WAYNE Boyd is confident Nielsen Racing’s Michelin Le Mans Cup programme is moving in the right direction after delivering another top 10 finish at round two of the competition over the weekend.
Boyd and Bronze-rated co-driver Tony Wells bounced back from a subdued qualifying session on Saturday to end up in the points-scoring positions at the end of the two-hour sprint later that day.
The pair’s seventh place result was still some way off the race-winning pace of Cool Racing’s Adrien Chila and David Droux, who crossed the line 6.779 seconds in front of the number 44 car of Team Virage’s Ligier JS P320 Nissan, and a further 5.725 seconds clear of R-Ace GP’s Duqueine M30-D08.
After the Spanish and French rounds, Nielsen Racing currently occupy ninth position in the Teams’ standings on 10 points with the same applying for Boyd and Wells in the fight for the drivers’ title.
“We started down in P17 for the race because, to be honest, we didn’t have the best qualifying, but we recovered to finish P7. It is pretty good but the racer in us always wants more,” said Templepatrick-based Boyd.
“We have a little bit to work on, to improve on, between now and next month’s Road to Le Mans but I know the team have a mega set-up for that circuit, so hopefully we can make the most of that and start to creep up the leaderboard a bit because that is what we are all working towards.”
Unlike most teams in the paddock, Boyd – a former driver with United Autosports and a multiple LMP3 champion, and Wells – the Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 victor from 2021 – have not had the benefit of pre-season testing and therefore don’t have the same amount of data to work off.
“The team is working incredibly hard behind the scenes,” continued Boyd.
“We have had no pre-season testing unfortunately compared to the other teams, so I feel like we are boxing above our weight at the moment. Full credit to the team for the effort they’re putting in to get us up there.
“There is a little bit more performance for us to find so that we can be fighting a bit further up for podiums but I have no doubt the success this team has enjoyed over the years means that we will continue to make gains, and we will be right up there for the next one at Circuit de la Sarthe.”