CHIPPING Norton’s Fergus Walkinshaw staged a terrific charge from the back of the grid to equal his best result so far in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup with a fifth-placed finish in race two at Rockingham.

It represented a terrific recovery by the Oxford Brookes University automotive engineering student, who struggled in qualifying with a a tyre issue before a broken driveshaft left him last on the start line for the first race.

Driving his self-built Ginetta G55, the 20-year-old then matched his Knockhill position by roaring through the field to finish just outside the frame as George Murrells claimed an impressive victory in this season’s first race to feature a pit stop, which required two wheel changes.

“I’m really pleased with my round 22 result and scoring another fifth-place class finish,” said Walkinshaw.

“The tyre issue and driveshaft failure were rather frustrating, but that’s racing and the main thing is that I bounced back to get another race finish under my belt.

“Some significant set-up changes made a huge difference to the handling of the car which gave me the confidence to push.

“Rockingham isn’t one of my favourite circuits and we’re still developing the car.

“Each circuit demands a completely different set up and Rockingham was only my third race meeting driving the G55, so it’s naturally going to take time to build that experience and have more confidence in the race set up.

“I think we coped really well with our first pit stop race.

“The car just got better and better and although the tyres were naturally falling off towards the end of the race I was still able to set my personal best lap time.”

Now Walkinshaw will join former Ginetta G50 champions Century Motorsport for the final two rounds of the Ginetta GT Supercup season, starting next week at Brands Hatch.

WHEATLEY’S Sam Snell finished ninth in karting’s KF2 World Cup in Sarno, Italy.