TOP 8 FINISH ROUNDS OFF 2025 WEC SEASON
The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship ended last weekend in Bahrain, where Ben Tuck and his co-drivers, Bernardo Sousa and Ben Barker, crossed the finish line in eighth position, after a solid trouble-free performance. The 8-hour day/night race marked the end of a variable season for the crew of the #77 Ford Mustang GT3, in which they finished 14th in the LMGT3 championship. Across the year, their best result was a fourth-place finish at Spa, but their most dominant performance was at Fords home race in Austin, Texas where the two Proton-run Ford Mustangs locked out the front row in qualifying and the #77 car led the race for 72 of the 115 laps.
Heading into the season-finale at the Bahrain International Circuit, Barker, Tuck and Sousa were determined to end the year well, and they quickly showed good pace in the practice sessions. In the qualifying sessions, Bernado Sousa netted the crew 13th spot on the grid for the race the following day, for which he took the opening stint.
Proton Competition designed a strategy to best manage the expected high tyre degradation in the race, which saw Sousa and Tuck alternate stints in the first few hours working their way up to eighth position. Ben Barker took over driving duties just over halfway into the race, sharing the remaining time with Tuck to consolidate the position until the flag.
With the race being relatively unaffected by any major incidents, Proton Competition and the #77 crew concentrated on putting in a consistent performance. Strategy, pitstops and the on-track driving were all executed smoothly to get the best from the car across the 8-hour race, and the result was a solid finish, with which Tuck was content:
“I think 8th was pretty much all we could manage today, maximising our race and tyre strategy with no mistakes! I also have to thank Proton Competition and my co-drivers for the season!”
The 8 Hours of Bahrain also marked the end of Proton Competition’s 13th season of FIA World Endurance Championship competition, continuing its record of competing in every one of the series’ 101 races to date.
