Abu Dhabi-Proton racing team claimed fourth place in the Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours race, LMGTE Am class, on board the Porsche 911 RSR No. 88.
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The team were aiming for a podium finish after qualifying in 3rd, but two collisions with a Ferrari during the final quarter of the race affected the balance and performance of the car.
The Abu Dhabi team recorded some positive times during qualifying, with an average lap time of 2:21.432 (Bachler 2:19.610 and Ried2:23.255) which was enough to secure 3rd place on the starting grid.
This year’s Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours race was watched by a crowd of over 54,000 spectators, an 8,000 increase on last year’s attendance.
They were not disappointed with the on-track action, with an exciting start taking place in each category.
In the LMGTE Am class, Klaus Bachler moved the Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing team into second place behind Aston Martin.
However, pit stop strategies dropped the team back into third and by the 3rd period of the race the Abu Dhabi team had lost 2 more places and were sitting in fifth.
One of my #picture of the #Porshce 911 RSR Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing at @FIAWEC #SpaFrancorchamps ! #PorscheFans pic.twitter.com/PgHxsONRn4
— Nathan paternotte (@nat_paternotte) April 30, 2015
The UAE’s Khaled Al Qubaisi entered the race and succeeded in restoring the team to third place before the two mishaps with Ferrari.
Al Qubaisi said: “We had an excellent start and we managed to secure second place, however, the two collisions with the Ferrari team participating in LMGTE Pro severely affected our race.
“The first collision caused the car to slip after a rear hit. The second was a hit from the side which damaged the right side‘s front wheel balance, costing us about four seconds a lap.
“Even so we decided to continue with the race in an unbalanced car instead of taking an unscheduled pit stop to repair the damage, so we lost a place.
“Despite this I still believe we had good race and morale remains high. We go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month hoping to repeat last year performance and get a podium position”.
Attention now turns to Le Mans Circuit in France next month (June 13th/14th) for the world famous 24hrs of Le Mans race which acts as the 3rd round of the World Endurance Championship.
Last year’s edition saw Al Qubaisi and the Abu Dhabi team clinch 2nd place within their category, something they will hope they can repeat again in 2015.
