Frustration for Steller Motorsport at Le Mans

​The Vale-based team made their debut at the Le Mans track in 2023 and following a good start to the season in races at the Circuit de Catalunya and Circuit Paul Ricard, arrived in France with high hopes of a strong showing in the two 'Road to Le Mans' titled races

The team's lead car, an LMP3 Duqueine-M30-D08-Nissan, was driven by Sennan Fielding and Sylvain Guintoli - a former winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours Moto, with Rory Butcher and Dominic Paul making their Le Mans track debuts in the Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3.

A heavy accident during the second free practice session while Guintoli was at the wheel of the LMP3 car put the Steller squad on the back foot from the get-go, with much overnight work needed to prepare the car for competition the following day.

Missing qualifying, the car was permitted to start the opening 55-minute race from the rear of the field, with Fielding nominated to take the race start to meet driver regulations. Fielding visited his pit box at the end of the opening tour to allow Guintoli to take over, but it wasn't long before the number 42 car was in trouble.

Crashing off the course with Guintoli behind the wheel, the LMP3 car suffered heavy frontal damage, and sadly the incident was enough to see the car withdrawn from competition for the rest of the weekend.

A few seconds later, a huge accident involving the Graff-Ligier driven by Louis Rossi resulted in the race being abandoned on lap five due to the significant barrier damage, with Rory Butcher and Dominic Paul classified eighth in the GT class.

On Saturday morning, prior to the start of the 92nd-running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Butcher and Paul then raced through to finish 38th overall, 11th in GT3, in the second 'Road to Le Mans' race.

Fielding said, "This was a difficult weekend for the team, and it was a real shame that the number 42 car was unable to contest the second race. The team worked so hard and I know we will be back and will all learn from this experience."

Steller Motorsport will switch back from the Michelin Le Mans Cup to British GT competition this weekend, with Jordan Albert and Tim Docker lining-up to compete in Belgium in the team's Audi R8 GT4.

*Hoping to build on their recent podium finish in the Silver-Am class of the British GT Championship at Donington Park last month, Jessica Hawkins and Andrew Howard will be back in action this weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium.

This weekend's race is the only race during the 2024 season that takes British GT to mainland Europe, with the event taking place just one week prior to the track's famous twenty-four hour contest.