FASTEST FERRARI IN FRANCE!
Ben Tuck has cemented himself as one of the top endurance GT3 and Ferrari drivers after a superb stint in Round 2 of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). During successful weekends work for Ben in the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard in France, he claimed 3rd and 4th fastest laps in Free Practice, and in a stunning display in the final part of the race, Ben took fastest outright and average laps of all the Ferrari 296 GT3’s, Fastest Sector 1 in class, and 2nd fastest outright and average laps in class.
Bens’s performance makes good on the promise shown in last month’s opening round in the GT World Challenge Europe, again at Paul Ricard, where he claimed fastest lap in Class and again, fastest Ferrari.
The weekend started well for the crew of the distinctive #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari, where Ben and bagged top 3 and 4 lap times while searching for the optimum setup. This enabled the crew’s Bronze driver, John Hartshorne to qualify the car with confidence that potential was dialled in. After a brief qualification session, Hartshorne claimed 11th on the grid.
In a solid and dependable first stint, Hartshorne brought the car back to the garage in good shape after 1hr and 42mins in 10th position, for Gold rated co-driver Phil Keen, to take over for the next hour. After making time to the next position during the next hour, he handed the car to Tuck for the final 1hr and 35mins.
Tuck was determined to make plenty of headway into the 1 lap plus 1 min 31s gap to the next placed car. In a display of pace and consistency, Ben carved 1min and 17s from the deficit, making up almost 2 seconds per lap on the way claiming fastest outright and average laps of all the Ferrari 296 GT3’s, Fastest Sector 1 in Class, and 2nd fastest outright and average laps in class.
Ben was clearly happy with his efforts: “I really enjoyed my stint, and this [Ferrari] 296 [GT3] is the best race car I’ve driven in my career so far. Really happy to be the fastest Ferrari again!”
It is now clear that Ferrari and Ben Tuck are a potent force in international GT racing. They next race in the GT world Challenge Europe at the world renown 24hrs of Spa-Francorchamps on 29th and 30th June.
