James sixth overall – highest-placed McLaren – on Magny-Cours debut
James Kell scored a magnificent maiden GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Gold Cup victory on his Magny-Cours debut today (2 August).
The 29-year-old official McLaren GT3 Junior Driver and Frenchman Arthur Rougier brought the CSA Racing-entered McLaren 720S EVO home to a brilliant sixth overall in France – the highest-placed McLaren.
The result marks Kell’s second Gold Cup win having been victorious in an Endurance Cup event in the CSA McLaren with Rougier and Simon Gachet, at Paul Ricard last year.
Having struggled with the McLaren’s balance, which had a negative effect on the 720S EVO’s handling in the opening “night” race the previous day, restricting Kell and Rougier to a fifth place Gold Cup finish, the CSA Racing team worked overnight to improve the McLaren.
Rougier rewarded the team’s hard work by setting the fifth fastest overall time in qualifying, first in Gold, for the one-hour race. Arthur snatched fourth on the opening lap and although the Frenchman was demoted to fifth, he diced for third prior to a Full Course Yellow after 20 minutes. Racing resumed briefly prior to a race stoppage due to extensive debris on the track.
Kell took over the McLaren with 20 minutes remaining, resuming sixth overall and leading the Gold class. James drove superbly in the closing stages, repelling huge pressure to win the category by two-seconds in the 44-car multi-class field.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with the result especially having to overcome numerous issues over the weekend,’’ he beamed, “and I’m delighted to have scored this victory on the team’s ‘home soil’.
“The CSA team did an amazing job by solving what had, up until Sunday, been a very tough event for us, in terms of getting our McLaren into a competitive “window”.
“Following the overnight changes, Arthur did a fantastic job in qualifying, laying the foundations for us both to race hard and claim a great result.
“Overall, Magny-Cours was a massive challenge. In testing on Thursday we had brake issues causing us to lose most of the session. In FP1 I managed a few laps but it was mainly wet. In FP2 there were thunderstorms and I didn’t drive.
“In qualifying on Saturday morning it was a ‘voyage of discovery’ for me and in Race 1 our McLaren was a challenge to drive, with no grip, no braking performance, and no traction. But credit to CSA, they turned things around overnight with changes that transformed the 720S EVO. They nailed it, allowing Arthur to produce a mega lap in qualifying and for us to race hard, combined with some great pit-stops.
“We’ve not had great luck this season so this result is a big boost for rest of the year, but we do still need to work on race pace.’’
Photos: SRO / GT World Challenge
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