Garage 59 chief Andrew Kirkaldy admitted he feared his squad might have to fund a private jet on their own to shuttle drivers between the Barcelona round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Portimão date for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, given the shrinking pool of competitors taking part in both series.
Although 18 GTWC Europe regulars were also contesting the WEC this weekend, only four ended up competing in both championships, and two of those are Garage 59’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo crewed by Tom Fleming and Benji Goethe.
Paradine Competition’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO driver Darren Leung and Comtoyou Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo pilot Mattia Drudi are the other two, with everyone shuttling back and forth between venues and collectively hiring a jet to trim costs.
“It helps,” Kirkaldy told Sportscar365 about the consolidation of efforts. “It’s striking because we began with 18 drivers, then 15, then 10, then 6 — and it felt like we might end up renting a jet on our own!”
Kirkaldy noted that the revised WEC timetable makes chasing both events feasible “doable, but just,” adding: “We’ll have to wait and see if everything lines up.”
Two of Garage 59’s other WEC drivers have previously competed in GTWC Europe together, but Antares Au chose not to race his Rutronik Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo and the squad elected Marvin Kirchhoefer would concentrate solely on the Barcelona WEC appearance.
“The original plan was to have Marvin, Tom and Benji all do both, but that didn’t work out because then Antares would’ve been left on his own in the car here all day,” explained Kirkaldy. “So we replaced Marvin with Jack Hawksworth in GT World Challenge.”
“Benji and Tom can potentially win the Gold in GT World Challenge, and it’s important to remain in the WEC car for Alex (West), so attempting to manage both seems essential.”
“Bringing in someone who may not know the car is hard, and with so many drivers being swapped, there aren’t many available options. It’s encouraging that we’ve been able to find a workable solution.”
Au said he had initially been keen to tackle both events but ultimately opted to focus solely on the WEC after a frustrating season with the Rutronik Porsche that failed to deliver strong results.
“To me, if we’re not in the championship hunt and we’re simply showing up at Portimão to try and win the race, I need to make a sensible choice,” Au stated. “I’m fully aware that standing on the podium in the WEC is a rare prize, but if you’re going to commit to something, you should do it properly.”
Leung: “Biggest Risk” is Barcelona to Faro Delays
Leung argued that the greatest logistical risk when contesting both series lies in the post-WEC LMGT3 qualifying phase in Barcelona, followed by the dash to Portimão ahead of the GTWC Europe race on Saturday.
Having spent Friday at Portimão for GTWC Europe practice and qualifying, Leung is scheduled to fly to Barcelona at 22:00 local time (CEST).
He will then tackle LMGT3 FP3 and qualifying before the jet leaves Barcelona at 13:30 CEST to reach Faro in time for the 18:00 CEST start of the Portimão race.
Afterwards, Leung is due to depart Faro at midnight to return to Barcelona in time for Sunday’s WEC showdown.
“It’s going to be extremely tight with the airports between Barcelona and Faro on Saturday,” Leung said.
“If something goes wrong at either airport, we might have to compromise the Portimão race — perhaps I don’t participate in the opening stint. We’ll have to hope for no hiccups.”
Leung did weigh the option of focusing on a single event, but he remains intent on chasing the Bronze title in GTWC Europe’s Endurance Cup.
“That’s why, when I did the 24H Dubai, I forced myself to push through ten, eleven, twelve hours, simply to prove that I can handle what’s required,” he added.
“It will be a fascinating weekend. The tires will be entirely different, along with the setup philosophy.”
“The priority here is Portimão this weekend, because the drivers’ championship in GT World Challenge is separated by only five points,” he said.
“It’s my team, my crew. We’ve come here to win.”
