Bradley Ellis secured a points finish on his debut for the Matech Racing team in the FIA GT3 European Championship season opener at Silverstone.
Ellis, the reigning British GT champion, lined up alongside Ed Morris for his first race in the Ford GT although a number of issues with the new car on Friday meant the pair had little time behind the wheel of the car heading into the first qualifying session.
Morris then took 25th on the grid for the opening race in what was effectively his first run in the car while Ellis then took twelfth on the grid for race two – albeit with a time that would have put him on pole for race one.
Morris made a good start from the 13th row for round one, which actually played in his favour as he avoided the opening lap melee that included an accident and at least two spinning cars. Having made up ten places on the opening lap, the 19-year-old enjoyed a solid stint to climb up to eleventh before pitting to hand the car over to Ellis.
Unfortunately, an issue in the pits cost Ellis valuable time and he rejoined in 17th place before starting to make his way back through the pack and he eventually took the flag in eleventh place.
In race two, Ellis climbed up from his starting of twelfth into seventh place before pitting to hand the car back to Morris – although more time was lost in the pits due to the lack of a pit lane speed restrictor on the car.
Sitting ninth after the pitstops had played through, Morris climbed to seventh and despite being demoted to eighth in the closing stages, he retook the position to finish seventh and secure solid points for the pair.
"It was great to be back out on the race track again but this weekend was quite a challenge," Ellis reflected. "It's remarkable that we managed to walk away from Silverstone with some championship points as to be honest on Friday that just wasn't looking possible. If we hadn't experienced the problems in practice and had to race without ABS and power steering, then I am sure we would have two points-paying finishes in the bag.
"But at the end of the day we salvaged something out of nothing and those championship points might come in handy towards the end of the season. I'd like to thank Lifestyle Europe, ATS and Stanox for supporting me at this round."
