After yesterdays qualifying, car 25 started in P5 and car 24 in P7 in LMP2 class. Although the weather looked unpredictable the race started under dry conditions with Vitaly Petrov starting for car 25 and Matt Rao starting for car 24. After the first few laps both drivers held onto their positions. At around 45 minutes both cars stopped to refuel with car 25 also taking a new front left tyre. After the first pitstop 25 returned to track in P6 and 24 P9.

In the second hour both cars stopped for a full service including driver changes for both. JEV took over from Matt and Roberto from Vitaly. Unfortunately car 25 had some contact with a GT which meant they lost a few places.

JEV did a very solid double stint which took car 24 to P2 before handing over to Ben at around 3 hours to go. Ben drove very strong for the last hours of the race, including running in P1 for a time, there were some very close battles with car 24 eventually finishing in P3 which marks the teams first podium of the season.

Unfortunately, after a more difficult race, car 25 had to settle for P8.

Graeme Lowdon, President and Sporting Director

“I am very happy for the team to be back on the podium. Everyone has worked incredibly hard and I would like to thank everyone associated with the team.”

Jean-Eric Vergne, Driver Car 24

“I am very proud of the team we had some difficult races before but nobody stopped working and finally it is starting to pay off. I am very happy for the team, my two team mates did a fantastic job today. Congratulations to them and everyone in the team. I am now very much looking forward to racing in Austin as I think we now have a better understanding of what is happening with the car and we should now be aiming to fight for podiums at every race.”

Ben Hanley, Driver Car 24

“The car was really good in the race. We were P2 chasing down the leader but then we ended up P3 but huge result for the team. It gives them a bit more hunger for a good result at the next race.”

Matt Rao, Driver Car 24

“Very happy to score the teams first podium of the year. Extremely proud of my team mates and the performance they delivered, they showed the competitiveness of the car crew and team. I didn’t push too hard at my first stint as we were unsure how the tyres would hold up but once we were confident we were able to fight for the win. Hoping to carry this forward onto Austin and beyond.”

Vitaly Petrov, Driver Car 25

“I think the team must be very pleased with the result today. We tried different strategies today and I think one worked better than the other. I think we are moving in the right direction but we need to concentrate on the set up for the race. Hopefully we will have better results in Mexico.”

Roberto Gonzalez, Driver Car 25

“It was a difficult race for car 25 but I am happy that the team have finally got a result they deserve it was really good. We need to find out what is going on with our car as we really struggled during the race and we couldn’t find the pace and eating up our tyres. I am now looking forward to the next race.”

Simon Trummer, Driver Car 25

“Well done to the team for P3, I am very happy for them. I am not sure what is happening with our car, we have some good points but we are just not competitive at the moment so we have to analyse this. Looking forward to Austin, it is an awesome track so hopefully we can get a result there.”

Ends