1st June 2019
It was a disappointing day for Strakka Racing in France as they were forced into retirement two hours into the six-hour 1000km of Paul Ricard. The team had fought valiantly to get the car race-ready when the #43 needed an engine change after suffering a mechanical issue in qualifying.
For round three of the 2019 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Strakka fielded a driving trio of Dev Gore, Lewis Williamson and David Fumanelli. The latter took on qualifying session 1 this morning and, after setting a flying lap, the squad were forced to sit out the remaining two qualifying sessions to set about an engine change. In a race against the clock, the Silverstone-based squad were able to complete the change just ahead of the start of the race, with Gore starting for the team from the pitlane.
Less than five minutes into the race, Gore had already gained seven places to run in 42nd and, during a safety car period twenty minutes in, Dev had moved the Mercedes-AMG GT3 up to 40th. One and a half hours into the race, having been forced for an unscheduled pitstop for a puncture, the #43 was running as high as 32nd and, shortly thereafter, Strakka made a driver change to Fumanelli. After contact with one of the Ferrari competitors almost two hours into the race, Strakka was forced to retire from the race with suspension damage.
Jay Davenport, Strakka Racing Director: “Sometimes you have days like this in racing and we have to pick ourselves up and focus on the next race, which will be our two-car entry into the Spa 24h. I am very proud of how hard the team worked today. It was a tall order to complete the engine change in time for the race, but the team here at Strakka worked tirelessly to achieve that. To be forced to retire after that massive effort is extremely disappointing but, once again, we were showing good pace ahead of that and had made some good strategic pitstop decisions. All our efforts now turn to Spa next month.”
Strakka Racing will next be in action at the prestigious Spa 24 Hours on 27-28 July 2019.
