Throttle issue mars great weekend in Portugal for Vector Sport

It was a weekend which promised so much for Vector Sport, but which ultimately delivered a very disappointing result due to a throttle issue just 40 minutes into the 6 Hours of Portimão.

After Frenchman Gabi Aubry topped the LMP2 time sheets in both Free Practice 2 and 3, and then missed out on class pole position by only 0.001 second, expectations for a strong race for the No.10 ORECA 07 Gibson were high.  The driver line up of Aubry, Ryan Cullen and Matthias Kaiser and the whole team were optimistic about the team’s chances in the Algarve as they knew they had a high performing race car.

Irish driver Ryan Cullen took the start from second on the LMP2 grid but was squeezed on the opening lap by a fellow LMP2 competitor and a Hypercar. He dropped back a little to avoid substantial damage to the car but was lapping competitively and always in contention. He brought the car in for its scheduled first pit stop at 12:35 but on his first lap out from the pits he reported no throttle response and therefore had to limp back to the pits for repairs. 

Gibson Technology technicians worked as quickly as possible, alongside Vector Sport’s own team members, to identify and resolve the cause of the issue which was traced to a failed fly-by-wire throttle motor, subsequently replaced by Gibson.

With 34 minutes and 21 laps lost to the rest of the LMP2 field, it was a question of heads down and maximum attack to show what could have been.  All three drivers, including the WEC's only Liechtensteiner - Matthias Kaiser - made up as much time as possible but Vector Sport finally finished in 12th place in class. 

The next round of the FIA WEC is the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Saturday 29th April.

Gary Holland, Team Principal, voiced the feeling of the whole team: “It’s so disappointing we didn’t get the chance to truly show what the Vector car could do as we knew we would have been strongly in the mix for a top placing. 

"However, the positives we can take from this weekend are the performance of the car and drivers in all sessions, the many hours of hard work by the whole team being rewarded in lap times, and the quick and efficient efforts of the team in the pits and the garage. We made our competitors sit up and take notice of us this weekend, and we’ll definitely take that forward to Spa and beyond.”