K-PAX Racing with Flying Lizard Motorsports celebrated their second win of the 2015 season and a double podium for Race 2, Round 7 of the Pirelli World Challenge. McLaren GT driver Kevin Estre won the race, and pole sitter Robert Thorne finished close behind in second. This marks not only the second win for the new car but this is also the first 1-2 finish for the brand new McLaren 650S GT3 worldwide.
Weather conditions were perfect as the cars sat on the front straight for the standing start, with Thorne sitting in first, and Estre in 5th. At the drop of the green, Thorne charged into turn one with the lead, and Estre jumped from 5th to 2nd, right on the tail of his teammate.
For the first half of the race, the two raced nose to tail, giving fans at Barber Motorsports Park and on the live web stream a show, closely but skillfully battling for first place. On lap 15, Keven Estre was able to get by Robert Thorne in turn 5 under braking and the two remained together for the rest of the race completing a 1-2 finish for the team.
Rounds 8 & 9 of the Pirelli World Challenge take place at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, May 15-17.
Quotes
Kevin Estre
Started P5 // Finished P1
I’m really pleased with this result. It was an amazing race, and I had a great start. It was the first start of the season that was this great. I was right behind Robert and we had a fair fight for about 20 minutes. I passed him and pulled away a little. I was quicker of the two of us, but he was certainly faster in some parts. It was tough to get the move done. After I made the pass, we had a double yellow. I had to do everything again, but I had a great restart and the car was fantastic the whole time. Really happy with this result. K-PAX/Flying Lizard guys gave me a fantastic car for this event and I’m happy to get some points back.
Robert Thorne
Started P1 // Finished P2
Fantastic race today! We had the launch dialed in, it was absolutely amazing. We have been working hard on the launch as it is such a critical part of this type of racing. Both cars were one and two by turn two and I couldn’t be happier. We ran the whole race clean. Eventually Kevin worked his way by me. To K-PAX Racing with Flying Lizard Motorsports and McLaren, excellent job by everyone. It couldn’t be a more perfect end to this weekend.
Darren Law Program Manager
First off, I have to say how proud I am of K-PAX with Flying Lizard. We had a few struggles at the start of this weekend but came back in that second race and really dominated. We’re happy to bring another win to McLaren. We are also proud of our launch control, and how we got off the line for this race. It’s been something we’ve been working hard on all season long and the cars took off very well. Robert and Kevin drove an excellent race. Robert had the lead in the first half, and they raced each other clean. The only team orders were to not hit each other. Kevin got a clean pass under Robert, and they held their positions. Great race for us, we came away with some points which were needed. We can’t wait for the next round.