Electrical issue denies inception racing chance to shine in Paul Ricard 1000KMHaving secured pole position at the season-opening race at Monza inception racing were seeking a strong performance as Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup travelled to Paul Ricard – the venue that saw the Optimum Motorsport run team finish first and second recently in GT Open. Unfortunately, early race contact caused an electrical issue, and this resulted in a 12-minute plus pitstop, eliminating those high expectations.
As a recent winner at the French venue and very much part of the team in GT Open, Nick Moss joined the regular GT World Challenge pairing of Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy in the #70 McLaren 720S GT3 for six-hour 1000KM endurance round. The team worked through the Friday practice sessions, ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning where the trio of drivers recorded an average lap time around the 5.771KM circuit good enough for tenth position in the Pro-Am class. Brendan again took the starting duties, losing out on the opening lap due to contact, before showing his race-craft to carve his way back up to seventh position; passing Karim Ojjeh, Sarah Bovy, Jan Kasperlik, Duncan Cameron, and Hiroshi Hamaguchi. Nick jumped in just past the one-hour mark, lapping at almost identical pace to Brendan, fending off challenges from behind for much of his stint before pitting 64-laps into the race. With refuelling and the tyre change complete, the #70 McLaren simply would not re-fire for Brendan to begin his second run of the race. Over 12-minutes elapsed before he was able to return to racing action and consequently, any hopes of a strong result had now been dashed. The team later traced the battery issue to an incident right at the start of the race, where contact ultimately led to the electrical failure. Brendan and then Nick completed their running as darkness descended, handing over to Ollie for the final two hours of the race. The team’s pro-driver was right on the pace of the front-runners, but with multiple laps lost, it was to no avail as he took the chequered flag after 174 laps ninth in class, 34th overall. The team now travel to the United States to compete next weekend in rounds five and six of GT World Challenge America at Virginia International Raceway. Given the Pro-Am win last time out in the championship at COTA, Brendan and Ollie will be seeking another haul of silverware. |