Traffic played a decisive role in proceedings as the European Le Mans Series got underway at Silverstone, with Thiriet by TDS Racing marking their switch to Morgan with a victory first time out. After a late-race safety car set up a 20 minute sprint to the finish, Thiriet man Tristan Gommendy was able to use the slower GT cars to his advantage and pass erstwhile leader Michel Frey, going on to win by 4 seconds as the Race Performance driver defended from Morand Racing’s Gary Hirsch.
“We did a pretty good job; it’s a new car for us, so we’ve worked really hard for this,” an elated Gommendy said. “On the restart we knew Frey had new tyres, so we pushed really hard, I couldn’t have done any more. I’m really happy, it’s a great team victory.”
Jota Sport looked to have the race in the bag entering the final hour, having qualified on pole courtesy of a stunning lap from Formula 3 convert Harry Tincknell and a strong first stint from Filipe Albuquerque, before the race was abruptly turned on its head. Simon Dolan was forced wide by the GTE Ferrari of Michele Rugolo at Chapel corner, lost traction on the grass and spun head-on into the inside wall, collecting the blameless Labre Competition Morgan of Gustavo Yacaman along the way. Thankfully Dolan emerged unscathed, although it was nonetheless a bitter pill for the team to swallow, with victory seemingly imminent.
“Unfortunately things like Simon's accident can happen in racing,” said Albuquerque. “Thankfully he's okay. He'd driven a fantastic stint – strong and consistent. He did a great job and will come back stronger.”
The enthralling three-way battle for the win could well have been four, had it not been for an untimely left-front puncture for Murphy Prototypes at Copse, requiring Rodolfo Gonzalez to complete a full-lap with the flailing tyre ripping the bodywork to shreds. It was particularly galling for Greg Murphy’s men considering Gonzalez’s recovery drive to within touching distance of the lead battle, after it was adjudged the Venezuelan had jumped the start and had to serve a penalty. By the time Alex Kapadia, and later Karun Chandhok got behind the wheel, the latter setting the race’s fastest lap, the green machine was already six laps down and out of contention.
“Gonzo was a bit unlucky at the start; if the guy on the left slows down, you can’t do much about it,” Kapadia said. “Then he was even unluckier with the puncture at Copse, he had to do a whole lap which resulted in bodywork damage, and we lost around 6 laps as a result. After that there was nothing to lose, so I just gave it everything.”