Another front row qualifying position for Hancock, but race blighted by electrical gremlins.
Reigning Le Mans Endurance Series Champion (LMP2), Sam Hancock, set an impressive time in qualifying for Sunday’s “Nurburgring 1000kms” to line up 2nd on the LMP2 category grid, and 7th overall out of the 44 car field.
Hancock’s lap-time in qualifying gave him is third front-row starting position in three races - and the second in a row for the Binnie Motorsports team - yet the Pole Position remains frustratingly elusive this year: “Normally qualifying is not a priority in endurance racing, but for us it’s representative of the bigger picture. We should be plenty quick enough to be fastest but we are struggling for tyre performance. It’s a small deficit over one lap that unfortunately gets magnified in a race situation, both in terms of pace and durability. So when we do find the pace to take pole positions, expect us to fly in the race also!”
In his second appearance for the Binnie Motorsport team, 25 year-old Hancock took the start, but despite a solid performance endured a tough first hour: “I was flat out, but I felt like I was going backwards. For some reason the car just lacked grip compared to qualifying. Bill [Binnie - co-driver & team boss] found exactly the same once I had handed the car over to him, but as soon as he changed to a different set of tyres he said the car was transformed and instantly went 2-3 seconds a lap quicker and put in a great stint.”
An electrical short-circuit soon halted this progress however, stopping the car out on the circuit, the result of a chaffed wiring loom. After a long delay, the team managed to trace and fix the problem in time for third driver, Allen Timpany, to put in an encouraging, trouble-free double stint over the last 2 hours of the 6 hour race.
“The team have had to work really hard today” said Sam, “and I’d like to thank them for a stunning effort in difficult circumstances. They’ve had a hard year, but it will come good for these guys very soon, we’ve just got to keep trying.”
The team will now prepare for the prestigious Petit Le Mans event on October 1st in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
