Jamie Campbell-Walter still cannot believe his shock victory in the British leg of the new GT1 World Championship at Silverstone. The Briton is Yas Marina Circuit's Formula One two-seater driver in Abu Dhabi, and Warren Hughes is his co-driver. The pair had driven a battling race from fifth on the grid to cross the line in third place in the second race of the series in their Sumo Power-run car on Sunday. But later that evening there was a remarkable turn of events that gave the team first place.
Darren Turner and Tomas Enge, the British round "winners" in their Aston Martin, were disqualified due to a technical infringement, while Thomas Accary and Frederic Makowiecki, the second-placed pair, received a post-race 15-second penalty for not serving a drive-through penalty quickly enough, which lifted Campbell-Walter and Hughes to top spot. Even though the result owed a lot to fortune, there was no doubting the improved pace of the Nissan after they had finished more than a minute behind the front runners in the opening round in Abu Dhabi last month, and Campbell-Walter was thrilled with the result.
"I have to express my condolences to Darren and Tomas as they did a great job and it can't be nice to be told you've won and then have it taken away. However, this is a superb result for us and I still can't quite believe it." The result sees Campbell-Walter and Hughes move up to fifth in the title standings. * Compiled by Graham Caygill