Speed and promise on display at Spa-Francorchamps
Proton Competition travelled to Belgium for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (9 May), with plenty of confidence after a positive showing at round one in Italy. Although a headline result ultimately proved elusive, Christian and Michael Ried’s squad left Spa with plenty of positives to build on.
Most encouraging was the outright pace of the Ford Mustang LMGT3, particularly in qualifying. Both the #88 car driven by Stefano Gattuso and the #77 entry of Eric Powell secured top-10 times in the opening session to advance to the LMGT3 Hyperpole shoot-out. Strong laps from Ben Tuck and Giammarco Levorato then placed the #77 and #88 machines on the second and third rows of the grid respectively.
Starting fifth, Gattuso in the #88 Ford Mustang LMGT3 immediately took the fight to his LMGT3 rivals, carving his way through the field in the early laps. Sharp work in the pits then enabled the Italian to jump a Lexus rival and seize the class lead after the first round of stops.
Levorato maintained the momentum during the middle stint, keeping the #88 machine in second place at the halfway mark. However, a drive-through penalty dropped the car down the order in the fiercely competitive LMGT3 field. A late safety-car period then handed third driver Logan Sargeant an opportunity to fight back and challenge for championship points.
The American battled well but didn’t quite have luck on his side in the finale as the #88 car crossed the line in 12th. To finish the weekend on a high, Stefano Gattuso picked up the fan-voted Goodyear Wingfoot Award in recognition of his rapid opening stints and overall performance.
The sister #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 showed equally strong pace throughout the weekend. Starting third on the grid, Eric Powell thrilled the capacity crowd of more than 100,000 spectators with a stunning overtaking move through Eau Rouge before an unfortunate spin dropped the car down the order.
Further time lost in the pits compounded the setback, but Powell and teammates Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx focused on maximising valuable track time and gathering crucial data ahead of the remaining FIA WEC rounds, crossing the line 16th in class.
All eyes are now focused on the highlight of the season – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – on the weekend of 13 to 14 June, where Proton Competition will be competing with no fewer than four cars across three classes.
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Copyright: Proton Competition (Paola Depalmas)
