FIRST FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS EARNED AT IMOLA!
Ben Tuck’s second appearance in the FIA World Endurance Championship netted his first World Championship points after a thrilling race at Imola two weeks ago. Following on from his debut in Qatar in February, where he climbed from 15th position to lead the race before the car suffered a technical problem and was retired, this time around the crew of the Proton Competition #77 Ford Mustang brought the car home in 10th place having demonstrated the pace and potential for continued improvements as the season gets established.
Round 2 of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship was held at the historic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, where Ben re-joined his FIA World Endurance Championship teammates Bernardo Sousa and Ford Factory driver Benjamin Barker in the Ford Performance and Proton Competition garage.
A solid set of Free Practice sessions set up Bronze rated Bernado Sousa to tackle the qualifying session, eventually placing the blue and white #77 Ford Mustang GT3 in 13th place for the following days race.
As usual, Sousa took the opening stint of the six-hour race. After making a clean getaway he steadily moved forward, showing the pace of the Mustang by reaching sixth place after 26 laps. At the first set of pitstops, Sousa stayed in the car for a second stint and resumed the race from eighth place. A startling looking accident brought out the Safety Car for five laps soon after the stops, and with 1 hour 45 minutes completed Sousa pitted again from seventh place for Ben Tuck to take the wheel when he re-joined the track in 16th place.
As the remainder or the pitstops played out, Tuck pushed hard with characteristic aggression and six laps later he was in sixth position and closing rapidly on fifth. After 50 minutes he pitted and the time had come to make his charge, rejoining in eighth position. The following 50 minutes saw Ben fight hard for progress up the order, closing the gap on the leaders and eventually making his way from eighth to second place before pitting for fuel. This time Ben had cleared his rivals behind enough that he rejoined in third place and attacked the gap to second position reclaiming the place just three laps later. After a short stint of 20 minutes, a Virtual Safety Car period gave the team the opportunity to pit Tuck, to hand back to Sousa for the remainder of his mandatory drive time.
Unfortunately, the car picked up a drive through penalty, after which another pitstop saw Ford factory driver Ben Barker take the wheel till the end of the race, having dropped to 11th after the penalty and the pitstop. Barker fought back hard and was able to gain a position to take the car to the flag in 10th place earning the crew their first well deserved FIA World Championship Points.
Ben was happy with his stints in the car. “We showed we had really good pace on track, and we can be much closer to the front. But I had a good couple of stints, the car was solid, and I enjoyed the fighting, I love Imola! We’ve got time now to the Spa race to see how to build on what we have achieved so far.”
Ben next races in the European Le Mans Series at Le Castellet on 4th May 2025 and is next in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa for Round 3 on 28th and 29th June 2025.
