Courageous fightback goes unrewarded in Barcelona

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s first-ever visit to Spain presented a fresh challenge for Proton Competition. Making its debut at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Ford Mustang LMGT3 showed its potential as Christian and Michael Ried’s team demonstrated grit and determination at the 6 Hours of Barcelona on 18 October.
 
Proton Competition made a positive start to the weekend, with both Ford Mustang LMGT3 entries progressing to Hyperpole. The #77 car of Eric Powell, Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx and the #88 entry of Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato and Logan Sargeant both delivered strong qualifying performances, giving the team plenty of encouragement heading into the race.
 
However, the #88 crew’s promising starting position was almost immediately undone when a first-corner incident sent Gattuso into a spin. Dropped to the back of the field, the trio faced an uphill battle but responded with a determined fightback. Fast, consistent stints from the US-Italian trio kept the car in contention as the race entered its closing stages. The #88 machine crossed the line in eighth but was excluded from the result after coming to a standstill on the cooldown lap.
 
“The whole crew did a great job making the best out of the situation,” said Gattuso. “The contact at the start was unlucky and put us right to the back of the pack. Sometimes that happens in racing, but to recover from that setback was a great feeling. Now we are fully focused on the season finale at Monza to finish the year on a high.”
 
The #77 sister entry, on the other hand, made a lightning-quick start to the race, with Powell putting together his customary strong opening stint to rise as high as second position at times. Both Priaulx and Tuck picked up where Powell left off, but luck was ultimately not on the team’s side as the car ran out of fuel on the final lap.
 
The final chance for FIA WEC points in the 2026 season comes at the 6 Hours of Monza on the weekend of 6 to 8 November.

Free for editorial use.
Copyright: Proton Competition (Paola Depalmas)