With the coronavirus pandemic pushing the 24 Hours into September and preventing the usual thousands of fans from attending, it proved to be a strange weekend for the FIA World Endurance Championship, but Barker and Gulf team-mates Mike Wainwright and Andrew Watson refused to let that put them off their stride. Having posted seventh and third best times in the two opening practice sessions, Barker then repeated the latter result in qualifying to line up closest to the pace-setting Aston Martins and, more importantly, secure a place in the ‘hyperpole’ shootout that would determine the grid line-up for Saturday’s race start.
“The team did a really good job in qualifying, especially as this was easily the most competitive GTE-Am field we’ve seen at Le Mans,” Barker insisted. “It could have been even better, as I actually lapped half a second faster than anyone else in the class at one point, but the stewards decided that I had marginally exceeded track limits and deleted the time, leaving us to rely on my next best effort, which was still good for third overall.
“Making the hyperpole session was fantastic for everyone in the team but, unfortunately, we made a tweak to the front splitter that we thought would give us even more performance, but which actually hampered our straightline speed in the shootout. The overall balance of the car was so good, I reckon we could have had a shot at class pole, but the change dropped us back to sixth spot even though we went faster than we had in qualifying. However, although a better result would have obviously been good for pride, with such a long race ahead of us, it mattered less.”
Barker again took the race start early on Saturday afternoon and wasted little time in moving the eye-catching black-and-orange #86 Porsche 911 RSR up to fourth in class, initially with the top three battle in sight. After a while, as the two leading Aston Martins began to pull away, Barker and the Gulf team began to focus more intently on wresting away the final podium spot. Team owner Wainwright managed to shoehorn four of his required driving hours in before nightfall, and produced easily his best performance at the Circuit de la Sarthe, lapping some six seconds faster than he had done on previous visits.
That provided Pro drivers Barker and Watson with a solid foundation from which to launch a marathon 13-hour after dark stint and, although a penalty — caused by a miscommunication — cost the Gulf car nearly two minutes in the sinbin, the Anglo-Irish pair soon had it back into the top six, before picking up another spot as Sunday morning broke.
From there, however, Barker found himself in something of a no-man’s land, with large gaps separating him from the cars in front and behind on the running order. That did not prevent the Cambridge native from enjoying the run to the flag, however.
“We had a strong car throughout and I expect my average lap times to be right up there with the best of them,” Barker claimed after the race, “Unfortunately, the penalty for briefly speeding up through a ‘control zone”, cost us time and, when things shook out, we were really racing to hold fifth position. The final stint was still amusing, though, as, at one point behind the final safety car, I was right behind the car running second in class, with third and fourth right behind me. Once I’d allowed them through to continue their fight, I had the pace to stay with them — and was secretly hoping that their intense battle might result in enough of an incident to elevate us into the top three!”
Although promotion, however possible, never materialised, the #86 continued to run strongly to the chequered flag, eventually providing a new personal best for all involved, as well as seventh place in the teams’ championship and ninth in the drivers’ table.
“There are so many positives to take from this weekend — from the speed and reliability of the car, and the team work in the pits to Mike’s fantastic pace — and, ultimately, fifth place was a great reward,” Barker noted. “There were no real mistakes from either the drivers or the crew — who again proved infallible during our pit-stops — and it’s clear that the performance on the track was matched by the synergy and motivation off it. It was so exciting that I was unable to sleep at all during the 24 hours, but I’m sure I’ll make up for that once I get home!”
