ENCOURAGING RESULT FOR NEW CREW IN ELMS

Ben Tuck was joined by an all-new line up at the 5th Round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) last weekend at Mugello following the retirement of John Hartshorne, who had been Tuck’s regular Bronze rated co-driver after he was involved in a heavy impact in the previous ELMS round at Spa. Americans Scott Noble and Jason Hart joined Ben in qualifying 6th and securing a creditable 6th position finish at the end of the incident filled 4-hour race in Italy, which featured no less than 6 Safety Car periods and a race stoppage. The result hints at some future promise for the partnership as Tuck helped Noble and Hart get to grips with the Ferrari after being long time Porsche racers.

The weekend kicked off on a positive note as Noble and Hart began to familiarise themselves with the #66 Ferrari and the new crew gelled, whilst the team made adjustments to the extensively rebuilt chassis after the Hartshorne accident at the previous race. After 2 practice sessions, qualifying fell to Scott Noble as the crews Bronze rated driver. In a busy 15-minute session, Noble qualified in 6th position on the grid, feeling ever more confident with his new mid-engined car.

After weeks of wet and changeable conditions, race day offered a warm and pleasant prospect, allowing Noble and Hart to set aside the need to learn the handling of their JMW Ferrari car in the wet. However, the lack of wet weather did not produce a straightforward race.

Noble took the initial stint off the start and held 6th until just 5 laps in, when the first safety car was deployed, lasting 13 minutes. Following the Safety Car, Noble gradually rose to 4th place before settling back to 7th after the first round of stops.

Another flurry of incidents occurred just before the next round of stops were due, the first causing another Safety Car period followed just 1 lap later by a further incident generating a Virtual Safety Car, which progressed into a full Safety Car period. The JMW team jumped at the opportunity to pit for a driver change during the brief Virtual Safety Car period, with Hart taking over the #66 Ferrari in 4th position.

As the field were released from behind the Safety Car just over halfway into the race, Hart found himself in the middle of a fierce 3-way battle for 3rd position. At maximum speed along the start/finish straight, Hart just managed to avoid a huge accident ahead, which ultimately caused a Red Flag, temporarily stopping the race for 20 minutes. Luckily there were no injuries to those involved. Once the debris was removed, the race resumed under another Safety Car which then released the field to go racing again with 1hr 20 mins left to go and Hart in 3rd place. The #66 car eventually pitted for Tuck to take over with just under 50 minutes of the race remaining

Tuck returned to the track in 7th position and was immediately enveloped in a 3-way battle for 5th place. After a busy 50 minutes fighting, Tuck brought the team home in 7th position on the track, but with a penalty being handed out to a car ahead, they were promoted to 6th place.

The result gave the team reason to be optimistic heading into the final round at Portimao on 20th October. Ben commented: “A great first weekend in ELMS for my new teammates Jason and Scott, as both made impressive progress throughout the weekend. We were all involved in a lot of battles and were fighting hard. We know there is more performance to find in the package and we’ll be looking for more in the final round at Portimao in a few weeks time…”.

Ben next races in the ELMS at Portimao on 20th October 2024