James now focusses on Spa 24 Hours – most prestigious race on calendar
Adderbury’s James Kell claimed fifth in class in the latest GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Monza in Italy (31 May).
Having finished second in the Gold Cup in the season opener last month, the 29-year-old McLaren GT3 Junior Driver now lies third in the standings heading to the “Blue Riband” 24 Hour race at Spa next month.
Kell started the CSA Racing-entered McLaren 720S EVO from fourth in class in the mammoth 57-car field, but carnage occurred at the first chicane on the opening lap which saw multiple cars retire from the three-hour race.
James picked up aero damage on the #111 McLaren in the incident but placed first in class (18th overall) when racing resumed around the 11-corner, 3.6-mile “Temple of Speed” circuit, after the track was cleared of damaged cars and much debris.
But challenging for 15th place with 50 minutes on the clock James, who was having to push very hard in his ill-handling car, understeered off the track, lightly brushing the barriers side-on.
His McLaren was recovered and James handed over the 720S EVO to co-driver Simon Gachet, who lay fifth in class when racing resumed but crucially one-lap down. Arthur Rougier, who took over the McLaren with 55 minutes remaining, took the chequered flag fifth in class.
“Monza was a challenging weekend and now it’s full focus on Spa, the biggest race of the season for me,” said James. “Qualifying showed that our McLaren lacked outright pace compared to most of the other manufacturers and we knew it was a case of damage limitations with the performance we had.
“We were losing time on the long, very fast straights which is far from ideal at Monza but the team did the best they could in fine-tuning our McLaren for the race.
“The start was extremely chaotic, with cars flying all around me, and unfortunately, I had contact with another car trying to avoid the mêlée, which resulted in damaged ‘dive-planes’ and ‘splitter’ while the steering felt strange.
“All of which made the car pretty horrible to drive. I was pushing very hard but made a mistake at the Ascari chicane. The car was eventually dragged out of the gravel trap but we’d lost a lap in doing so, which ended our race in terms of claiming a top class result.
“We could have challenged for a Gold Cup podium which makes the result more painful. But now it’s time for myself and the team to focus on the big one at Spa and extract the most from the McLaren.”
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