Ben Barker again showed his command over Porsche’s latest GT offering at round two of the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe by setting the pace for Dinamic GT Huber Racing at Paul Ricard.
Unfortunately for the experienced British campaigner, fortune did not shine as brightly as the striking green-black-white GT3R 992 he shared with Porsche Supercup pairing Philipp Sager and Marius Nakken, as the #55 entry was forced into an alternative strategy early in the six-hour, 1000km contest.
After dialling his mount into the fast Paul Ricard layout through two free practice sessions on Friday, Barker showed his true pace in the opening qualifying session the following morning, placing the #55 ninth overall in the 57-car field and second in the Bronze Cup category in which it runs. With the GTWCE’s regulations taking an average time from each car’s three drivers, however, Barker’s efforts only served as a boost to his entry’s position, which became 39th overall, and eighth in highly-competitive 18-car Bronze class, by the end of the session.
With the Ricard round famously starting late in the afternoon and racing into the dark ahead of a midnight finish, the cars were back on track for a 6pm getaway, but the #55 suffered during a typically frenetic opening lap, being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time as the pack sorted itself out as one of the Lamborghinis spun out of the race. Needing to make up lost ground, the Dinamic team would have hoped for a clean run to the finish, albeit still six hours away, but were dealt another cruel blow at the first refuelling stop when less fuel than expected was added to the car, requiring not only another stop soon after, but also Barker to have to make an extra ‘splash and dash’ stop at the end of his double stint with the chequered flag looming. That late stop ended Barker’s spirited pursuit of fifth in class, a multi-car battle he had joined during his two-hour run and with the pace to gain positions had all been well.
“The result wasn’t what we’d hoped for after the early part of the weekend, but I think we still showed potential in spite of the early setbacks,” the Cambridge resident noted. “My pace in qualifying was especially pleasing — to be ninth fastest overall was a great result — and I showed what the team and car was capable of in the race as well. We were at a small Balance of Performance disadvantage to some of the other makes, but I was lapping on a par with the Porsche factory drivers and the team brought the car home, which is encouraging with the Spa 24 Hours next up.”
Round three of the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup takes place at Spa-Francorchamps, in Belgium over , the weekend of 29 June – 2 July, but Barker’s immediate focus in on the biggest sportscar race of them all, the Le Mans 24 Hours, this coming weekend (8-11 June).
