As the team begins to find its feet again, it seems there is no stopping the enthusiasm and eagerness to race from our new team members and old hands alike. So when young gun Antoine Blankers and trial member Stephen Kimmins decided to have a go at the 7pm ELMS race this past Saturday, we weren’t overly surprised. Nor were were we hugely shocked when they chose to not qualify in this, the top split race – sometimes, the safest place to start is at the back right – but a few eyebrows started to be raised when the guys had risen from last to P3 after just 15 laps, and when Stephen casually slid the Audi R18 LMP1 of TBR Yellow in to P1 just before half distance, we really started to sit up and take notice. To be honest, we really shouldn’t have been surprised – the guys drove an exceptional race and were never bettered (save when they stopped to pit) from lap 81 all the way to the finish on lap 178, having lapped all the way to P3 in the process!
So well done guys, a great result and as a trial member, Stephen has set the bar really high for the other n00bs in the team Felix Nicol and Gilles Hubin. Better get practising boys :o)
The same race had Frenchman Dan Page and resident Waffle maker Joris Thielen in the Ford GTE. Qualifying 15th Dan got a decent enough start before being tapped in the ass, unfortunately picking up damage resulting in a loss of top-speed. The guys soldiered on though (very un-Frenchman like I know) and eventually came home in 12th after 6 hours of painful lacking-in-top-speed-ness (yep, now an official word….). So fair play for that…. I guess….. ;o) But in all seriousness – its great to see TBR not only racing top split races again, but winning them too. Nice job to all involved, and long may the daft bird logo be winning!
