THE University of Bolton racing team enjoyed a promising start to their British GT Championship campaign at Rockingham Motorsport Speedway in Corby last weekend.

After starting 23rd out of 29 qualifiers on the grid, the team picked up two places in the two-hour race to finish 21st overall.

They also finished 11th out of 16 cars in the GT4 class, completing 71 laps of the two-mile track at an average speed of 70.76 miles per hour – seven laps behind the overall winner.

Students from the university have joined forces with Team RLR Motorsport to compete in this year's championship, racing under the banner of University of Bolton.

Under-graduates perform an integral role in the preparation of the car and during the race weekend itself, helping with pit-stops, tyre changes and refuelling.

They are running a new Ginetta 55 GT4 car against professional teams, competing against the likes of Aston Martin, Lotus and Toyota racing cars in the GT4 class.

Professional drivers Rob Garofall, of Luton, and Anna Walewska, from Guildford, shared the seat for the University of Bolton, completing an hour each in the race.

Refuelling and tyre changes take place during the change of drivers, with only one person in the car at any one time.

Garofall and Walewska performed well in qualifying, posting a combined time of 3mins 03.245secs to secure a place on the 12th row of the grid – eighth in their class.

The qualifying time was made up from their best lap time in the two sessions, with the team improving on a time of 1:32.278 in the first session to record 1:30.967 in the second.

The race itself, which included the more powerful GT3 class cars competing alongside University of Bolton's GT4 class, was an eventful one as teams struggled to cope with testing damp conditions.

Two of the 31 teams dropped out in qualifying and five cars failed to finish.

And while the Bolton team dropped a few places in their class from their starting position, they did well to plot their way around a number of crashes to record a respectable finish in what was their first ever competitive race.

Danny Walton, of dwmotorsportphotography.com, who followed University of Bolton's progress during the race weekend, said: "After a downpour on the morning of the race, the track was at a point when a decision had to be made by the race officials as to whether to start the warm-up session as there was so much standing water.

"The team decided there was little point risking the car in the wet as the conditions were forecast to change come the race.

"The standing water on the track had all but evaporated by the time the race started but the grass verge was still wet, which caught many drivers out with spins.

"The university team made a great start, steaming up the GT4 grid and ran excellently for the two-hour race.

"Their main challenges came from other drivers and they only missed out on a potential stronger result by events out of their control.

"The pit stop went smoothly and the driving was well calculated and precise, which allowed a great showing from a team that was entering its first British GT race. "

University of Bolton's next race will be at Silverstone on Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31.