"The car was just flying": No.25 APR drivers react to hectic 4 Hours of Silverstone victory
The No.25's first win in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) since the 2023 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Mathias Kaiser, Jake Hughes and Ben Barnicoat stood on the top step of the podium after the 2026 4 Hours of Silverstone.
It wasn't the simplest road to victory however. They started the race in sixth place thanks to Hughes' efforts in qualifying. Rain overnight, with a light sprinkling in the morning meant the track was damp for the start of the race, not ideal conditions for the drivers.
That didn't stop Kaiser though, in his first stint he quickly began to move up the order.
"The track was still a bit damp in some places and it was quite cold on the temperature so I tried to warm as much as I could the tyres for the race start and it really worked. I seemed to have a bit more grip at the start and could make up some positions and my first stint went really well, the car was amazing, the team put together a great setup for today" said the driver from Liechtenstein.
He made his way up to second with a move on Jakub Smiechowski in the pole-sitting No.43 Inter Europol car. Despite his best efforts, Kaiser couldn't quite catch the No.37 CLX Motorsport car of Theodor Jensen for the lead.
He thinks he may have been pushing too hard, too soon in his effort to climb up the LMP2 order. "Unfortunately I think I burned a little bit through the front tires which caused me to lose out a little bit in the second stint but overall I think I went pretty well."
The traffic came thick and fast during the second stint of the race, and the APR crew found that out the hard way. Just before the end of the first hour, Kaiser was coming up behind the No.23 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 heading into Luffield.
He caught Michael Birch right on the exit, but misjudged the timing of the move and clipped the rear of the 720S LMGT3. The McLaren spun around and came to a stop right at the pit entry. He got moving again, but race control had seen enough and handed a 10-second time penalty to the No.25 crew.
Kaiser handed over to Hughes at the next pit stop, and that's when the weather took a turn. It had been threatening to rain all day long, and finally it came. Thankfully for many teams and drivers, the bulk of the rain came during the long VSC/SC period during the middle of the race.
Tyre choice during this part of the race was crucial. Nobody wanted to end up at the green flag and on the wrong tyre, but the track was in a crossover period, and no two weather radars in the paddock agreed with each other.
"I think everyone went out on slicks, me included, the rain comes, you think it's going to pass, you're not sure if it's slicks or wet so you saw a kind of mixture of opinions on that up and down the pit lane. It was definitely about survival in the middle part of the race" said Hughes
Throughout the Safety Car, different teams pitted at different times, mixing up the order completely. Hughes took the green flag in fourth position, but a long way behind the top three who had used traffic to their advantage to get away.
"Depending on how wet it was, you could see some cars quicker than others, some cars were looking for spray, some cars weren't. I think you would see quite a fluctuation of pace within the grid from middle part of the race to the end.
"So it was tricky, this is the first time I've driven the car in the wet really in race conditions so managing traffic and trying to see if the GT cars and P3 cars have even seen you coming [in the spray] is quite a new phenomenon for me so I managed to navigate that quite well" added the Briton.
Hughes also mentioned multiple times, it was all about handing the car over to Barnicoat in one piece. The crews other British driver was filling in for Tristan Vautier this weekend, so this was his first race with the team.
"Firstly a huge thank you for Stewart for the call up last minute to join these two guys and you know what a pleasure it was, we've had a really fun weekend first and foremost which is a big part of endurance racing" said Barnicoat.
"I don't know if I'm coming back for the last race or not so I was making the most of the opportunity I had. It was a one-off but I think I've done a pretty good tryout anyway."
At the end of Hughes' stint, he handed it over to Barnicoat in third place overall. From there the IMSA GTD regular got to work in the wet conditions.
"I got in, in P3 and the car was flying, maybe a bit of home advantage. I love the rain and was able to get to lead. The car was just flying." When he arrived at the front, the No.21 United Autosports car of Marino Sato lead the race overall, but the Japanese driver was racing in the LMP2 Pro-Am class, so not APR's race.
Even if the Pro-Am car finished ahead, the No.25 still would have been credited with the win and taken 25 points as such. But Barnicoat was still determined to push.
"I just wanted to win to be honest. I've been in that position before. The majority of the LMP2 stuff I've done has been in Pro-Am with Francois Perrodo, [Mathieu] Vaxiviere and AF Corse so that's usually me. I'm in a pro car I'm going to make the most of it and go for the overall win."
He got past Sato, and from there it was just about keeping the car pointing in the right direction, and he did. Barnicoat took the chequered flag and victory for his team.
The result propels the No.25 crew into third in the championship on 54 points. They are however, mathematically out of contention for the title, but can still take second in the final race at Portimão with a good result.
The team will be hoping for a good result in their home race from the 8th to the 10th of October.
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