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QUAIFE SEALS 24H SERIES TITLES WITH BARCELONA 24H VICTORY

Phil Quaife (Tunbridge Wells, Kent) and Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing enjoyed a double celebration in Spain last weekend (3-4 September), with their second Hankook 24 Hours of Barcelona victory in as many years helping them to wrap up the International Endurance Series TCR drivers and teams titles.

The third win of the season for McLaren Test and Development Driver Quaife and co-drivers Nabil, Sami and Ramzi Moutran following their successes in the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai and Paul Ricard certainly did not come easily however, with temperatures in the mid-thirties making life difficult for both the car and drivers.

Frequent Code 60s interruptions during Friday testing disrupted Quaife’s planned setup work on the 2015-spec SEAT Leon Cup Racer and meant the team headed into qualifying unsure of their place in the pecking order.

After completing a preliminary run, Quaife was well-placed in the most competitive TCR field of the season so far, but despite making improvements ahead of his second run, found he had slipped to fourth by the end of the session, just two tenths off the top spot.

Nevertheless, further improvements during night qualifying using old tyres and full tanks of fuel left the 30-year-old feeling confident that Duel Racing would figure prominently when the 24 Hours began, with Quaife taking the start as usual.

The insufferable mid-day heat meant he would have a workout behind the wheel, but it was the state of the engine that was of even greater concern. Rising water temperatures left Quaife down on power on the straights and required him to carefully manage the car through the opening two hours of the race.

With the Moutran brothers now cycling through their stints, the Duel Racing SEAT began to make progress as conditions cooled, before Quaife climbed aboard again in the middle of the night. His stint was interrupted by a lengthy Code 60 for a sizeable accident on the back straight, but the team opted to bring him into the pits to save his drive time for later in the race, installing Ramzi in his place.

After a two-hour gap, Quaife returned to the cockpit and set about hunting down the leading Team Bleekemolen SEAT, which was suffering engine problems. Duel Racing then took the lead when the Dutch squad retired and thereafter continued to lap quickly and consistently at the head of the field, Sami eventually crossing the line with five laps lead in hand over the works-supported Baporo Motorsport SEAT for their second Hankook 24 Hours of Barcelona win in succession.

“It was a very satisfying weekend for everybody, particularly as we were able to wrap up both the teams and drivers championships,” Quaife reported. “We didn’t have any car issues whatsoever, Nabil, Sami and Ramzi drove as well as the ever have and we did the minimum number of pitstops possible. As usual, the team were flawless and nailed all the brake and driver changes, so hats off to them. Now we’re going to concentrate and focus on our plans for 2017 and I’m looking forward to seeing where we go next.”

For more information on Phil Quaife please visit www.philquaife.com

Photo credit: Nat Twiss

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