BLAKE Angliss saw mechanical problems thwart his bid for victory in the third round of the British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Coventry driver made the trip to Belgium with teammate Revie Lake to race at the famous circuit which has hosted Formula One races annually since 1985.
Paddock Motorsport have taken over running Angliss’s McLaren Artura GT4 for the rest of the season after Mahiki Racing made the decision to close their racing programme.
However, despite leading the race for the first half-hour, a gearbox problem left the car with only two working gears for the rest of the race as Angliss and Lake finished outside of the points.
Angliss said: “We’re desperate to work out what we have to do to get a bit of good luck this year.
“It’s been a ridiculous season so far, with issues outside of our control at every event, and this is the hardest one to take so far as we know we had the pace to win the race.
“It’s been good working with Paddock Motorsport again. They gave us a quick race car from the off and our lap times in free practice were really promising.
“To convert that into a front-row start from qualifying was great and we were feeling good going in to the race.
“Revie started brilliantly to lead a British GT race for the first time with a good gap to those behind.
“Sadly it unravelled from there though and it ended up feeling like a long hour for me with only two gears to play with.
“It will take a while to get over this one, but we’re happy with our pace at least.”
Paddock Motorsport have taken over running Angliss’s McLaren Artura GT4 for the rest of the season after Mahiki Racing made the decision to close their racing programme.
The British GT Championship headed to Belgium for an overseas race with a huge 54-car grid to line-up for two hours of racing.
Angliss and Lake put the car fourth in the GT4 timesheets in testing and went fastest in the opening session of free practice.
The two drivers continued to show their pace as the combined lap times saw Angliss and Lake qualify second on the grid.
Lake started in the driver’s seat for a rolling start and launched rapidly to take lead through the Eau Rouge corner.
The teenager remained at the front until a gearbox issue forced him to stop on the circuit and reset the car.
Lake continued at the wheel but could only operate the Artura in either third or fifth gear.
Angliss jumped in the car and managed to nurse the McLaren home but ended up one place outside of the points.
The British GT Championship returns to the United Kingdom for the remainder of the season, starting with a pair of one-hour races at Snetterton in Norfolk on the weekend of August 15 and 16.
