Garage 59 wrapped up its first season of racing with the McLaren 720S GT3 with a double podium finish in the Gulf 12 Hours.
The #88 McLaren, raced by Alexander West, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Benjamin Goethe, took the chequered flag in second place in Pro-Am and an impressive sixth place overall. The #93 Sky Tempesta McLaren, run by Garage 59, was right behind in third place in Pro-Am and eighth overall in the hands of Jonathan Hui, Eddie Cheever, Chris Frogatt and Kevin Tse.
Held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi the 12-hour endurance race took some big scalps, with an entire factory squad out of the race by the end of the second hour, but the Garage 59 McLarens kept on going at the sharp end of the battle.
Both the #88 and #93 crews put in strong performances, with the only drama coming from a few penalties for track limits or pit lane speeding and a sudden rain shower three hours into the race.
A particularly notable performance came from Benji Goethe. Nobody would have known that he was racing the McLaren for the first time, especially when he held off a challenge from Formula 1 driver, Kevin Magnussen during the final hour of the race.
“P2 at the end of the Gulf 12 Hours!” said Goethe. “It’s a positive result for my first weekend in the McLaren and with this team. Obviously, we would’ve liked to win and we had good pace to challenge for the win, but we will take a podium.
“I am very, very happy and I’d like to thank everyone at Garage 59 and McLaren for this weekend.”
The Sky Tempesta drivers also got up to speed very quickly in the #93 McLaren and chased the #88 crew throughout the 12-hour race, finishing third in class at the chequered flag and taking second place in the Intercontinental GT Challenge for Pro-drivers.
“A fantastic result for our debut race in the McLaren 720S GT3 with a podium result and securing 2nd place in the Intercontinental GT Challenge Pro Am driver standings,” said Hui. “Thanks to the great support by Garage 59 we got up to speed quickly and we were immediately in a position to challenge for Pole Position.
“The car felt great during the race and I was able to drive at a strong, consistent pace throughout my stints. It was more physically demanding than I had imagined and I will be sore for a few days but it’ll be well worth it!”
