Less than a month from standing on the world-famous podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Ben Barker and his GR Racing team-mates earned a position on the equally-iconic Monza rostrum after battling their way to third place in round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
While fate again intervened to deny a better result, the British privateer team showed that third place at Le Mans was no fluke as it rotated throughout the top five in a closely-fought GTE-Am category dominated, on this occasion, by Porsche. The potential for another good race was there from the start of the weekend, with the #86 Porsche 911 RSR — back in its familiar black-and-orange livery after the special colour scheme flown for the 100th anniversary celebrations at Le Mans — consistently in the top five through practice, and qualifying P5 as Wainwright showcased his ongoing improvement behind the wheel.
“We were super happy with Mike’s pace, especially when he set the best time among the bronze-rated drivers in FP3,” Barker commented. “At one point, too, he looked like he was on course to give us pole position, but qualifying was littered with incidents, with others going off and bringing gravel back onto the circuit, so it wasn’t easy. We also knew that the race would be tougher as our tyres were limited by flatspots picked up in the course of qualifying, but remained confident that we’d be in the fight.”
Wainwright took the start of the six-hour race and produced a consistent run, managing to double-stint his tyres instead of fitting a new set at his fuel stop and, although the appearance of the safety car had the potential to mix the order, remained inside the top six until handing over to Riccardo Pera at the two-hour mark. The Italian, racing in front of his home crowd, then produced a sterling run to lift the #86 to the front of the GTE-Am pack, defending vigorously on ageing rubber before Barker finally got behind the wheel for the final third of the race.
Having lost position during the pit-stop cycle, the Briton set about returning the GR Racing car to top spot, and was beginning to extend his advantage when Lady Luck intervened, causing a puncture that not only required an unplanned return to the pits, but dropped the #86 out of the podium positions. Once again, however, stellar work by the pit crew — and the decision to only replace two tyres rather than all four — ensured that Barker remained in contention for the top three, a reward duly earned as he was able to jump the championship-winning Corvette team at the next round of stops.
“Obviously, we’re very happy with another podium, but have that feeling that a first win slipped through our fingers with the puncture,” he reflected. “Once again, though, everyone at GR put the hard yards in and deserved another trophy. The GTE-Am class was so closely-matched this weekend that positions were changing constantly, but we were able to hold our own — just as we did at Le Mans — and this result just emphasises our potential. It also means that we have closed the gap to P2 in the championship, so there’s still everything to play for in the final two races.”
Round six of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship takes place at Fuji, in Japan, over the weekend of 6-8 September, but Barker’s busy schedule next takes him to Lithuania, where he will contest a 1000km race on the streets of Palanga between 19-22 July before returning to GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup action at the Nurburgring the following weekend.
