GT3 Mustang and Mercedes teams bring upgrades and higher hopes to Imola

Both the Ford- and Mercedes-equipped GT3 teams are hopeful of raising their game for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Imola after their challenging starts to the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Proton Competition is looking to take positive steps forward with its Ford Mustang GT3s. Both cars will race with mildly amended exhaust arrangements in Italy, after the No. 77 car suffered fire damage both in the pre-race Prologue test and the race at Qatar back in February.

“We have identified and understand the issues seen in Qatar,” Ford sources told RACER. “We are managing them through mileage limitations and other measures that we won’t be detailing at this time. Part revisions have been released and tested over the last month, and there are no concerns for the cars running in Imola.”

Ben Tuck (pictured far left, above), who shares the No. 77 with Bernado Sousa and Ben Barker, says the team heads into this weekend’s meeting with renewed optimism now that the fix is in place.

“There’s been a small update for the exhaust, so everything should be fine for this race, and we feel good for it,” he said. “The BoP has also been slightly changed, and I’m interested in seeing how that plays out.”

Maximizing the track time this weekend will be key for the team and, in particular, the No. 77 trio after the incidents in Qatar cost them the majority of the Prologue. Tuck, whose only previous experience in the Mustang prior to the season opener was a one-off last year at Le Mans, says he feels grateful that he and Sousa have been able to lean on the experience of factory driver Barker.

“I’m racing the BMW M4 in World Challenge with WRT, and the 296 in ELMS, and the Mustang here in WEC,” he explains. “The Mustang requires a similar driving style to the BMW, as you’d expect, and I quite like it. It feels like a nice car to drive, and in race scenarios, the pace comes to us. Although it doesn’t seem like it, I think the Mustang may be good here as it’s strong in slower speed corners.

“There’s certainly more to come from me and Bernado. Unfortunately, we only did five or six laps each in the Prologue to blow the cobwebs off, then we had the issue, and we faced lots of setbacks in testing. The race stints felt like practice. I think we can be a lot more structured this weekend.

“Thankfully, we have Ben in the car, because he’s been excellent. He’s super-fast and one of the top pros. Plus he’s likeable, personal and helps a lot with coaching. I love having him as my teammate.”

Iron Lynx feels better prepared with its Mercedes GT3 for Round 2 after its offseason scramble. Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Iron Lynx, too, endured a tough time in Qatar with its pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, following its quick-fire switch of brands over the winter.

“We moved to Mercedes late, so they had to develop the car (for LMGT3) pretty quickly. They were ready with the torque sensors for IMSA, but it wasn’t planned for WEC,” team principal Andrea Piccini explained to RACER. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy, and to be honest, Qatar was a dream; we didn’t even know if we would make it to that race. But we did.

“The team has worked so hard to get this all together. For Mercedes, this is a new adventure because it hasn’t been working with the ACO really. The rules are different to SRO and stricter; technically, it’s more difficult.”

Iron Lynx’s WEC effort is benefiting from the additional track time and data gathered during the team’s parallel single-car European Le Mans Series program with Mercedes. That got underway earlier this month in Barcelona. There, the team enjoyed a positive weekend, capturing pole position in LMGT3 and competing at the sharp end of the field until the car hit terminal throttle trouble late in the race.

“We have worked hard since Qatar, and we’ve been able to test with both our WEC and ELMS drivers too. We spent two days at Paul Ricard, and that went very well,” Piccini added. “We come here more prepared.”