BELFAST driver Charlie Eastwood celebrated a “fantastic” double team podium at the closing FIA World Endurance Championship round at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday.
Eastwood’s season-long wait for a trophy in the ultra-competitive LMGT3 class was ended at the eight-hour light-into-darkness event as he steered the number 81 Z06 GT3.R to a hard fought second place.
After 245 laps, the deficit to the car co-driven by Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy and the winning Vista AF Corse Ferrari was 3.022 seconds. Third place went to the sister Corvette as it went on a big push in the closing 90 minutes.
The key to the number 55 Ferrari crew’s victory was a late call on strategy that meant they made one less pit-stop than most of their competitors.
Combined with a masterclass in tyre management around the 3.38-mile track, Alessio Rovera fended off the two TF Sport-run Corvettes in the final hour to cement the Italian outfit’s second consecutive triumph in a car he shares with François Heriau and Simon Mann.
The second-place Corvette raced its way from eighth to first twice in the race – once in the opening hour and again following the second safety-car period with less than two hours gone.
Van Rompuy and Andrade drove double-stints in the middle of the race, but the first of two safety cars sent them tumbling from first to eighth due to rivals being on fresher rubber.
Andrade persevered, however, and handed over to Eastwood who, with an hour and 45 minutes to go, charged back up the field to second to record their best result of the eight-round campaign.
“The race was great from start to finish from us. We got super-unlucky with the first Virtual Safety Car and the timing of it - we weren’t able to change tyres and most of the class were.
“We dropped down the order by the time of my last double-stint,” said Eastwood, who took part with his family’s blessing following the death of his father, John, last Thursday.
“Our pace on the first set of tyres was really strong, and the same with the second set as well. I just came out close to the number 60 Lamborghini who ended up passing me on the out lap then we got to the back of the number 54 who hadn’t boxed and had a drive-through.
“So maybe a little bit of team orders to slow us down.
“We didn’t give up until the very end, though. We got it down to three seconds at the finish but it just wasn’t enough. But ultimately for the team, to finish with a double-podium is a fantastic result,” he added.
On Sunday, Eastwood returned to the same track for the official end-of-season FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test.
He completed a total of 34 laps in the Cadillac V Series R Prototype and set a fastest time of one minute 52.512 seconds.
Describing the test as “an honour”, Eastwood said: “The car was great to drive and so fast on the straights, which we see in the races as they come past the GT cars like we are stopped.
“A tricky car to drive and complex as well, but I think once you start to drive it more and more, it will become more rewarding. All in all, I loved the experience and hopefully it is not my last time.”