Michelin Le Mans Cup
Rd.5, Spa, Race Report
It was great to finally get back racing after the long summer break in the Michelin Le Mans Cup Championship, with Round 5 at the magnificent Spa Francorchamps circuit. I was very much looking forward to trying to pick up where we left off, with our strong performances in the previous rounds. I was heading back to Spa full of confidence as my last outing the track resulted in victory. The two test days had gone well developing the car setup, being constantly within the top five in each of the sessions, so everything was looking promising heading into the race day on Saturday.
Jacques would take to the wheel on Saturday morning for his qualifying. Having shown good pace in testing we were hoping for a positive result from Jacques to give us a good chance of achieving a strong result in the race. Subsequently he put in a lap time good enough for P8 which we were very pleased with. Heading into the race, Jacques would take the start and do the opening 45 minutes, before I would jump in to do the remaining hour of the race. The weather turned on the way to the grid and a sudden downpour hit, which persisted for the entirety of the race. Jacques did a solid job and handed the car over in P10 in the tricky conditions. I exited the pits and just put my head down and focused on gaining as many positions as possible. With around half of my stint completed, I found myself up to P3 which is where we would eventually take the chequered flag, and our third podium of the season. I loved driving the car in these conditions, I didn’t know what to expect before the race as had not yet driven the P3 in the wet.
With the recent strong performances we have managed to climb up the championship standings to 5th, and are now looking to improve on that in just two weeks time in Portimao for the final round of the season. I would like to say a huge thank you to the whole of the Racing Spirit of Le Man team for all their continued support and hard work.