KC Motorgroup (KCMG)and the British driver trio of Richard Bradley, Matt Howson and Nick Tandy finished the opening round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, 4th in the LMP2 class on Sunday, a strong finish for the ORECA 05’s race debut, despite the team’s hopes for a class win.
“Ultimately, we lacked the speed here at Silverstone to challenge for the victory that we were aiming for, as competition have more experience with their cars at this stage,” explains Nick Tandy, who took the wheel for the first stint.
“This being our first race with me in the team and with the new car, we expected to have things to work on. Unfortunately, there were some small issues that had kept us off the podium and I believe we had a car that was good enough to finish in the top three.”
A technical problem an hour into the race forced the team to pit, and a one minute penalty worsened their problems, and pushed the car down to 5th position. Throughout the remainder of the race, the team moved back up to fourth position, and set the third fastest lap time in the class.
Matt Howson remains positive: “Overall, Silverstone was a very productive weekend for the team. We were short on testing and with Silverstone being a high downforce track, there were still areas that we needed to work on.”
“The Silverstone event, which underlined our new ORECA couple’s race debut, presented challenges that come with developing a new car” says KCMG’s WEC Team Manager, Erich Kolb. “Richard, Matt and Nick all delivered impressive stints despite this setback and we’re confident that once we’ve resolved all teething issues with the new car, we’ll be one of the toughest contenders for the LMP2 title.”
The next round of the 2015 WEC season will be another 6 hour race held at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on May 2, with the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 13/14.
