Schjerpen bounces back at an action packed Silverstone 500

Aleksander-Schjerpen---Silverstone---1Having failed to score any points at Oulton Park, Aleksander Schjerpen was hoping to bounce back at the British GT Championship’s biggest event of the season last weekend – the Silverstone 500.

It was a steady start to the weekend on Saturday, as the pair worked hard on their setup ahead of the afternoon’s Qualifying. Initially struggling with understeer, by the time Qualifying came, the #40 Ginetta felt good in race trim, and with rain forecast for the race, it was still very much all to play for in the race.

On Sunday morning, the rain had arrived from the early morning, soaking the British Grand Prix host venue. With standing water now on parts of the track, the race was started under the Safety Car for the opening two laps, in an effort to launch the 51-car field safely into racing.

Aleksander-Schjerpen---Silverstone---2Hoping to emulate the ever-changing strategy of their #73 teammates, Sean Byrne was called into the pits on lap two, but when the Safety Car period ended a lap early, this request was cancelled but a radio problem in their car caused Byrne to miss the message to remain on track as he dived into the pitlane under now green flag conditions.

Aleksander jumped into the car for his first stint in the race, which was now just over one competitive lap old. Hoping future Safety Car windows would aid their recovery from the back, Schjerpen was steadily moving back up the order, when he returned to the pits for their second stop of the day, crucially however, back under Safety Car conditions.

Byrne returned to the hot seat of the #40 Ginetta currently in P14 just behind teammate Anna Walewska. Opting to run for the longest stint to try and get themselves in a position to be ready for slicks, Byrne completed a 69 minute run before pitting just inside the final hour. With Schjerpen now at the wheel, it was a slick tyre run to the end, and hot on the heels of teammate Freke early on, Schjerpen was rocketing up the order. At the end of his stint, Aleksander brought his #40 Ginetta G55 across the line in fifth position, a fantastic result after coming from the back of the field early on.

Aleksander Schjerpen – #40 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4:
“We are really happy to finish today’s race P5. It was an interesting race really, the conditions were very changeable. We started on Wets and finished on Slicks! The team did a really good job, giving us a really good car, a great strategy and brilliant pitstops, so a big thanks to Century Motorsport for another good day.”

Next Round:
Spa-Francorchamps – Belgium, Friday 8th & Saturday 9th July 2016.

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