CHALLENGING RACE AT FUJI FOR BEN TUCK
Ben Tuck’s first experience of the Fuji Raceway in Japan, came at the end of September at Round 7 of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), and it turned out to be a challenge for Ben and his WEC co-drivers, Ben Barker, Bernado Sousa and Proton Competition who run their #77 Ford Mustang GT3. After a difficult weekend the crew managed to bring their car home in 12th place after starting at the very back of the grid.
The weekend started positively until the third Free Practice session a few hours before qualifying was due to begin. Part way through the session Ben Tuck had to pit the white and blue Mustang after a technical problem left them unable to take part in the qualifying sessions. The Proton Competition engineering crew worked flat out to repair the car ready for the six-hour race, where it would have to start from the back of the grid in 18th position.
After regrouping, the team focused ahead to the race where Bernardo Sousa lined up looking to move up the order in the first stint. However, on the first lap he was involved in a collision which damaged the front of his Mustang and created a performance deficit, requiring a lengthy repair stop which dropped the team further back. After a gruelling two-hour stint, he pitted for the final time from 18th place for Ben Tuck to take over, almost a lap behind the car ahead.
In the knowledge that endurance racing can turn around in an instant, Tuck was determined to fight back and immediately began to light up the timing screens as one of the fastest cars on track closing the gap to the cars ahead. After almost two hours he had gradually pulled closer to the cars in front and was ready to pit when a Full Course Yellow period followed by a Safety Car suddenly changed everything. Taking advantage of the chaos, the team completed a driver change to Ben Barker and found themselves back in contention on the same lap as the leaders as the field closed behind the safety car.
The final two hours of the race featured a complex dance of strategies with the disarray putting the GT3 teams on differing pit stop strategies and promoting Barker towards the front runners. As the race evolved, the strategists at Proton Competition elected for a bold gamble to move Barker further up the order from fifth position to the front by aiming to conserve fuel to avoid a final fuel stop. Ultimately, as can happen in endurance racing, the strategy did not play out the way the team had hoped and Barker brough the car home in 12th place.
Ben next races in the GT World Challenge Europe Series at Barcelona on 12th October 2025.
