"It was stressful" LMP2 Pro-Am 4 Hours of Silverstone winners reflect on hectic race
Piloted by Steven Thomas, Sami Meguetounif and Scott Huffakker, the No.14 TDS Racing Oreca 07 converted Pro-Am pole into a class win and overall second place at the rain affected 2026 4 Hours of Silverstone. Post race the drivers described the race as "stressful" and gave an insight to how they took the victory.
As the Bronze driver, Thomas started the No.14's race, having put it on pole a day earlier. He maintained the lead at the start of the race, but was unable to hold the position, as CLX Motorsport's No.47 overtook 20 minutes in.
Thomas managed to hold onto the back of Georgios Kolovos' car for the remainder of the stint, engaging in a fight for the lead, but he ultimately ended his stint in second place. Despite losing the position, the Bronze driver was unfazed: "We traded back and forth a couple of times, but he did a fantastic job.
"I actually went and talked to him and said, 'wow'. When he passed me, it was clean. Hopefully when I passed him, it was clean. I thought he did a fabulous job, it was a lot of fun."
Thomas went on to explain that the position he was in at the end of his stint was less important than the fact that he had kept his car out of trouble: "Because of the rain, the track was slick at the start and honestly, for the Bronzes, it was a difficult first drive, so I was actually grateful to turn it over with no damage on the car."
The car did not survive the full race without issue however. Meguetounif took the second stint, but found himself dropping positions as the car stopped by the side of the road with a technical issue during a safety car brought out for a crash between the No.74 Ferrari and No.63 Mercedes. The inconvenience of the problem was magnified as before going stationary, the No.14 had retaken the lead while rain fell during Meguetounif's stint.
Fortunately Meguetounif managed to restart the car before the problem was detrimental to their race. He said: "The car was great on the slicks, then we swapped to the rain tires and it was great again, we had good pace all the time. I'm happy with the job I did - it was a clear strategy, well executed.
"The issue we had at the end, of course, in my mind it compromised my race a lot. I was a bit down, but I tried to be as quick as possible to restart the car. Luckily for us, we didn't have the issue after that and I could give a clean car to Scott. But yeah, it was stressful, quite stressful."
Between the end of Meguetounif's stint and the start of Huffaker's stint, the No.14 TDS car didn't just recover to the lead of the Pro-Am class, it ended up in the overall lead. Thomas explained what it was like to watch the recovery from the garage: "We were, I don't know, 12, 13 seconds down, then I was like, wait, Scott's, 10 seconds down? Eight seconds down, six seconds down, and he just drove the car to the front.
"It really goes to these guys."
Once in the lead, Huffaker kept a level head to focus on winning the car's class, rather than the overall race. The Gold driver said: "I think when the APR [No.25 Algarve Pro Racing] car was behind me they had a bit more pace, maybe they put new tires on and stuff, and so I didn't even try and defend. For me, we just need to win our class, and to me that was the most important."
When asked about whether the rain posed extra challenge, Huffaker said: "It does make it a bit more difficult because the tires start to overheat. Honestly, I was just managing that, trying to search for all the wet sections of the track. And then like the last 3 laps, I started to have micro locking of the tires and stuff and I was like, okay, I need to stop pushing as much and control the tires."
A poor result for LMP2 Pro-Am Championship leaders, the No.83 AF Corse, means the No.14 TDS car has been catapulted into contention with one round left. The No.83 has 67 points, and the No.14 is second with 62. It is not a two horse race however as the No.14 car is trailed closely by the No.20 Algarve Pro Racing and No.30 Duqueine cars which have 61 points each.
The No.7 Vector Sport, No.19 Rossa Racing by Virage, No.99 AO by TF and No.21 United Autosport cars can also still win the Championship, however they have a bigger deficit to overcome.
Huffaker is optimistic of the TDS car's chances in the final round at Portimao, but claims they are not thinking about it, opting to just do their best to win the race and letting the points table sort itself out. "I think we'll be going for the win, we have nothing to lose, so we're not really looking at the championship. We just want to get this one and the next one and see where it takes us."
The mindset could prove crucial, as a win in Portimao will guarantee the No.14 TDS Racing car wins the LMP2 Pro-Am Championship, regardless of where the No.83 finishes.
The 2026 European Le Mans Series decider will take place at the 4 Hours of Portimao on the 10th October.
Comments