Larbre Competition travelled to the final FIA World Endurance Championship round of 2013 in Bahrain hoping to conclude a frustrating season with a podium finish.
Unfortunately an electrical failure during qualifying relegated the #50 Corvette C6.R of Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Fernando Rees to the back of the grid, condemning the trio to another difficult race.
They would still come close to hitting their target.
Running third with just one hour’s racing remaining, the #50 eventually crossed the line in fourth spot, under 40seconds shy of a remarkable podium finish.
But ultimately their valiant efforts would end in frustration, summing up the team’s 2013 campaign.
The reigning GTE Am World Champions thus end the season fifth in the standings, placing them outside the top-three for the first time since 1996. This can be directly linked to the new Balance of Performance (BoP) regulations set by the ACOand the FIA ahead of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. At La Sarthe and the subsequent events in Brazil and the United States, Bornhauser, Canal and Rees gave their all to produce strong performances, despite their car being much slower on the straights than its competitors’.
The partial readjustment of the BoP mandated by the Endurance Committee ahead of the 6 Hours of Fuji brought some cheerto the French squad. However bad luck impeded their progress in Japan as severe rain resulted in the event’s cancellation. A spectacular pit-lane fire in China and alternator problems during qualifying in Bahrain compounded their 2013 miseries.
The team had begun the Bahrain contest in buoyant mood following the pace displayed in free practice, where their #50 recorded competitive times between third and fifth positions. That gave them real hope heading into qualifying, where Bornhauser and Rees handled driving duties.
Unfortunately, an electrical failure scuppered the Corvette during Bornhauser’s first flying lap. This prevented Rees from takingthe wheel, a great disappointment for the Brazilian whose friends in the Bahraini Royal Family – with whom he studied in Paris– were watching on. What’s more, it left the team to start from the back of the grid.
However the Larbre crew’s hopes remained high aheadof the 6-hour race. Bornhauser produced a solid first stint, despite a slight mistake five laps before handing over the car. This didn’t stop the #50 gradually climbing the order,leaving it in third place with one hour remaining.
Unfortunately Canal had to complete the race on the slower hard compound tyres, allowing the soft-shod #61 Ferrari to force its way past. Larbre would eventually take the flag in fourth spot, just shy of the podium.
Patrick Bornhauser: “The final race of the season could not have come quickly enough. Thanks to the Balance of Performance, we’ve had no pace since Le Mans. To invest so much money, then watch on as politics shakeseverything up… this is not the way I see motor racing,
