DEVON ACE REMAINS SECOND IN EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES
Tincknell places second in Austria
Devon's Harry Tincknell remains second in the European Le Mans Series after placing second in the third round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria today (20 July).
A little over a month after the Exeter-born race ace won the LM P2 class in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Sidmouth-based driver recorded his second top-three LM P2 finish of the season.
Simon Dolan, Tincknell and Filipe Albuquerque (pictured above left to right) finished 12.385 seconds behind the winning car in the four-hour Austrian race staged on the fast and undulating 2.688-mile circuit and in hot and humid weather conditions.
The Dunlop-shod Zytek clocked up 160-laps at an average speed of 107.31mph leaving Dolan/Tincknell/Albuquerque and JOTA Sport just four-points adrift of the lead in the Driver's and Teams standings.
Albuquerque started the race from pole-position on the 33-car grid eight cars contesting the LM P2 category after Tincknell had set the fastest qualifying time earlier in the day, eclipsing the opposition by a significant 0.483secs, to keep JOTA Sport's 100% 2014 ELMS 'pole' record intact and bettering the team's 2013 pole time by 0.793secs.
The Portuguese led throughout his near 50mins stint and despite a brief Safety Car period and losing further time behind a LMP2 backmarker, Albuquerque handed over the JOTA Zytek to Dolan with an 8.168secs lead.
Simon resumed in second place behind the #34 Oreca after the opening pit-stop phase the Oreca having only taken on fuel at its pit-stop but the Monaco-based British businessman impressively hunted down the Oreca and swept into the lead with 80mins gone.
Leader Dolan stopped for fuel on 100mins resuming second, on the tail of the now leading #36 Alpine, Simon remaining in its wheel tracks until the #36 pitted three laps before Dolan himself stopped with 92mins remaining.
Tincknell resumed second, seven seconds behind the leading #36, Harry setting a series of personal fastest laps before the young Briton swept ahead with just less than an hour to run.
Dolan was back in the Zytek with 44mins to go, heading back on track just ahead of the #36 Oreca but lost the lead on the next lap Dolan making contact with his rival and losing a front aerodynamic 'winglet' in an attempt to re-take the lead.
The penultimate round of the ELMS is staged at Paul Ricard in Southern France on 14 September.
Harry Tincknell (GB). Age: 22. Born: Exeter, Devon. Lives: Sidmouth, Devon (GB):
"Second place is one position back from where we wanted to be but in terms of the championship, we're now only four points behind the leaders, so we have to be relatively happy with a pole and runners-up placing. My stint went well I was pushing to the maximum from start to finish. I came out in second, hunted down and overtook the leader, and opened up a gap before handing the car back to Simon. Overtaking around here is not the easiest."
Red Bull Ring 4 Hours, ELMS Rd 3
Free Practice 1: 1m 24.698s (P3, Albuquerque), +0.535s (lap 9 of 52)
Free Practice 2: 1m 24.555s (P4, Tincknell), +0.410s (lap 41 of 55)
Qualifying: 1m 23.078s (P1, Tincknell) on lap 9 of 9
Race: 2nd, -12.385s
Championship: Driver's 2nd, 46pts (Dolan/Tincknell/Albuquerque). Teams 2nd, 46pts.
