Fleming: Spa LMGT3 Victory “Redemption” After Imola Misery

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Tom Fleming said their LMGT3 class victory in Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was simply “redemption” after nearly pulling off a fairytale win in the team and drivers’ FIA World Endurance Championship debuts last month in Imola.

Fleming, Marvin Kirchhoefer and Antares Au emerged victorious in their No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo following a race-long fight that came down to a five-second post-race time penalty for the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Alessio Rovera, who was deemed to have had an unsafe release in the final round of pit stops.

While Rovera took the checkered flag in first, the Ferrari was demoted to fourth in class and gave the Andrew Kirkaldy-led squad its first WEC class win in only its second start.

“It’s redemption,” said Fleming. “The whole crew in Imola, when they debuted, they had a lot of pressure going into the weekend.

“They did everything right and with 35 minutes to go, it all went to parts, so to speak.

“This weekend hasn’t been without its difficulties, which has probably been shared with most of the paddock.

“It really goes to show the character of the team, the drivers, the mechanics and all of the staff of Garage 59 of how they’ve been working.

“To bounce back in the way they did has just been exceptional.

“Antares did an amazing job in the opening stint, bringing the car into the top ten, passing it onto me, and Marvin did an exceptional job behind Rovera, with a lot of pressure to say the least with [Matia] Drudi behind.”

McLaren factory ace Kirchhoefer credited both FIA Bronze-rated Au and McLaren GT3 Junior Driver Fleming’s stints, which did not incur any penalties for track limits violations, for being another key to their race.

“They did an outstanding job keeping us out of penalties, which I think was one of the most deciding factors to get ourselves up front,” he said.

“With the Ferrari, it’s a credit to the team; they’ve been outstandingly strong in their pit stops and we basically forced into a mistake, having an unsafe release.

“It was pretty clear to me straight away when that happened, that they would probably get a penalty for it.

“I think it was 15-20 minutes into my stint when it was confirmed.

“But at the same time, I had to manage to keep the pressure up but also not getting overtaken is not the easiest.

“We had a very strong car underneath us all weekend. I’m very pleased we could bounce back that quick after Imola.”

The team lost out on a debut victory at Imola due to an alternator failure while in the class lead with 35 minutes to go.

“It was looking like a bit of a dream coming there as a rookie team, rookie drivers, leading pretty much most of the race, a half-an-hour to go in the lead,” reflected Kirchhoefer.

“Not making it to the end was very painful, probably one of the most painful ones I’ve had. This one feels very good and the team very much deserves this.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John