Magny Cours and a Game of Stratergy!

Ryan had little time to celebrate securing 2nd in the VdeV UK Championship as it was a quick turnaround and the ferry to France to join Sam Allpass and Juno Racing for the 8 Hours of Magny Cours in the VdeV EU Championship. Celebrating his birthday on the way, racing at Magny Cours was more than a welcome present for Ryan who raced in the 12Hr event last year and found it an exciting circuit, especially behind the wheel of a Juno.

With an updated suspension on the Allpass' Juno, a quick practice saw the team fine tune the set up with the lap times steadily falling. In qualifying Ryan put them smack in the middle of the grid in 18th of the 36th cars but they knew come the race they'd race up the field with the improving set up.

Sam started the race for his first two hour stint and in the melee of those first few hours handed over to Ryan in 20th who dually lifted it seven places in his stint to hand back to Sam in 13th place. 13th didn't prove unlucky and with night falling Sam put in a solid stint to bring the car back to the pit in 7th place for Ryan to takeover for the final leg. With the car runing well Ryan headed out on to the dark circuit to put in the best charge he could. However with one hour left an electrical failure saw the dashboard data and radio communications system die. Thankfully the headlights stayed on but unable to communicate with his team and with no technical data it was a case of 60 minutes literally driving in the information dark. Aware that the car's fuel supply was running tight to the two hour marker Ryan kept a beady eye on the gantry clock with every passing lap. On seeing the chequered flag marshal head to the wall knowing the end was in sight Ryan cruised the car home and a fascinating game of cat and mouse began between the competitors as everyone began to play the 'endurance race stratergy game'. Ryan saw two perfect chances and fired up from 7th to a 5th place finish!.

"It was a great race" said Ryan afterwards, "I'm getting to say that a lot this year - it's wonderful!! Again the car was reliable, the usual unstoppable Juno! The last hour was very odd with no dashboard information or radio communications and the last few laps saw everyone playing stratergy. A 5th place is a good result for us and hopefully we can do the same if not better next time out."

Ryan and Sam will contest the final VdeV EU race at Estoril, Portugal on 29th November.

For media inquiries please contact rebecca.hobbs@ryanhooker-racing.co.uk