Pace Finance Win in Debut at British Endurance Championship
Pace Finance backed driver, Ian Gough, made the switch from single seaters to GT racing this weekend (18th June) at Silverstone in the British Endurance Championship, competing with Race Lab in their Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. A late change in circumstances saw Ian paired with Euan Hankey after Euan’s planned drive with the popular Lucky Khera fell through due to injury.
The weekend started for Ian on Friday, his first time in a GT car and his first time at Silverstone on the full GP circuit. The pairing with Euan was already showing promise with the combined pairing appearing to be in a position to challenge for a podium from unofficial time keeping. With Euan at the wheel in qualifying that potential was confirmed and the Pace Finance backed Porsche GT4 qualified 13th overall and 3rd in class.
As the race drew closer, the heavens opened. The team reacted to the conditions and quickly made changes to the car, however that decision was to prove costly. The pit lane was closed before Ian, who was doing the opening stint of the two hour endurance race, was able to join the track and so forcing him to start from the pit lane – having never driven the car in the wet before.
Ian cleared the pits and joined the race at the back of the pack but immediately, found his form. Ian charged past 9 cars on the opening lap, decisively carving his way through in torrential conditions with low visibility to find himself in 16th place at the end of the first tour. That progress continued as the race unfolded. Ian was in P8 and 2nd in class by the end of Lap 3 when the safety car was thrown. At the re-start, Ian scythed through the pack, running in 4th overall and 1st in class when he handed over driving duties to Euan at the one hour mark. Incredibly Ian had put almost a minute between him and the next GT4 car such were the challenging conditions. Euan banked the advantage and drove faultlessly for the next hour, setting times as fast as GT3 class cars, just being fellow Race Lab drivers David Macdonald and Claude Bovet in their the GT3 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Evo.
Ian commented;
“I jumped at the chance to drive for Race Lab this weekend, as I scope a full season in either British GT or Cayman Sprint Challenge next year. Turning up on Friday, I had low expectations having never driven anything like this before, mileage and experience was all I wanted. But come Saturday and with Euan alongside me, it was starting to become clear that we could have higher expectations.
Starting from the pit lane wasn’t a scenario I’d really planned for, we just pushed the limits too much putting a wet set up on the car and missed the 4 minute window to clear pit lane. But in some ways, I think starting from the pit lane brought out the best in me, I got a handful of corners to quickly assess the grip of the car in the wet before I caught the pack. At that point I had momentum and the confidence to push; the Porsche gives a level of grip I’ve never experienced from my Formula Ford days. They move a lot more and we don’t have windscreen wipers! But that said, I was surprised when the team radioed under safety car to tell me I was up to 2nd class and 8th overall. When the safety car came in I continued to commit all my wet experience and was fortunate to be able to make some decisive passes and bank some consistent lap’s to move into the class lead and fourth overall at the driver change.
Euan jumped in and extended our advantage all the way to the flag. I think we were a lap up, over a minute ahead of our next closest in class at the end. So a perfect and beyond expectation result and hopefully the momentum I need to help put the package together for next year. I want to thank Lee Frost and Lucky Khera for making this weekend possible, all the team at Race Lab and of course my sponsors WPP, Pace Finance and Tonic Supply Co.”
About Pace Finance
Pace Finance are Motorsport Finance specialists. We are proud to support numerous teams in UK motorsport, From BTCC to Britcar, with affordable and competitive motorsport finance. We are helping some of the biggest teams spread the cost of their investments across multiples seasons as well as helping smaller outfits establish themselves on the grid. Contact Andy for help financing your motorsport equipment and cars today.
