Image Danielle Crespo
The car made its debut in the Tudor United Sports Car Championship at the “Lone Star Le Mans” event at Circuit of the Americas, and instantly made all the teams in the Prototype category sit up and take notice.
Alex Brundle, who was heavily involved with the development of the new car before it hit the track, struck hard and fast by taking pole position, with Gustavo Yacaman teaming with the Brit for the penultimate round of the championship.
Yacaman took the wheel of the Honda-powered #42 and was able to fight back up the field after several incidents took place in the early goings in Austin. During his double stint, the Colombian suffered contact with the #01 Riley-Ford EcoBoost of Memo Rojas and Ricky Taylor’s #10 Corvette DP on the very first lap.
After being spun out by Michael Valiante in the #90 Corvette DP after an hour had passed, the 23-year-old kept calm and made his way back up to third before the Brit took over.
Brundle was looking to end up in Victory Lane, as he was pushing the Ligier hard and made some interesting passing manouvers in the last stint of the race. The car showed that it was extremely quick through the first sector, as the fast turns were helped by the c’s high downforce configuration, which enabled him to catch the leaders quickly.
With just six minutes left, Brundle passed Action Express’ Joao Barbosa for the runner-up spot and began to chase Scott Pruett in the #01 Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost.
However, it was too late for the Kings Lynn driver to seize any potential chance of a win, after securing the runner-up spot last time out at Watkins Glen, but he still posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1:59.337.
OAK Racing’s Team Principal, Philippe Dumas, was aware that there is still work for the team to do, in terms of the lead up to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta during the first weekend of October: