After a good qualifying yesterday the team started the eighth round of the World Endurance Championship from P1 with car 44 and P6 with car 45. Unfortunately into the first corner car 45 had a spin and then made contact with the number 97 Aston Martin which resulted in car 45’s retirement. Alex made a good start but lost out in the first lap and came round in P2.

Car 44 had very close battles in the first hour. At the 50 minute mark, Alex came in for driver change and a full pit stop, Matt then headed out returning to the track in P4. Matt did a good job to maintain the gaps around him even though he had to double stint the tyres.

At around the half way point, Richard took over in car 44. Unfortunately, shortly after getting on track, he collided with an SMP car which meant car 44 had to return to the garage for repairs. The team did a good job to get him back out quickly but unfortunately we lost 8 minutes through repair work.

With just over 1 hour remaining Alex was back in the car again and was showing great pace, matching and beating the drivers in the top four positions but with the lost time earlier in the race it was just too much to recover from. Car 44 ended the race in P9.

Graeme Lowdon, President and Sporting Director

“I am disappointed with the end result today. I feel for everybody in the team, they have all worked so hard. We have once again shown really good pace all weekend so it is hard not to have turned it into a podium.”

Matt Rao, Driver Car 44

“I am very disappointed with the final result, it is a shame that we couldn’t convert our strong pace all weekend into at least a podium. I am very pleased though with my own performance, I think I showed a good performance in qualifying and restraint in a tyre and fuel driven race. Now looking forward to the last race and hopefully ending the season on a high.”

Richard Bradley, Driver Car 44

“The end result isn’t what we wanted after showing so much promise, we should be happy with the pace we showed over the weekend especially getting pole positon. It is a good sign and shows the progress we have made all year. I think we can go into Bahrain and look forward to a good result.”

Alex Lynn, Driver Car 44

“Obviously very disappointing, not the result we deserved today, the car had a lot more pace and promise than what we showed. I think starting on the old tyres we had got that stint out of the way to be honest but we were looking good to have a good run right until the end. We made contact and then that ruined our chances. The fact I set the fastest time again gives a bit of solace but not what I or the team deserve. We are going to work really hard to try and make sure we go off on a high in Bahrain.”

Ends