Round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship saw KC Motorgroup Ltd (KCMG) deliver a strong performance yet again in FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of CoTA. It was back on the podium for the Le Mans wining trio of Richard Bradley, Matt Howson and Nicolas Lapierre, where the group first achieved a triumphant LMP2 finish at La Sarthe.
The Lone Star state was the venue of the team’s first victory last year where they dominated the race after starting on pole position. The #47 Oreca 05 coupe qualified on pole position yet again this year but a minor tehnical infringement unfortunately relegated their efforts to a position at the back of the LMP2 field.
When the drivers took the 5pm start, French ace Nicolas Lapierre made short work of the field as he mustered his way back to first place on the first hour with a series of fast and consistent lap times before handling the car to Richard Bradley. As the sun set on Austin, the British driver was able to stay away from all the dangers associated with driving in limited lighting. Unfortunately, G-Drive was able to capitalize on a full course yellow by pitting ahead, taking the lead back from KCMG.
In the end, former Toyota LMP1 driver Nicolas Lapierre took over the reins of the KCMG Oreca 05 coupe and tried to overhaul the gap to the eventual winners of the race. Lapierre in the process set the fastest LMP2 lap (1’56.735) and finished in second place at the Circuit of the Americas.
Richard Bradley: “I think to come from last to second is a very good result for us and it keeps our championship lead which is the most important thing. The whole team performed well on the car and it was very good and very fast the whole weekend. We had a little bit of unfortunate circumstance with the full course yellows but that’s racing and to finish second is definitely not a bad result.”
Nicolas Lapierre: “We did quite well this weekend, the car was very competitive but in the end I think second was the best we could achieve from the position we started. We had provisional pole position and also the fastest lap but in the end we only finished second so it’s a bit of a disappointment but we did what we could. We are still leading the championship, which is the most important thing. I wish the best of luck to the guys for the rest of the season. I’m sure they will fight for the title. KCMG looks forward to racing and defending their championship lead in the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 11. The race will be the first of a series of races in Asia before the season ends in Bahrain in November.”
Matt Howson: “The race in Austin was physically one of the toughest I’ve done, but credit to all of us as KCMG could have done nothing more to win from the back after our harsh post-qualifying penalty. Respect to G-Drive for retaking the lead, and we’ll happily take second towards our championship, amnd come back stronger in our home race at Fuji.”
KCMG looks forward to racing and defending their championship lead in the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 11. The race will be the first of a series of races in Asia before the season ends in Bahrain in November.
To find out more about FIA WEC, visit www.fiawec.com.
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