James posts unrepresentative sixth & seventh placings in wet and dry races in Spain
James Kell suffered plain bad luck in the latest two races of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint event in Spain last weekend (3-4 October) when the car he shares with French co-driver Arthur Rougier was unluckily spun out of contention in both races.
Kell and Arthur recorded sixth and seventh Gold Cup placings in their CSA Racing entered McLaren 720S EVO at Barcelona, the duo dropping from third to seventh in the final 2026 Gold Cup standings after these unfortunate results.
Kell started fifth in the Gold class on a wet track following a shower prior to the start making the 2.9-mile track very greasy, the 44-car field beginning on “wet” tyres including James in the atrociously wet conditions as rain intensified.
With 15 minutes gone, Kell lay fifth in class, up seven places overall, prior to a Safety Car period. James pitted to Rougier with 31 minutes remaining from second place in Gold, having raced well in the horrible conditions.
Just moments after Arthur had taken over, the race was stopped due to dangerous track conditions, with the Frenchman placed fifth in class and 28 minutes still to go. Rougier moved into a Gold Cup podium position soon after the restart, a little over four seconds behind the class leader and dicing for second.
A Full Course Yellow intervened with 10 minutes remaining. After racing resumed, and with less than five-minutes to go, Rougier was placed an excellent third in Gold and 13th overall, but the Frenchman was hit by a back-marker. This caused the McLaren to spin, finishing an unrepresentative sixth in class, 22nd overall.
Rougier started Race 2 from the fourth row of the grid, first in class. Qualifying had been cancelled overnight due to heavy rain in the forecast – which ultimately did not appear – and grid positions were formed by lap times taken from Free Practice 2.
Unbelievably the Rougier McLaren was side-swiped heavily three corners into the race causing a spin and a Safety Car period. Arthur resumed seventh in class at the back of the field and handicapped with steering damage, massively affecting lap times.
Official McLaren GT3 Junior Driver Kell took over the McLaren with 26 minutes remaining, taking the chequered flag seventh in Gold, having coped admirably with the steering issue.
James will contest the final Endurance event of the season at Portimão in Portugal later this month (18 October).
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