TUCK LEADS RACE IN FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUT!
Ben Tuck has a history of impressive debut performances, from a win in his very first GT race, to a debut win in prototypes, a podium at his debut in the 24Hrs of Nurburgring, and of course fourth place in class at his debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours itself. His debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship was no less impressive last week, when he drove his #77 Ford Mustang GT3 from 15th position all the way to lead the race. Unfortunately, the car went on to suffer a technical problem and was withdrawn from the race, but Tuck had already made a strong statement of his World Championship intentions.
Round 1 of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship held at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar, heralded a new chapter in Ben Tuck’s career. In a repeat of the successful partnership with Ford Performance and Proton Competition from 2024’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Ben has joined Bronze rated driver, Bernardo Sousa and Ford Factory driver Benjamin Barker for the full 2025 season.
The trio did not have an easy start to their campaign when the car was unable to complete the full official Prologue due to technical issues, with the team at Proton Competition having to put in long hours to prepare the car for the 1812km race a week later. With very few laps under their belts, the crew made impressive progress culminating in a determined qualifying performance from Sousa, who placed their white and blue #77 Ford Mustang GT3 in 16th place on the grid for the following days race.
Sousa was allocated to take the first part of the race and after a clean start he set about making hard won progress in multiple battles, rising as high as 11th at times and negotiating several Full Course Yellow periods. After two back-to-back stints, he returned to the pits three places up on his starting position, for Tuck to take over driving duties.
With now characteristic focus, Ben set about climbing through the order, putting in fastest laps and making sensational overtaking moves. Pausing only for a top up of fuel after 10 laps under a Virtual Safety Car from eighth place, Ben calmly waited to be released, before immediately attacking the cars ahead, moving up to seventh position and gaining momentum in his climb to the front. Within 14 laps he had carved his way past another five positions to find second place and was reeling in the leader.
As a driver, pure pace and aggression is often not enough. Proton Competition, in an inspired piece of strategic thinking, then asked Ben to survive at the front without renewing his now fading tyres, to save time at his next pit stop. So, after 38 laps of intensive fighting, Ben pitted for fuel only and rejoined the track at the head of the field. What followed was an impressive 24-lap display of perfectly balanced defensive driving, where Ben held on to the lead until just two laps before his next scheduled stop.
At last, with around half the race left to run, Tuck brought the car back from third position with the team in a perfect place to target a podium finish. It was a tough but productive few hours for Tuck in the car:
“It was more than a double stint after the Virtual Safety Car so those tyres are finished, they’re either going in the bin or a museum! It was a good fun stint, I made a few moves and all of a sudden, because we saved the tyres, they said [after the pit stop] – ‘you’ve come out in P1, so just keep it clean!’. I thought, ‘OK, no mistakes then!’ ”
However, just over an hour later, Sousa encountered a technical issue and disappointingly had to retire the car on track. Although not the ending anyone wanted, Ben and the team were optimistic at the pace they were able to show:
“We led a WEC race from P16 on the grid, which showed some promise for a good result after minimal testing. It was an awesome effort from Bernado, Ben and the team at Proton Competition, let’s see what Imola holds! Thank you to the mechanics and engineers for their hard work over the last couple weeks.”
Ben is next in action in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Round 2 on March 20th at Imola in Italy.
