Team Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing finished second in Round 5 of the FIA World Endurance Championship – 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas.
Consisting of UAE circuit racing champion Khaled Al Qubaisi, Christian Ried and the 24H of Le Mans winner Earl Bamber, the team fought their way back from last place to finish behind the victorious Russian team SMP Racing.
Initially Team Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing were hampered by technical issues that prevented them from taking part in qualifying and meant they started the race from the back of the grid.
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Christian Ried gained a place in the 1st lap as the Abu Dhabi team set their sights on moving through the grid. In hour 2, Al Qubaisi took over from Ried and pushed his team to fourth at their first pit stop.
The team continued to make steady progress with Bamber posting a fastest lap (2:07.177) to take the team into second place, just 0.015secs behind SMP.
In the 4th hour Reid suffered a puncture which saw the team drop back into fifth. Al Qubaisi, however, did not let this setback halter progress, moving the UAE capital’s racing stable up into fourth.
In the final hour Bamber continued to close the gap, posting consistently quick lap times and driving Abu Dhabi back into second place.
At last, podium and 2nd place finish in Austin, even after a puncture that cost us more than 40sec.… https://t.co/o73dSzvVUy
— khaled al qubaisi (@QubaisiKhaled) September 20, 2015
“Despite the issues we had during qualifying we remained positive and were in high spirits on race day,” said Al Qubaisi.
“To start in last place and come 2nd is a fantastic achievement and I believe we could have won without the puncture that lost us around 45 seconds.
“It was definitely a tough race but we are very happy of course because we were able to show that we have the pace and ability to compete for the top positions. I’m happy with the car, the team and the result.”
The next round of the FIA WEC is the 6 hours of Fuji – Japan, beginning on the 11th of October.
