Porsche 911 RSR (88), Abu Dhabi Proton Racing: Christian Ried, Earl Bamber, Khaled Al Qubaisi
Abu Dhabi, 11 October 2015 – Team Abu Dhabi Proton finished a difficult day’s racing in 5th place in the LMGTE Am category at a waterlogged Fuji circuit in Japan. Wet and humid conditions plagued round 6 of the World Endurance Championship making racing conditions very difficult all round. Humidity on the track was at 95% for most of the race. The race started behind the safety car laps due to wet conditions with Christian Ried behind the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR.
Team Abu Dhabi – Proton Racing was at the back of the grid when the race got underway after spinning behind the safety car that was on the track for 16 laps (38mins) and all the LMGTEAm cars pitted except for Abu Dhabi Racing’s Porsche 911 RSR. When racing recommenced, Christian Ried was in 5th position but managed to climb 2 places to 3rd over the course of the next hour.
The tricky conditions continued with a lot of water on the track for Khaled Al Qubaisi who took over for the 2nd stint. Khaled dropped down to 7th under difficult conditions but managed moved up to 2nd following a number of strategic pit stops. However an early stop followed by a spin dropped the team down back to 7th.
Earl Bamber took over from Al Qubaisi for the final 2 stints of the race and was consistently the fastest man on the track in LMGTEAm class breaking his own previous fastest lap times. With Bamber behind the wheel, Team Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing moved steadily up the grid into 3rd place. However with 25mins to go, Bamber had a puncture after being hit by an LMP1 car on the rear right side. Bamber had to pit in order to fix the puncture which dropped him back down to 6th. Bamber managed to make up one place in the final minutes of the race to cross the line in 5th position overall.
Commenting on the race, Al Qubaisi said: “We knew that Fuji would not be an easy race, we struggled at the beginning thanks to the terrible conditions. However, we had a great car and the set-up was excellent so by the end of the race we were consistently putting in the fastest the lap times. We were on course for a podium finish, but unfortunately an LMP1 car hit us on the rear right side resulting in a puncture. Of course it’s disappointing but these things happen in racing; now we have to focus on the next round in Shanghai.
I would like to congratulate our sister car from Team Dempsey-Proton Racing and my friend Patrick Dempsey on winning the race.”
The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (Round 7) is the 6hrs of Shanghai taking place on the 1st of November.
