TF Sport denied again in Race 2 at Paul Ricard

Monday, June 06, 2016

Starting P3 for Sunday's race it was the turn of Silver ranked driver Euan Hankey to start the proceedings for TF Sport in the slightly shorter one hour race 2. Taking the green light behind the Garage 59 McLaren and AF Corse Ferrari 488 there would be a little bit of jockeying for position during the first sequence of corners before Hankey, and those around him, settled to retain third by the end of the first lap.

Early squabbling between those chasing the front three would see them drop off significantly off from the rear of the #34 Vantage but a 'slow'Duncan Tappy in the leading McLaren would at least keep the ultra fast 488 in check behind it until about the half way mark when Marco Cioci finally passed him going on the pit straight.

With only a minute remaining of the pit window all three lead cars pitted together to swap over to their second driver - in TF Sports case Salih Yoluc but with the series handicapping system taking effect the Garage 50 McLaren remerged from pit lane in first but with the Yoluc in a very close second.

With just fifteen minutes of the race remaining it looked like a straight drag race between Michael Benham in the McLaren and Yoluc in the Vantage - it was certainly game on for the win however completing what was to the penultimate lap it all went horribly wrong for Benham

Pushing hard around the long hard right hander Benham's McLaren rear wheels lost cohesion and put the orange 650S into what should have been a harmless spin out onto the blue stripped outfield of the circuit but Yoluc's close proximity to him resulted in the nose of the McLaren hitting the rear quarter of the #34 Vantage pitching him into a lofted spin as well.

Fortunately, Yoluc's car didn't appear badly damaged and he was able to quickly rejoin the field but down in third presenting a gift of a victory to the Orange 1T Lamborghini with the #2 Teo Martin BMW M6 in second. A disappointing end to the race which should have seen the Aston Martin pairing at least one step higher on the podium but with recent results in the series we're sure that they are at least moderately happy!