and he took first place there. However Quartermaine, in an even more contemporary car, was able to slipstream past Blanchard and led at the end of lap one.

Pirate M-Sports’ Leanne McShane and Wayne Poole Racing’s Walker both climbed 12 places, with McShane in eighth.

Blanchard reclaimed the lead on the inside of Copse on lap two as Quartermaine slid out wide, then both were briefly battling with Sheppard again as Neil Hunt tried to get involved. It became a multi-car battle for second as Quartermaine then broke clear. McShane improved further to sixth, Walker was now 12th and Dolan’s Mattia Tremolada was up to 16th from 25th on the grid.

Sheppard attacked Blanchard for second into Becketts on lap three, then was overtaken by McShane. Quartermaine’s lead grew to 2.954 seconds, Walker passed five more drivers and Tremolada cleared four.

The drama ramped up on lap four of 10. Sheppard spun twice at Copse and fell to 17th, McShane took second into Maggotts and Walker made his way into third so the top three. While Quartermaine now had an enlarged 3.46s gap by the end of the lap, the two drivers behind were actually closing in.

Walker eliminated the one-second gap to McShane on lap five and passed her into Brooklands with a very deep line that he had used with success when passing drivers in older cars, then set about pursuing victory.

He set the fastest lap by 1.8s as he made the most of clean air and was on Quartermaine’s tail by lap seven. The leader went to the right down the Wellington Straight, and Walker just eased past under braking for Brooklands. A 1.266s gap was built in the three remaining corners of the lap, and he went on to win by 6.302s.

“Very wet, very slippery,” he told Formula Scout afterwards. “It’s so cold here, even though it’s not raining and the sun’s out it takes a while [to dry].”

Walker added: “I was trying to just keep it on the road more than [go on a charge].”

Quartermaine felt “very, very blessed” to be second, having missed all of pre-event testing.

“[Dolan] set it up for full wet, and they set it up for a novice driver as well. And I think that probably helped me a little bit!”

McShane was an isolated third, admitting she “wasn’t anticipating the podium” but is now confident for the next race, and Blanchard held fourth until the final lap when Cal Bennett got past.

Tremolada entered the top 10 on lap five, was sixth by lap eight then spun at Brooklands with nobody around him and fell to 18th.

There was also late trouble for Shift Point Racing’s Matthew Smith and Tim Fitzgerald, who spun off after an incident at Luffield.

Dolan’s Stephen O’Connor was 23rd on the grid but stalled so was 11s behind 27th after lap one. He briefly held fastest lap as he charged up to 10th, comfortably putting him through to the last chance race.

Progression race results (10 laps)