SEAN Walkinshaw was left to rue a drive-through penalty which scuppered hopes of a high finish in the GT300 race at Fuji in the Super GT Championship.

The Chipping Norton driver and teammate Shinichi Takagi were showing impressive race pace in their ARTA BMW after qualifying ninth.

But an infringement at the first pit stop led to a penalty which saw the pair finish 17th in Japan.

There was better news for Walkinshaw’s SWR team, who were competing in the GT 4 European Series Northern Cup at Brands Hatch.

Charlie Fagg and Romain Sarazin finished seventh in the first race, but could not build on the result and came home 17th in race two.

l WITNEY duo James Hall and Simon Bradley’s podium hopes were hit by a heater pipe problem in the third round of the British Junior Rally Championship in Snowdonia.

Lying a few seconds adrift of third after the first two stages, they had to pull over when a boiling coolant pipe burst.

A quick repair allowed them to finish the stage, but it gave way once again.

Driver Hall brought the car home without further damage and said: “It’s a shame that we had problems, but at least we had time in the car and we had a finish, gaining points.”