> GT Cup regulars add another McLaren to GT3 entry
Greystone GT will run a second McLaren 720S GT3 in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps later this month.
The team’s GT Cup regulars Iain Campbell and Oli Webb join their established British GT pairing of Stewart and Lewis Proctor who have contested all six races held so far in 2022.
The Pro-Am duo claimed a Gulf 12 Hours class victory together at the start of the year before adding a first overall GT Cup win to their resume at Donington in April. Now Campbell, who also raced with Greystone GT and Webb in 2021, albeit aboard a 570S GT4, is ready to make his British GT debut at the championship’s most demanding circuit.
“Spa is an iconic track and one of my favourites, so I’m excited to race there,” said Campbell, who sampled the circuit’s reprofiled layout during a test day last month. “I wanted to challenge myself on a track where a GT3 car can really stretch its legs and when the Spa dates came out, it fitted perfectly. Oli and I have had some good results in the McLaren since we stepped up from the GT4 version, and Greystone GT obviously have some experience of British GT from the first few rounds of this year, so now’s a good time to test ourselves.
“This event is all about trying to measure ourselves against the field. I’ve been competitive against some of British GT’s fastest Am drivers in the GT Cup, so seeing how they’ve performed in British GT gives me quite a lot of confidence that we can be somewhere in the middle order at least. If it goes well, we may look to do more races in the future.”
Webb, meanwhile, is a former European Le Mans Series champion and FIA WEC regular who made his only British GT appearance to date at Rockingham in 2013.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve only raced in British GT once before and that feels like a million years ago, and I think I pitted from the lead if I remember rightly.
“When Iain started racing in the GT4 McLaren last year, it was purely to see if he enjoyed it as much as he thought he might, but since the GT3’s come along and we won first-time out, it became quite clear that there was an intent to move up and test ourselves on a bigger stage. This is a big step-up for Iain in terms of level, but he’s looked competitive against drivers like Ian Loggie and Morgan Tillbrook in GT Cup and they’re the leading Am competitors in British GT, so we should be in a generally good place to start off with.”
Team principal Mark McLoughlin added: “Since we moved into British GT this year with Stewart and Lewis Proctor, it was always a target to expand to a multi-car entry, and the speed Iain and Oli showed with the GT3 McLaren from the get-go – winning in the GT Cup at Donington on their debut – made this step a logical one. The level of competition is higher and this will be a real test of how far Iain has progressed since his race debut, but he’s held his own against some of the best Am drivers that are doing both series and Oli’s a proven international champion, so I think we’ll perform well.”
Spa hosts round seven of the 2022 Intelligent Money British GT Championship on July 23-24.