Tockwith Motorsports made their debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship this weekend ahead of their first trip to the Le Mans 24 Hours next month.
Competing in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, it was also the debut for the new Ligier JS P217 in the Championship. This added to the extra challenge for the team, particularly as they are the only team running the car currently.
Making it a weekend of firsts, it was also the first time that the team ran the driver line up they will field at Le Mans, with the regular European Le Mans Series pairing of Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson joined by the highly experienced Karun Chandhok.
Prior to qualifying in 6th place the team incurred a pit lane drive through penalty for a ride height infringement during FP2. The team served this penalty on the opening lap of the race, but received an additional drive through penalty shortly afterwards. In between serving these penalties the team also suffered a left rear puncture, and were forced to pit for a third time in the opening period of the race. This challenging start all but ended any hope they had of a strong result in the race.
Starting the race, Nigel drove incredibly well in his first stint to chase down and pass all of the GT competitors within just a handful of laps. He then started chipping away at the gap between himself and the rest of the LMP2 field.
Unfortunately the gap they had at the end of the first hour proved to be insurmountable for the team. The team though did claim a small piece of FIA WEC history along the way with Phil Hanson becoming the youngest ever driver in the Championship outside of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Whilst the race presented plenty of challenges, it did however, provide the team with an ideal test session ahead of their biggest of challenges, the Le Mans 24 Hours.
All three drivers ran faultlessly throughout the race, getting plenty of laps under their belts. For the team, it was a vital opportunity to work together on the new Ligier JS P217 Gibson.
Simon Moore, Team Owner, Tockwith Motorsports:
“While of course we would have liked to come away with a better result this weekend, for us this weekend was all about preparing for Le Mans.
“We are privileged to be the first team to run the brand new Ligier JS P217 in a WEC race, but as with any brand new car there is development work that needs to be done and we are working closely with Ligier to make it a success.”
The weekend finished on a slightly disappointing note with the team having to retire the car with just 10 minutes left in the race. The cars oil pressure dropped indicating gearbox problems, so the team chose to bring the car in so as to not cause any additional damage.
The team will now head straight to Monza for round two of the European Le Mans Series being held next weekend.
