British racing driver Sarah Reader and co-driver Flick Haigh sealed more vital points for their V de V Endurance Proto campaign with 5th in class at Dijon, France last weekend. The TFL Racing duo missed out on a podium position after being caught out by the constantly changing weather conditions but minimalised the damage with a superb and controlled performance.
Starting the 3-hour endurance from the 9th row of the grid on a greasy track, Reader took the late gamble to start on dry tyres and spent the opening laps doing her best to get some heat into them.
Conditions however didn't improve and forced Reader to bring the #26 Juno into the pits to change to wet tyres before rejoining the race in P26.
However, once back out, she wasted no time and set about making up for lost ground by producing consistently quick pace for the majority of her stint before the track eventually started to dry.
After making a switch back to slicks, Reader continued to shine, getting the car up to 2nd in class, and 13th overall, before handing over to Haigh at the 1hr 40min mark.
With another rain shower seeming imminent, Haigh went out on wets but, for the second time, the gamble didn't go their way. However, they were able to take advantage of a safety car period soon after the stop and the team called the car back in again to revert back to slicks.
Once on the right tyres, Haigh put in a strong and impressive performance, despite having all her dashboard lights go down in the last half hour of the race, leaving her with no information as to what the car was doing.
Despite her troubles, she took the chequered flag in 5th in class and 16th overall to secure more valuable points as the season enters its' second half at Motorland Aragon next time out.
Sarah Reader:"Once again we proved we have genuine pace to run at the front of the class. Unfortunately we took a couple of gambles that went against us but everything else was perfect so we limited the damage.
"I think the class podium was on, so I can't help but feel a little disappointed but that was just how the race worked out for us and we've scored more points so we're not going away empty handed by any means.
"TFL Racing have yet again done a fantastic job - apart from the issues with the dash, the car ran flawlessly - and Flick put in another brilliant drive, especially with her dash lights cutting out, she maintained a very good pace.
"I think we've proved we have the package to contend for wins this season and naturally that is what we'll be aiming for at Motorland."
Reader and Haigh were also presented with an award from Michelin and V de V Sports for their fantastic performance last time out at Paul Ricard, which saw the pair snatch P2 after narrowly missing out on class victory.
Next up for Reader is the annual Fun Cup 25 Hours at Spa next week where she will be driving for 188 Global Racing run by Trackcars4hire, and she will resume V de V Endurance Proto duties at Motorland Aragon, Spain on 29th - 31st August.
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