TUCK SHINES IN ITALY AS FASTEST FERRARI DRIVER ONCE AGAIN!
June was a decisive month for Ben Tuck, having taken 4th place in his debut at the 24hrs of Le Mans and then followed it up with a stellar performance at the legendary 24hrs of Spa-Francorchamps, again another debut. It was a trend established since the beginning of the season for both championships in which he has been competing – the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and GT World Challenge (GTWC). With fastest lap in class and fastest Ferrari lap at GTWC Round 1, 2nd fastest GT3 Lap and fastest Ferrari lap at ELMS Round 2, and 3rd fastest lap in class, and 2nd fastest Ferrari lap at the GTWC 24hrs of Spa. Last week, Tuck kicked off the second half of his season, at round 3 of the ELMS and yet again he excelled, taking 2nd fastest GT3 lap and fastest Ferrari lap of the race in a performance that must rank him as one of the premier Ferrari drivers on the European stage.
In Tuck’s first visit to Imola, on Ferrari’s doorstep, the weekend began solidly, with JMW engineering the #66 Ferrari 296 to find a suitable setup for the classic circuit. As usual, Bronze rated John Hartshorne took to the track for qualifying, ending the session in 11th place. With warm stable weather and confidence in the car, hopes were high in the team and the driver trio of Tuck, Hartshorne and Keen, for some positive moves during the race.
Hartshorne took the start and the initial stint of the race, which soon began to feature many incidents resulting in Safety Cars and Full Course Yellow (FCY) periods. As Hartshorne neared the end of his first stint, a FCY period fell unluckily and he was forced to pit for fuel under the emergency fuel regulations, meaning that another full pitstop was required following the end of the FCY period. This demoted the team to more than a lap down. 10 laps later, Hartshorne handed the car back to Gold rated Phil Keen in 11th place. Keen, now a lap down on the next placed car, gradually gained time but was frustrated by more FCY and Safety Car periods during his 1hr and 10 mins in the car. Eventually he handed the car back to Tuck, 82 laps into the race with 1hr and 15 mins left on the clock. Endurance racing demands a ‘never give up spirit’ and Tuck, resolved to make back as much time as possible.
Starting immediately, he sprinted out of the pits and lit up the timing sheets determined to reduce the 1 lap and 1min 35 second deficit to the next placed car. With his very first flying lap, Ben posted the 2nd fastest GT3 lap time of the race at that point. During the next 1 and ¼ hours, in a stint that was punctuated by more FCY periods, Ben consistently posted lap times in the top 3. As the GT3 race neared an exciting conclusion, Ben had moved forward on track and found himself among the 3 leaders battling nose to tail 2 laps ahead. However, showing maturity and sportsmanship, he allowed the leaders plenty of room to fight despite being faster than them. At the end of the race, Ben had logged 2nd fastest GT3 lap and fastest Ferrari lap of the race.
The pace of Ben in the JMW Ferrari 296 GT3 is unequivocable, but the early part of the race was unfortunate, as Ben observed: “The car was mega on pace, but we got unlucky around the pit window so struggled to make progress after that. Thank you JMW for the hard work! On to the next one….”.
Ben next races in the ELMS on 24th at Spa-Francorchamps.
