Gulf Racing completes Le Mans test

Gulf racing took part in the official Le Mans 24hr test day at La Sarthe over the weekend with their Porsche 991 RSR GTE, in preparation for a possible last minute call up to the main event. The team made the trip down to Le Mans last week to take part in the test, with drivers Adam Carroll and Phil Keen needing to complete their mandatory 10 laps to qualify and Mike Wainwright looking to gain valuable Le Mans experience the team took the rare opportunity to run on the legendry full 24 hr circuit.

After a short spell of dry conditions in the morning where Phil Keen covered his mandatory laps the rain started to come down and the remaining part of the morning session was on a damp and slippery surface. Mike Wainwright made use of the wet conditions to get his eye in on the 13km circuit and covered some valuable mileage gathering data on the wet tyres, tyre choice being a critical decision for the big race. The afternoon session saw intermittent rain again but with a short dry spell that allowed pro driver Adam Carroll a chance to see what the car could really do, with a clear lap the 991 RSR in the hands of Carroll showed it would be a competitive proposition, ending the day 3rd in the GTE-AM class with a 4:01.208 lap time.

As usual the car ran faultlessly and all three drivers managed to get the valuable and necessary seat time to be ready for the main event, either this year or next…

Team Manager Matt Beers: “We had a great test at Le Mans, the car was quick, the setup was good, all the drivers are prepared and we had no issues at all, the only problem we have is we don’t have an entry to the actual race! It’s very frustrating to be this close and have to pack up to go home, particularly when we are clearly ready and competitive. I’m sure our chance will come in the future but for now it looks like we will just have to remain focussed on winning the ELMS so we can avoid this situation next year.”

With the race fast approaching and no signs of further withdrawals from the current entry list the team have returned to the UK and while still ready for a late call up will now turn their attention to the next round of the ELMS at the Red Bull Ring in July.