British built cars and engines dominate opening round of ELMS and WEC
The first round of the European Le Mans Series at Silverstone on Saturday saw the G Drive team Gibson 015S take victory in LMP2. Racing as G Drive and run by Jota Sport, the Gibson 015S chassis is powered by a Gibson-Nissan engine.
Starting the 4 hour race 4th on the grid, 1st stint driver Harry Tincknell was quick off the mark and took the lead after just 40 seconds. Tincknell pushed the Gibson at pace and passed the lead to Simon Dolan who worked the Gibson hard against other LMP2 contenders. The final stint of the race was completed by Giedo Van Der Garde, culminating in a dominant 95 second victory for the team.
To underline Gibson’s ELMS success, SMP Racing took second on the podium with their Gibson-Nissan powered LMP2. Indeed, four out of the top five LMP2 cars finished the 4 hours of Silverstone with Gibson-Nissan developed engines.
Silverstone also hosted the 6 hour World Endurance Championship race on Sunday, with over half the LMP2 field racing with Gibson-Nissan engines.
After a thrilling 6 hour race, teams RGR and ESM took 1st and 2nd on the LMP2 podium respectively, both achieving success with Gibson-Nissan engines.
Silverstone based team Strakka Racing competed in the WEC race with their Gibson 015S. After finishing quickest in practice the team went into the race feeling confident for the opening round. A strong perfomance from the team and all three drivers resulted in 5th in LMP2 for the Strakka Gibson, a very positive start to an exciting season ahead.
″What an amazing start to the race season at Silverstone″ said James Hibbert, Gibson’s Sportscar Manager. ″Victory in ELMS for G Drive with our Gibson chassis and engine is such an achievement in a strong LMP2 field. Congratulations to all our chassis and engine teams in ELMS and WEC, we look forward to a great season ahead.″
The next round of WEC will take place at Spa,Belgium on 7th May and ELMS will be at Imola, Italy on 15th May.
