Cruel twist of fate for Massive at Paul Ricard 24H (Updated)

Having invested both time and resource for the two thousand mile round trip to the fifth round of the International Endurance Series at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, Danish team Massive Motorsport had all of their hard work and effort snatched away from them in the cruellest of circumstances right at the start of the race this afternoon.

Having gained the services of fellow countryman and Aston Martin Racing WEC driver Nicki Thiim, the team followed due process that resulted in their V12 Vantage GT3 qualifying third on the grid for the start of what would be their first 24hour race. Their previous rounds in the series had only been at the 2hour races at Mugello and Zandvoort.


With Thiim starting also starting the race, the grid pulled away on the green flag lap only for the #55 car to immediately pit on the first time around with a steering problem. After frantic efforts made by the team in the garage the car was later released back into the race, which by now was laps old but unfortunately the car was returned straight back to the garage with the power steering fault continuing.


Without a spare power steering pump on the lorry and the #55 car being the only Aston Martin on the grid there was little option left to the team but to retire the car after just one racing lap. That must have been a crushing blow for both the team and the drivers.

By virtue of the team suffering from a similar power steering related problem at Monza last year in the European Le Mans Series (GTC class) we find it surprising that such a pump wouldn't be carried having had a prior experience but then again - where do you draw the line in terms of cost and available storage?

The next race of the series is the 24Hours of Barcelona in about six weeks time for which Massive Motorsport do have a provisional entry.

Hope they have better luck in Spain!

Update - Team boss Caspar Elgaard has since confirmed that whilst the team did have a spare pump with them an issue with the power steering during the Friday night practice meant that that resource had already been used and the fault that caused the teams retirement on Saturday was because of an different issue with the pump than the one they had on Friday. 

Photo credits - Creventic / Massive Motorsport