Le Mans

TF Sport finds the right direction in GTE Am

24 Heures du Mans
14 Jun. 2022 • 10:00
by
Anthony Peleçat, au Mans
As in 2020, TF Sport dominated the GTE Am category in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, against very fast Porsche 911. But the consistency of the trio Marco Sorensen - Henrique Chaves - Ben Keating made the difference.
L'Aston Martin Vantage n°33 - TF Sport rafle la mise au Mans. © MPS Agency

Loyalty was rewarded. Winner for the first time in 2020, during a special edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to the pandemic, TF Sport added a first major award on its list outside of GT3, where the British structure is one of the major forces on European soil.

 

After winning in British GT and in Fanatec GT World Challenge, Tom Ferrier's team turned to the ACO series with a first conclusive outing in ELMS in 2017. The first success in Le Mans in 2020 validated TF Sport's performance, potentially opening up the prospect of the team being more supported by Aston Martin in several major events.

 

But the brand's withdrawal from WEC has reshuffled the options. But TF Sport remains loyal to the Vantage GTE and the GTE Am category. The choice paid off, with a second victory at Le Mans this year.

 

Good luck was with Marco Sorensen

 

The Danish driver has forgotten the crashes at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the 1,000 km of Paul Ricard.

 

Sorensen, who has not been very successful in recent weeks at the wheel of the GT3 version of the Aston Martin Vantage, has returned to the top step of the podium, the most desirable one.

 

The Aston Martin driver, who won the WEC World Championship in 2016 and 2019 with the Dane Train alongside Nicki Thiim, has now added his name to the list of winners for the first time, following his success in the GTE Am with Henrique Chaves and Ben Keating, who also won for the first time.

 

To achieve this superb result, the #33 had to overcome the speed of the Porsche 911s, but also some technical problems that almost cost the victory in the last minutes.

 

"We couldn't catch up with the Porsches here, who were in a different dimension, Sorensen analysed with Endurance-Info. So we had to run a faultless race, stops without mistakes. We lost time with the Slow Zones, but on the other hand the safety car served us well. It balanced things out.

 

We only started to believe that we could win in the last three hours to be honest, because Ben Keating was setting very good lap times and was able to keep our opponents at bay. Then I had to maintain that gap.

 

And we had a problem with the steering. It looked like an old car with a lot of play. We had to stay off the curbs and still maintain our advantage. I was convinced that it would break. The previous stint I felt this problem, and I really thought it wasn't going to hold."

 

The mechanics held and this second victory in the Sarthe, once again places TF Sport in the history books of the British firm.

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