Harry Tincknell raced his way to a fourth placed finish in the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours race.
The 85th Le Mans 24 Hours saw the Ford GT 67 crew battle from 11th place on the grid to cross the line in fourth, only to be demoted post-race to 12th place when the team was hit with a 12-lap penalty for a driving time infringement – a devastating blow after an impressive race from Tincknell and his teammate Andy Priaulx, who finished the race in second position in 2017.
After mechanical difficulties during qualifying, Priaulx started the race in 11th, but a slick start saw the Guernseyman maintaining the 67 car on the lead lap, hot on the tail of the lead Porsche.
Following a faultless start from the race winning car, an unlucky early safety car put the team two minutes behind the lead but strong team work from the Ford team soon had the 67 racing back into the mix. An impressive night stint saw Tincknell battling the 17-strong field of GTE Pro cars, taking the 67 Ford from 10th to fourth, showing his confidence and experience at the iconic track as he raced in his fifth consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours. Long-term teammates Tincknell and Priaulx were joined by Brazilian Indy Car Champion Tony Kanaan, who joined the duo in one of Ford’s four-strong GT car line-up.
The Goodridge sponsored driver, who won the Le Mans 24 Hour on his debut in 2014, raced for over 10 hours in the Ford GT, completing the 3rd quickest lap of the race overall. During exciting final stints of the race the trio battled for a podium finish, but another unfortunately timed safety car saw Tincknell cross the line in fourth position.
Tincknell says: “I was really happy with fourth position at the finish line as I felt it was the maximum we could achieve.
“The #67 car ran faultlessly all race and that is testament to the mechanics and engineers for all their hard work since this time last year. Le Mans is always a very special race so being able to compete at the front once again in front of nearly 300,000 people was incredible.
“Obviously the penalty is frustrating as we lose a lot of World Championship points, but we move on to my home race at Silverstone in August where we will have huge support.”
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