Sean Gelael's Team Fails To Finish In The 24 Hours Of Le Mans, Wants To Rise After Only Raising One Point

Sean Gelael's team, WRT #31. (Doc. WRT)

JAKARTA - The team strengthened by Sean Gelael, WRT #31, failed to complete the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. They also had to be content with only earning one point from the pole position during the hyperpole.

At the Circuit de la Sharte race, the WRT #31 team car crashed with five hours remaining in the race. At that time, the car driven by Robin Frinjs crashed into the dividing wall after devouring the first corner.

"This was indeed our race even before Turn 1. We had a lot of incidents, penalties and other disadvantages even though we had a fast car," said WRT #31 racer Rene Rast, as reported by Antara.

"The most important thing is that Robin is okay after the incident. We will fight optimally at Monza later (10 July)," he continued.

In the Le Mans race, WRT #31 actually went through a pretty good process from free practice to qualifying. However, in real racing conditions are different.

Signs of anticlimactic were already visible even shortly after the start. Starting the race from pole position in the LMP2 class, Rene Rast as the starting driver is considered to be the cause of the collision that made Filipe Albuquerque (United Autosports USA #22) off the track. As a result, Rast was penalized for a minute stopping in the pits.

Because of the penalty, WRT #31's race position dropped further to P21. Rast also has a tough task to improve the position. And the task was completed by the German driver for four stints by placing his car in P16, before the wheel shifted to Robin Frinjs.

This Dutch racer is no less tough than Rast. In his three stints, he took WRT #31 to 12th. Sean Gelael then took control.

The mainstay of Team Jagonya Ayam also had time to make his team move up the position. For four stints lived and put himself in P10. Control then moved again to Rast (four stints) and Frinjs (also four stints) by jumping up to P2.

But after that everything changed. Sean was found guilty of heading Sebastien Bourdais (Vector #10). He got a drive thru penalty and after that his position slipped to P7.

When control of the car moved back to Frinjs, he had the tough task of closing the gap. As was the case at the start of the race, the signs were visible as the distance narrowed and the position improved.

But Rinjs made a mistake at the Indianapolis Bend exit with 5 hours 18 minutes remaining. He stretched, twisted, and turned until he hit a wall. Team WRT #31's heroic struggle stopped right then and there.

In this race, the JOTA #38 team won, where Prema Orlen #9 and JOTA #28 completed the podium.