Drivers James Townsend and Joe Wheeler finished fifth in the GT4 Pro-Am category on the debut of their Aston Martin Vantage GT4, recovering from a spin caused by a braking issue to set competitive times in the class.
Formed earlier this year, Townsend Racing powered by Fox Motorsport reunites driver James with established race-winning GT squad Fox Motorsport after several years apart.
The Kent-based racer, who scored more than 40 podium finishes and numerous race wins with the team in a variety of sub-British GT series, is paired for 2026 with Joe, a race winner in the McLaren Trophy Europe, with whom he co-drove at a single round of last year’s Championship.
The duo set some competitive laptimes during Friday testing and Saturday practice and Pre-qualifying, but significantly hotter temperatures than anticipated plagued both drivers during qualifying and led to their strategy not paying off as expected.
Fourth on the Pro-Am grid was the result for the #40 Aston Martin, but James put his disappointment aside to make a strong start and run fourth for the opening 30 minutes of the three-hour race.
Unfortunately, a sudden braking issue entering the fast Abbey right-hander – the cause of which will be investigated back at Fox Motorsport HQ – resulted in a spin into the gravel and a delay of eight minutes recovering the car to the pits.
Following a thorough check-over, the Aston Martin returned to the circuit two laps behind, but strong race pace from Clitheroe-based Joe and more solid laps by James helped them to claw back onto the same lap as the minor podium finishers.
They are fifth in the Pro-Am Driver standings with the first of six rounds complete. The series continues at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on May 23-25.
James Townsend said: “I’d have taken fifth in class if you’d asked me two weeks ago, but we arrived here on Friday and went really well in testing and practice, so I felt we had enough for the podium and for that reason, I’m a little frustrated. We didn’t drive in the right way for the hotter than expected conditions in qualifying and that’s on us drivers. Still, the race was good and I was doing the times I needed to when the brake pedal went to the floor at Abbey and I spun off. Other than that, we executed really well as a team and that can only bode well for us at Oulton Park and beyond.”
Joe Wheeler said: “Overall it’s been a positive weekend in terms of speed. We didn’t come away with the result we wanted, but we’ve dialled the Aston Martin in, got used to a lot of things as a group and I’d say that’s generally been good. If we hadn’t had the incident early in the race, we’d have been on the Pro-Am podium, no question. The fact that we lost a couple of laps getting the car back, and ended up finishing on the same lap as second and third in Pro-Am shows that. Speed-wise, there’s a lot to be encouraged by for Oulton Park.”
Paul McNeilly, Team Principal, said: “It’s great to be back in British GT, and especially at Silverstone – where we made our series debut way back in 2013 and scored a class win. It’s always a challenge getting up to speed with a new car, but the Vantage GT4 is a serious piece of kit and the support from Aston Martin Racing has been excellent. Joe and James looked very good in testing and practice, and we’ve just had a couple of things not quite go our way with the conditions in qualifying and the circumstances of James’ spin in the race. We’ve still scored some decent points and will be aiming for the podium at Oulton Park.”
