ADR-Delta seals victory for Oreca

The Silverstone-based No.25 ADR-Delta team took the top spot in the LMP2 class of the 6 Hours of Silverstone, with a brilliant performance from John Martin, Tor Graves and Jan Charouz. The Australian, Thai and Czech drivers led 118 of 183 laps, and signaled the first victory for the Oreca 03 chassis in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

They crossed the finish line just 5.6 seconds ahead of the Sebring 12 Hours and 24 Hours Le Mans LMP2 winners, No.44 Starworks Motorsports HPD ARX 03b of Dalziel-Potolicchio-Sarrazin. Another ORECA 03 rounded out the podium spot, the No.26 Signatech-Nissan of Panciatici-Ragues-Rusinov recording its first WEC podium of the season.

Tor Graves, the first Thai to step on an FIA WEC podium said: “All week I was struggling with my driving. I don’t really know what happened but I was way off on time so going into the race I lacked confidence. I took it easy for the first couple of laps but the car felt good and I started pushing and the lap times came, comparable to John’s times which helped maintain the lead.”

Jan Charouz added: “We had a bit of hiccup with the final pit stop which lost us a few seconds. I think we were unlucky with the traffic towards the end which allowed Sarrazin to catch us a little, but when it was clear we were doing the same lap times as him. The car wasn’t maybe at its best but we brought it home and won and it’s great. I’m really impressed with Tor who did a great job today.”

Fiona Miller

Photo: TOWCESTER (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, GREAT BRITAIN), SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, SUNDAY 26TH AUGUST 2012, RACE.