Jolt Racing Navigates First Ever British GT Silverstone 500

Jolt Racing continued their inaugural British GT Endurance Cup campaign with a strong performance at the prestigious Silverstone 500 last weekend, building on the momentum from their solid debut at Donington Park.

 

Behind the wheel of the #37 McLaren Artura GT4, drivers Rupert Williams and John Ingram tackled the challenges of the three-hour endurance race to secure a fourth-place finish in the Endurance Cup class.

 

The weekend began with Friday’s practice sessions, providing the team with valuable time to fine-tune the car’s setup for the fast and flowing nature of the full GP layout at Silverstone. The two-part GT4 qualifying on Saturday saw the team qualify fourth in class, setting them up for Sunday’s race.

 

Rupert took the wheel at the start, making a clean getaway through the opening corners and quickly settling into a solid rhythm. Early in the race, a full-course yellow was triggered by a stranded car up the road. This caused a busy pit lane, with many teams opting to pit under caution. Jolt Racing made the call to bring Rupert in, allowing John to take over.

 

The full-course yellow then transitioned into a safety car period, which neutralised the field for an extended time. John resumed the race fourth in class, but another full-course yellow soon followed due to a car getting beached in the gravel further up the field. This triggered the #50 Aston Martin ahead to pit, temporarily promoting John to third in class.

 

As green flag racing resumed, another full-course yellow later emerged and John pitted for Rupert to take over for his second stint with an hour and twenty minutes remaining. The pit stop dropped the team back to fourth in class, but Rupert quickly found his rhythm once racing resumed. With just under 40 minutes remaining, Rupert made his final pit stop, handing the car back to John for the closing stages.

 

John brought the car home in fourth place in the Endurance Cup, marking the team’s first-ever finish at the Silverstone 500.

 

John Ingram commented: “It was a busy race with all the full-course yellows and safety cars, so staying sharp and reacting quickly was crucial. We weren’t exactly where we wanted to be pace wise, but the team did a great job with the pit stops, and the car felt really strong throughout the race. That’s a credit to the hard work from everyone in the crew.”

 

Rupert Williams added: “We weren’t exactly where we wanted to be this weekend, but there are still plenty of positives to take away from the weekend. It was our first 3-hour race as a team, and what better place to do it than here at Silverstone. We’ve definitely still got more to come, but we’re building confidence with each race.”

 

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.