A wet and wild WEC return for Ben in Texas

The FIA World Endurance Championship arrived in the United States, marking an important point in the season for Ben Barnicoat. Racing on familiar soil, Round 6 of the season was a welcome return to Akkodis ASP Team and the #78 Lexus RC F GT3 for Ben, after his debut with the team back at the opening round in Qatar. Extreme weather conditions saw Ben and his teammates battle throughout the six-hours of the Lone Star Le Mans event, eventually finishing P14.

A busy weekend saw the early sessions run in increasingly warm and humid conditions, with Ben quickly up to speed and showing no signs of having been away. Adding an early challenge to the weekend, qualifying took place with a wet track, as his teammate, Arnold Robin, navigated the slippery conditions to end the session firmly inside the top-six. The result secured a place in Hyperpole which also ran in slippery conditions as the circuit dried out. With Ben’s other teammate Finn Gehrsitz at the wheel, the shootout effort ended with the #78 taking P7 on the grid.

A Safety Car start would lead away the field under treacherous conditions, and the rain would eventually force proceedings to be suspended for nearly an hour. Action did eventually get underway during the third hour, with Arnold continuing his stint. As the whole field struggled for grip and visibility, action unfolded around the circuit as the order shuffled. A further caution shortly after the restart would see the Safety Car scrambled once more, with little more than 45 minutes of green flag running having been completed as the middle point of the race approached.

With Arnold running inside the top-10, pitstops and strategies were going to play a key role in the remaining laps. As the race continued under yet another caution, the Akkodis ASP Team opted for track position and pitted a lap later than the majority of the field. This importantly ensured a quieter pitlane for the stop which they carried out cleanly a lap later, with a switch to Finn. As the race returned to green into the fourth hour, the #78 had dropped outside the top-10 due to the pitstop cycles, but started a steady climb up the order, and was up to P11 as the hour mark approached.

Ben’s anticipated return to the World Endurance Championship saw him take to the track with just over two hours remaining, and the race back under yet another caution. From here, he moved into the top-10 and showed good pace in tricky conditions, with surface water and heavy spray. Despite making strong progress, a pitlane penalty dropped the #78 back down the order once again, before more Full Course Yellow periods brought the race under caution approaching the final hour. The field was forced into a late tyre strategy call, with a drying line appearing around the circuit in the closing 30 minutes. As the clock ticked down, it became clear that the slick tyre was the optimum choice for the final laps, leading to the order being reshuffled once again. At the line, the battle concluded with Ben successfully completing his comeback to bring the RC F GT3 in P14 after six hours.

Summarising his FIA World Endurance Championship return, Ben explained:

“First and foremost, it is so good to be back in the FIA WEC paddock, and with the guys and girls at Akkodis ASP Team. It has been a long time since Qatar, and I’ve worked hard to get back for this weekend, so a big thank you to the team and everyone involved. It was a tough race, and the weather was a real challenge at times – especially as it was such a change from the start of the weekend. We showed signs of good pace at different points, with the team doing a great job on the strategy, but it was such a stop-start race, the pitlane procedure penalty put us on the back foot, the then the tyre call at the end with a drying track. We leave with a lot of positives to build on for Fuji in a few weeks, so we will regroup and go again. We know some areas where we can make some real improvements, and will keep pushing to end the season on a high.”

Ben’s 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign resumes with Akkodis ASP Team later this month, heading to Fuji Speedway, Japan. The 6 Hours of Fuji takes place over the weekend, 26-28 September.