Rory Butcher is looking for
further progress in Estoril after an impressive debut showing in the European
Le Mans Series with JMW Motorsport at Paul Ricard. The British GT race-winner,
who will share this weekend with Rob Smith and Ferrari factory driver James
Calado, was delighted with a podium finish on his first outing in GTE, having
worked his way past the struggling Porsches of Adam Carroll and Marco Mapelli
in the closing stages, but knows he still has much to learn.
“I’d only done about eight laps
in the car at Snetterton at the start of August and only received the news that
I was going to be in the car about a week before the event, so it was quite
exciting,” said the Silver-rated Scotsman, who had team-regular Jonny Cocker alongside to help bring him up to speed.
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| Butcher impressed on his debut at Paul Ricard (JWM Motorsport). |
“It was my first time at Paul
Ricard and I really enjoyed it, I really connected with the team and the car. JMW
are a really professional squad and they prepare a very quick car, we just
slogged it out all the way through the race and the team managed to put me in a
position where I could secure a podium in that last stint. Credit to the
engineers too because I only had 50 minutes to do on my stint so I knew I could
push to that end, anything over that you’re going to be struggling with
degradation and I could see the Porsches were struggling for tyre grip.
“It was a really nice feeling to
prove that I could hold my own amongst that field, I really want to expand and
do as much as I can to establish myself in Europe.”
Butcher recently added a tenth
overall on his first start in the Blancpain Endurance Series, but found the
step-up to GTE and multi-class racing an altogether different – and slightly
addictive – proposition.
“It was quite interesting,” he
laughs. “The LMP2s were unbelievably quick cornering-wise and it could be a
little bit frustrating in a straight line because coming onto the Mistral straight,
they would initially pull away from you, but about 260 clicks you’d start to
catch them back up and you would have to decide whether to pass them or back
off and sit behind because they’re so much quicker through the corners.
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| "Interesting," was British GT regilar Butcher's description of multi-class racing (JMW Motorsport) |
"There
would be moments when you would look in your mirrors and there would be nothing
there, and you would arrive at the apex of turn nine and there’s an LMP2 up on
the kerb shoving you wide! It’s just about managing that and being smart,
knowing when to hold them behind you and when to let them by.
“I really enjoyed it, the car has
more grip, mainly mechanical but also aero as well; it was nice to be able to
carry more speed in towards the apex of the corners. It’s just a more
thoroughbred racing car compared to the GT3 and it was quite refreshing not
having ABS as well, I enjoyed going back to my roots which are all about having
technique and feel for what the car is doing.”
JMW go into the season finale
with a mathematical chance of the GTE championship, but with a 24-point deficit
to make up, they will need to win with Formula Racing #60, Marc VDS #52, AF
Corse #55 and Proton Competition #88 all failing to finish.
Mikkel Mac, Jonny Laursen and
Andrea Rizzoli are overwhelming favourites following their Safety Car-assisted
win in Paul Ricard, but will be mindful of the final-round heartbreak which
befell season-long leaders Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin last season, handing
SMP racing the crown. In short, there is everything still to play for.
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