GT World Challenge Europe - R1 Endurance
I was very excited to start our full season campaign in the GTWCE in 2024, having had a taste of the championship in a one off race back in October last year.
This season would feature a new challenge, racing the new for 2024 Aston Martin GT3 Evo. The car has had a complete overhaul since last season and presents great new driving characteristics, which have helped the car to be competitive already going into this season. Pre season testing in the car was somewhat limited, however I was feeling prepared and ready for the weekend.
In practice my pace looked promising, even though the car was not handling in the same way as at our last pre season test. We found the cause of this and when fixed, the car really came to life. In Qualifying I drove a laptime of 1:53.4, which turned out to be the fastest lap of all Aston Martin drivers this weekend, including 6 factory drivers from the brand, despite hitting traffic in the last sector on my fastest lap. I would call that a successful start to my Aston Martin campaign this season!
The Race
The 3 hour race is a simple endurance race, as a team your biggest variable is driver order. The priority is usually to have a quick driver in the car at the end, in case there is a safety car and the field bunches up and offers opportunities to go forwards. Tim had an ok start and was in the mix with many cars in our class. Unfortunately he got hit hard from behind in the second sector of lap 1, which caused damage. The car was still ok to driver but it seemed like our top speed was less than normal. We fought as well as we could, and it was clear in the corners and tricky sections of the track we were fast. However along the 1km back straight we lost a lot of time and speed to our competitors. After Tim, Mex took over and drove a nice stint. He had good pace for his class and gained a few positions.
In the final stint I took over. At the end of refuelling we had a small issue where a sensor on the car broke and it would not allow the engine to start. After about 10 seconds I could override this issue internally and start the engine. I came out of the pits in clean air with a gap to the group of cars infront who we were previously fighting with. I pushed to chase them down and my pace was good. Along the way I caught up to some professional drivers, who were much faster down the straights due to their damage free car. I could easily catch up and get close to them through the corners, however on the straights I would lose a lot of distance, making overtaking almost impossible. I could overtake these drivers in some situations, but eventually I would get stuck behind another car ahead, and then the cars behind would start to catch me.
It was a challenging event but I feel a lot was learnt from all sides in the opening race of the season. We take this experience with us to the next race, the Spa 24 hour, the biggest race of this season.
For now, all eyes turn towards Brands Hatch for the first round of GTWCE Sprint, in the Ferrari 296 GT3 with Emil Frey Racing.
This season would feature a new challenge, racing the new for 2024 Aston Martin GT3 Evo. The car has had a complete overhaul since last season and presents great new driving characteristics, which have helped the car to be competitive already going into this season. Pre season testing in the car was somewhat limited, however I was feeling prepared and ready for the weekend.
In practice my pace looked promising, even though the car was not handling in the same way as at our last pre season test. We found the cause of this and when fixed, the car really came to life. In Qualifying I drove a laptime of 1:53.4, which turned out to be the fastest lap of all Aston Martin drivers this weekend, including 6 factory drivers from the brand, despite hitting traffic in the last sector on my fastest lap. I would call that a successful start to my Aston Martin campaign this season!
The Race
The 3 hour race is a simple endurance race, as a team your biggest variable is driver order. The priority is usually to have a quick driver in the car at the end, in case there is a safety car and the field bunches up and offers opportunities to go forwards. Tim had an ok start and was in the mix with many cars in our class. Unfortunately he got hit hard from behind in the second sector of lap 1, which caused damage. The car was still ok to driver but it seemed like our top speed was less than normal. We fought as well as we could, and it was clear in the corners and tricky sections of the track we were fast. However along the 1km back straight we lost a lot of time and speed to our competitors. After Tim, Mex took over and drove a nice stint. He had good pace for his class and gained a few positions.
In the final stint I took over. At the end of refuelling we had a small issue where a sensor on the car broke and it would not allow the engine to start. After about 10 seconds I could override this issue internally and start the engine. I came out of the pits in clean air with a gap to the group of cars infront who we were previously fighting with. I pushed to chase them down and my pace was good. Along the way I caught up to some professional drivers, who were much faster down the straights due to their damage free car. I could easily catch up and get close to them through the corners, however on the straights I would lose a lot of distance, making overtaking almost impossible. I could overtake these drivers in some situations, but eventually I would get stuck behind another car ahead, and then the cars behind would start to catch me.
It was a challenging event but I feel a lot was learnt from all sides in the opening race of the season. We take this experience with us to the next race, the Spa 24 hour, the biggest race of this season.
For now, all eyes turn towards Brands Hatch for the first round of GTWCE Sprint, in the Ferrari 296 GT3 with Emil Frey Racing.
