Dumfries and Galloway Race Ace Ross Wylie aims to wrap-up his fourth consecutive Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship title inside two years at Brands Hatch next month after the Scotsman produced a wet-weather masterclass at Silverstone last weekend. The 27-year-old from Thornhill near Dumfries along with co-driver David Mason, scored their first outright race victory of the season plus a second overall, and first in class, in the latest two races staged in horrendously wet conditions at Silverstone.
Wylie, who set the outright fastest lap in both races, was in awesome form in the difficult and challenging weather conditions which lasted all day and made Silverstone’s 1.85-mile International circuit a nightmare for the 30-car, multi-class field. But Ross, who claimed the Endurance Championship outright along with Class 1 Endurance honours last year, now heads to Brands (17-18 Nov) having extended his Class 1 Sprint title lead and moved closer in the outright Sprint points standings courtesy of some outstanding lappery.
“Gentleman” driver Mason began the first race from pole-position and handed over the FFCorse Ferrari 458 GT3 to Wylie in 27th when there was confusion as to whether the organisers were stopping the race due to the adverse conditions. But incredibly Wylie fought back to take second place at the chequered flag in the 50mins race, a mere 4.4secs behind the race winner. Race 2 was more straightforward, Ross starting from pole and building a near one-minute lead before Mason took over and brought their Ferrari home into victory lane.
Ross Wylie (GB):
Age 28. Born & Lives Thornhill nr Dumfries, Scotland:
“I’m not thinking too much about the championship permutations. David and I will go to Brands aiming to do the best jobs we can, have a good time, and the titles will sort themselves out. It was great to finally get an outright victory along with two class wins at Silverstone. We raced in torrential rain all day which made life pretty challenging. I’d not raced in the wet for a long time but it was great fun. There was confusion in Race 1 when David was called in to the pits after the organisers seemingly red-flagged it and that made it really exciting for me, taking the car from 27thto second. Another couple of laps I’d have taken the lead and won. Race 2 was simpler, I started and pulled out a healthy lead before David brought it home to a well-deserved victory having driven really well. It was a great team effort from everyone at FF Corse and I’m mega proud of David’s performance in such awful conditions.”
* Top photograph courtesy of Chris Valentine
* Bottom photograph courtesy of Sean Mulcahy
