Going the distance
Scots battle for glory during Le Mans weekend as others seek wins in England
EXPERIENCED Scots racer Paul Di Resta helped his United Autosports team fight to a fourth-place finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The crew’s LMP2 Oreca 07 was involved in a damaging accident not of their making early on in last weekend’s epic race.
But they made up for the 10 minutes lost in the garage getting repairs to finish just two laps down from the class winners in the world-famous endurance race.
Afterwards, the West Lothian driver said: “It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster week. We had a very strong car and made it through to the Hyperpole qualifying which I think was a big job.
“It was then a chaotic start with heavy rain and it was very unfortunate what happened. But we had that fighting spirit and powered our way back to fourth.
“I think you can say a job very well done but off the back of our win last year it is a disappointing result.”
Midlothian racer Colin Noble and his Nielsen Racing team-mate Tony Wells arguably fared better in the supporting Road to Le Mans event.
The Scot dominated the later stages of the first 55-minute race to win by more than seven seconds in their LMP3-class Ligier JS P320.
And the win propelled the team to the top of the Le Mans Cup standings, although the team was forced to retire from the second race after crash damage.
But the crew now lead the series by nine points with just two rounds remaining.
Meanwhile, many Scottish speed stars headed to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire for record-lap-chasing efforts in the away-round of the 2021 Super Lap Scotland contest.
Pro-X class driver Simon Bainbridge was quickest in his Chrono, with a time of 1:21.167 during qualifying but, sadly, broke his differential in the first lap of the final and was unable to complete a timed lap.
There were, however, notable class victories for Westfield driver Paul Rankin and Mitsubishi EVO pilot Michael Osborne Jnr.
Intense competition in other classes saw David Smitheram, Donnie MacLeod, Rab Jobson and Robert Yuill triumph.
The Knockhill Motor Sports Club Modsports competitors also made the trip south. Radical SR3 RS driver Greig MacArthur won the first encounter, while Solution F BMW M3 pilot Paul Brydon took the spoils in the second race.
This weekend sees the British Touring Car Championship and supporting series head to Thruxton.
And Knockhill-based, three-time
BTCC title-holder Gordon Shedden is poised to progress in his Halfords Racing with Cataclean Honda Civic Type R.
He is currently lying fourth in the championship standings and the Japanese machine is historically notoriously quick around the Hampshire circuit.
But fellow Scots competitors Rory Butcher and Aiden Moffat will also be looking to gain more valuable points during the three races.
Meanwhile, two more aces will be heading to Brands Hatch in Kent to compete in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.
Dundee’s Finlay Hutchison will be driving in the Pro class for Sainteloc Racing on board an Audi R8 LMS GT3.
And Kirkcaldy’s Jonny Adam will look to close in on the Pro-Am title with his Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 team.