Ben Barker has a testing time at FIA World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Spa Francorchamps race
Ben Barker described the FIA World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Spa Francorchamps as "possibly the most bizarre race I've ever done" after weather conditions played a big part in the Ardennes.
There were promising early signs for the Gulf Racing team as Linton-based Barker - whose team-mates are Mike Wainwright and Thomas Preining - posted the fastest time among the LM GTE-Am entries in the opening practice on a dry track.
When the rain arrived to soak the track, it limited the Gulf team to third spot on the timesheets and, with a conservative approach to qualifying given the predicted snow, the #86 Porsche 911 RSR was towards the rear of the GTE-Am field but with the anticipated advantage of fresh tyres for each stint of the race.
Several inches of snow settled across the Ardennes on the morning of the race, causing a rethink of strategy but the track was dry by the time the field took to the grid.
Wainwright started the race and was hit by the first squall after 10 minutes and, when Barker took over, he was faced by another blizzard but took the team up to second in class.
Priening benefitted from the drying surface when he took over, but the Porsche's rear diffuser became detached on one side, reducing the effectiveness and forcing the team into a longer than expected pit-stop.
Barker's second stint behind the wheel saw him have to battle the wintry conditions again and, having lost ground after the pit-stop, the team used the rest of the race to make set-up changes and as a test for the next race, the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. They finished sixth in class and 31st overall.
“It was possibly the most bizarre race I’ve ever done in terms of the ever-changing conditions,” Barker said.
“But we brought the car home with only minimal damage and scored some points so we can take something positive from the weekend.
"Obviously, even though it only took four minutes to replace the diffuser, that was enough to drop us a lap behind the leading GTE-Am runners, limiting our potential for a podium finish, but I think we proved that the #86 Gulf car was again capable of running at the front.
“I don’t know which weather god I’d angered, but I seemed to get the worst of the conditions on both of my stints.
"To get snow like that in May was unexpected, to say the least, but then this is Spa after all!
"The changing conditions made the race something of a stab in the dark for everyone, with strategy changes having to be made on the fly, but the Gulf team reacted well to the short-notice calls and were exemplary as always.
"As a driver, running in snow made for an extremely challenging – not to say entertaining – afternoon, with grip and visibility at a premium, but, with the outcome largely out of our hands, it was also immensely enjoyable at the same time.”