Greystone GT scored a maiden overall International GT Open podium result in a thrilling finish at the Red Bull Ring that went down to the wire.
Debutants James Kell and Dean MacDonald, having shown strong pace all weekend aboard their Pro-class McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, delivered the third-place result with a last-lap effort that had the Silverstone-based celebrating in the pit garage.
Sitting 11 seconds away from the podium positions with 10 minutes of Sunday’s hour-long race to go, James lay fourth overall, but the Morpeth racer began catching the cars ahead.
Continuing the speed shown by co-driver Dean during the opening stint, James set the fastest final sector of all with just three laps to go.
With James aware that the car ahead was due to receive a post-race five-second penalty, he entered the final lap just under 6s behind; the Greystone GT team holding their breath collectively in the pits.
Just 5.3s away from his target entering the final sector, a sensational run through the last three corners moved James and Dean onto the podium by just 0.2s once the penalties were applied.
Twenty-four hours earlier, in far colder conditions, the pair finished sixth overall from 10th on the grid; this time factory McLaren driver Dean, from Kelty, driving the anchor leg and executing multiple overtakes along the way.
Stewart and Lewis Proctor were in the thick of the fight in both races as the Aberdeen duo showed their mettle at a circuit where they claimed a Pro-Am pole position a year earlier.
Slowed by a turbo issue in qualifying, Lewis started Race One sixth in Pro-Am and ran one of the longest stints of all as he tried to make up time lost behind the safety car earlier in his stint.
He climbed as high as sixth in class before Stewart took over. As many rival teams had opted to start their Am driver, Stewart had to resist intense pressure from several Pro racers during the second half and finished 13th in class. They were 11th in Race Two.
Andrey Borodin and Oli Webb achieved their best Pro-Am result to date with 11th place in Race One; the #24 McLaren being one of the beneficiaries of the safety car.
Picking up the reins in 16th, the Knutsford racer hauled in many rivals from the various classes to come home just outside the top 10.
Qualifying a season’s-best seventh in class on Sunday Oli ran a strong opening stint well inside the Pro-Am top 10 and Andrey showed good pace during his stint too before a late incident led to his retirement late-on.
The next round of the International GT Open takes place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, on September 27-29.
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “I’m delighted for James, Dean and the team to score our first overall International GT Open podium. We came here expecting to challenge for a podium finish and the tension in the pits during the final few laps was extreme. The team have worked very hard to put this programme together so this result is fantastic for everybody. Lewis had some bad luck in qualifying, but both he and Stewart raced well and Stewart’s Sunday qualifying pace in tough conditions was especially good. Oli showed his experience and class with some great passing moves and Andrey’s pace was good too. I think we can all aim high at Barcelona and Monza.”
