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Strakka Racing recorded a
sensational result at the 6 Hours of Bahrain, scoring a dominant win in
the FIA World Endurance Championship for Privateers’ category and
finishing 3rd overall with its Honda Performance Development ARX-03a.
The speed and reliability of the 3.4-litre normally aspirated, 600bhp,
HPD ARX-03a, impeccable pit crew work and the team’s strategy of only
single-stinting its drivers paid dividends, as this allowed Nick
Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane to push hard at all times,
regardless of the fact that the race started in extreme desert heat
conditions – with air and track surface temperatures of 35 and 43ºC
respectively.
The results ensures that Strakka Racing remains in contention for the
WEC for Privateers’ title with two races remaining in Japan and China,
with a large points advantage over its third placed rival.
Jonny made the perfect start from the inside of row three and held onto
2nd Privateer position during a faultless 26-lap stint around the 3.36
mile (5.412km) Bahrain Grand Prix circuit.
Nick took over and despite painful pins and needles throughout his
stint, he moved Strakka Racing into the Privateer lead. However, he had
to be helped out of the car at the driver change and, unable to move
easily, struggled to strap Danny into the car as quickly as normal. The
40 seconds lost in the pits saw Danny re-join the race as 3rd Privateer,
as the desert darkness descended.
The team then hunted down the two Rebellion Racing Lolas ahead. Danny
overtook the #13 car driven by Andrea Belicchi before Jonny closed in on
the #12 of Nicolas Prost, until the latter pitted, surrendering the
Privateer lead. Strakka had another driver change coming up, and despite
having to repair a damaged left hand side number plate, Danny re-joined
in the lead after a magnificent lightning quick pit crew procedure.
With a healthy Privateer lead, the #7 works Toyota dived down the inside
of Jonny to lap him, but made contact. The Strakka ARX-03a was forced
to come into the pits to replace a rear left puncture, while the Toyota
suffered irreparable damaged.
Despite some impact-related handling problems, Danny was able to
complete the race at a good pace, finishing a lap ahead of the #12
Rebellion to win the Privateers’ award and finish 3rd overall behind the
two works Audis.
Nick: “Our strategy of single-stinting certainly gave us the edge today
and our car ran perfectly. It’s been an incredible team effort and I’m
immensely proud of every member of the team for all their hard work in
achieving this result. My stint was unfortunately cut short because of
pain in my leg – it’s a problem we’ve suffered with at times this year, I
think it’s belt-related, and this time I fell foul of it. It was the
most painful driving stint I’ve ever done in a racing car. After a short
while I had no feeling in my right foot at all; it was okay when I was
pressing down on full throttle, but I had no sensation in my lower right
leg, so regulating movement was impossible. I knew I’d need help
getting out of the car and that I’d struggle helping Danny get strapped
in, and the pit stop ended up being a catalogue of errors! We lost forty
seconds but luckily it all came good in the end.”
Danny: “It’s a fantastic achievement to finish third overall, but of
course we weren’t really racing the works Audis and Toyota and we were
very focused on trying to win the Privateers’ battle. We’re a small
team, all the guys put in a huge amount of work to make sure the car is
fast and reliable and the conditions this week have been extremely
difficult, not just for the drivers, but also for all the team members
working on the car. They deserve all the credit for this race result and
it will give us the confidence to go to Japan knowing exactly what
dedication and hard work can actually achieve.”
Jonny: “Our pace has been really good all season, the competition in the
P1 Privateers’ category is very close and this time we came out on top.
We’ve had a good car underneath us all season, and it’s a fantastic
achievement to not only win the Privateers’ award, but to also stand on
the third step of the overall podium – it just shows what a great team
effort this was. I had a little coming together with the #7 Toyota. Its
transponder wasn’t working, so we didn’t know it was following me, but
where it tried to overtake I don’t really think was the right place
because they have a massive straight-line speed advantage over us and
could have safely overtaken on a straight. At the end of the day it was
just a racing incident, but it gave us a puncture, damaged a side pod
and upset the balance of the car so it was sliding about a lot. Luckily
we were able to continue at a fairly good pace and finish the race.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing’s Team Manager: “The whole team is
delighted by achieving our first Privateer win of the year and having
the honour to be the first Privateer team to stand on the P1 podium,
which has been dominated by the manufacturers all season. It’s a
testament to all the hard work that every single member of the Strakka
Racing team has put into this project since before the beginning of the
season. It’s very satisfying that the combination of reliability,
outright pace and strategy meant that we could not be beaten by any
other Privateer team in Bahrain.”
Round 7 of the FIA WEC is the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 14.
Time-lapsed significant race moments
00mins: Danny takes the chequered flag, to claim 1st WEC Privateers’ and 3rd overall
44mins: Driver change, Danny in for Jonny. Fuel. 1st Privateer and 3rd overall
1hrs 17mins: Incident with #7 Toyota. Stopped to replace a punctured left rear tyre. 1st Privateer and 3rd overall
1hrs 29mins: Fuel only stop during Safety Car period
1hrs 50mins: Driver change, Jonny in for Danny. Tyres and fuel. 1st Privateer and 4th overall
2hrs 39mins: Driver change, Danny in for Jonny. Tyres, fuel and replace left side number panel. 1st Privateer and 4th overall
2hrs 44mins: Having taken almost a minute out of leader, #12 Rebellion pits. Strakka Racing moves to 1st Privateer and 3rd overall
3hrs 29mins: Driver change, Jonny in for Danny. Tyres and fuel. 2nd Privateer and 4th overall
3hrs 42mins: Danny overtakes #13 Rebellion. 2nd Privateer and 5th overall
4hrs 19mins: Driver change, Danny in for Nick. Tyres and fuel. 1st Privateer and 4th overall. Long stop as Nick has to be helped out of car. 40 seconds lost. 3rd Privateer and 5th overall
5hrs 11mins: Driver change, Nick in for Jonny. Tyres and fuel. 2nd Privateer and 5th overall
6hrs 00mins: Jonny makes a great start from 2nd Privateer and 5th overall. Challenges #12 Rebellion into T1, but holds position. Air temp 35ºC / track 43ºC
