Photo: Jakob Ebrey

Sean Walkinshaw delighted by debut podium

Sean Walkinshaw declared himself delighted after bouncing back from a tough start to the weekend to secure a podium finish on his debut in the TCR UK series at Knockhill.

Standing in for the absent Howard Fuller, Walkinshaw was making his race debut in a front-wheel drive car during the Scottish weekend having spent his career to date in single-seaters and sportscars.

Damaged suspension following an incident in Friday testing led to a race against time to prepare for qualifying – with a new wishbone having to be flown in from JAS Motorsport in Italy.

That meant Walkinshaw was forced to sit out the final practice session of the weekend and was left tenth on the grid after his eponymous team was able to get his Honda Civic Type R TCR out on track in time to qualify.

A strong drive in the opening race saw Walkinshaw bring home a fifth place finish, with the reverse grid putting him on the front row for race two.

Although early contact would play a part in him slipping back to fifth, Walkinshaw fought back well to bring the car home in third spot for the team’s maiden touring car podium – a result that leaves SWR third in the Teams’ Championship.

“It wasn’t the easiest weekend, but to end with a podium is fantastic for the whole team,” he said. “I didn’t do first practice on Friday and then we had the suspension problem in our second run, so we had to get the part flown in and missed practice on Saturday. We couldn’t get the car set-up properly before qualifying as there wasn’t time, but for the races the car was great.

“Both of my starts were really good and I just built into it, I didn’t know what it would be like in a front-wheel drive car so I took it carefully and then got into a rhythm. Race two was unfortunate at the start when I got tagged while leading from pole, but to come away with a podium from my first weekend in TCR UK is really good and great for the team to try and build on at the next round.”