HOPES DASHED AFTER UNLUCKY SAFETY CAR AT ELMS SEASON FINALE!
Ben Tuck knows as well as any other racing driver, that as much as determination, teamwork, speed and tactics count, sometimes a race result can be completely decided on a random turn of events. That fact was brutally brought home to Tuck and his new JMW Motorsport co-drivers, Scott Noble and Jason Hart at the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) season finale at Portimao in Portugal last weekend. In another action packed and incident filled race, the #66 JMW Ferrari was running well in the first stint, when fate conspired to bring out the Safety Car at exactly the wrong moment. In a single stroke, the crew went from running in a solid 5th position to being an entire lap behind the leaders in last place, a position that proved irrevocable for the rest of the race, despite Tuck in his stint, gaining almost a minute on the car ahead and posting the second quickest lap of the race.
The final round of the 2024 ELMS season at Portimao turned out to be an action-packed event, finely balanced with eight teams in the running to take the title honours. It is perhaps no surprise then that the on-track action was fast and furious, with no fewer than three separate safety car periods and three Full Course Yellow flag periods.
The weekend got underway on a positive note when Tuck showed early pace potential by taking the 2nd fastest lap in the final Free Practice session. Bronze rated driver, Scott Noble looked after qualifying duties as usual, where in a tight session he placed the #66 Ferrari in 8th position. The final race day of the ELMS season unusually took place on a Saturday. However, the chaos of the opening lap was not so unusual and Noble took advantage by snatching 2 places to find 6th position before a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) on the very next lap.
An hour into the race and Noble was running well in 5th position and due for his first fuel stop, the first of the top 5 runners. The JMW pit crew deftly completed the stop and sent Noble back out into 9th position ready to move up as those ahead pitted for their stops. However, fate was to have other ideas and at exactly the wrong moment an incident slowed the entire field under another VSC, which allowed the rest of the cars ahead to pit and emerge a lap in front and to add insult, benefit from being able to pass the safety car to gain an extra lap. Instantly, Noble found himself 2 laps down on the leaders and in last place.
However desperate the situation was, the team battled on with Jason Hart taking over driving duties from Noble for 50 minutes until handing the car to Ben Tuck in 10th position on lap 70 for the final hour and a half.
Finding himself over a lap behind the car ahead, Tuck set about putting the car in the best position to take advantage of any more chaos that may arise. Instantly he lit up the timing screens becoming the fastest GT3 car on the track and carving an average of 2.5 seconds per lap from the gap to the car ahead in 9th place. Across the next 12 laps, Tuck made up enough time unlap himself and continued to close to within 30 seconds before the final pitstop with 32 minutes of the race to go.
After the stop, Tuck emerged with over a minute to recover. In the final 19 laps he again lit up the times, pushing his Ferrari to take the fastest GT3 lap of the race at that point and gaining almost 2 seconds per lap on the car in front, clawing back another 10 seconds by the chequered flag. Whilst his performance did not alter the finishing positions, Ben gained almost a full minute on the 9th placed car across his 48 racing laps, claiming the 2nd fastest GT3 lap of the race and once again, the fastest Ferrari driver. The performance provided some consolation to Ben after the race: “We showed that we can be quick and the car was great, thanks to JMW Motorsport for all the hard work. It’s a shame but it is what it is, just an unlucky Safety Car took the chance of a result away from us.”
Ben has yet to announce his plans for his next races.
