Vector Sport RLR’s top-ten points push thwarted by Great British weather at Silverstone
14 September 2026 | adminleveridge
Vector Sport RLR’s Geronimo Gomez Azza and Enea Frey fought hard and looked on for a top-ten points finish in the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup Silverstone Round (11-12 September), but the Great British weather intervened and dampened their impetus.
The UK-based Vector Sport RLR team honed a strong baseline setup that gave both Gomez Azza and Frey confidence in Thursday testing and Friday’s practice sessions.
Both Vector Sport RLR drivers showed consistency and steady improvement through FP1, and despite being sidelined for much of second practice with a front-left suspension issue, they were optimistic about their race prospects.
Frey placed 14th on the grid after setting a 1m55.069s on his very last qualifying effort, but Gomez Azza actually started the Le Mans Cup Silverstone Round one place higher following a post-qualifying disqualification.
From P13, the Colombian worked his way past the #70 Team Virage on the opening 3.66 miles of the Saturday evening race, and wide awake at a Full Course Yellow (FCY) restart, he was there to pick up 11th when rivals collided between Village and The Loop.
Thereafter, Vector Sport RLR’s Gomez Azza chased the #5 23Events Racing and towed the #92 Forestier Racing by VPS into a simmering multi-car fight for seventh.
However, the top ten contenders broke away between caution periods, leaving Gomez Azza to play a rear-guard action against a lengthening train of cars, Forestier Racing still looming large in his rearview mirrors.
On lap 18, a wayward moment for 23Events at the exit of Chapel Curve opened the door to P10, but Gomez Azza ceded track position to his recovering rival and the opportunistic #68 M Racing further around the Formula 1 British Grand Prix circuit.
Vector Sport RLR conducted its mandated driver change on lap 24, and the battle with the #92 entry carried over to Frey’s stint, the Forestier Racing car snatching track position into the ultra-high-speed Copse Corner
However, a band of weather swept in: an autumnal downpour led Race Control to declare the track wet and triggered a flood of unscheduled pit stops for grooved Michelins.
Ninth overall and on wet weather tyres following a protracted Safety Car, Frey traded P8 with the #4 Nielsen Racing until the drying track surface began to favour those who had stuck it out on slick rubber.
The Le Mans Cup Silverstone Round became a race of survival and Switzerland’s Frey was powerless to halt a frustrating descent to 20th on the road and 15th in class.
“The Michelin Le Mans Cup Silverstone Round was pretty tough,” said Gomez Azza. “In my stint, I had a lot of pressure from behind with a long train of cars in my wake, because while the car was good in the high-speed sections of the track, I was struggling for traction out of the low-speed corners.
“It started to rain and then dried up quickly in Enea’s (Frey) stint, and we ultimately lost the weather lottery – that’s racing and the British climate for you. For my part, I think my stint was pretty solid and, if the strategy had gone our way, we could definitely have achieved a top-ten finish, or even a top-five.”
Frey said: “The result we achieved in the Michelin Le Mans Cup Silverstone Round doesn’t reflect our potential. It’s a shame because our pace was good in testing and free practice. We started on slick tyres, and running in the rain with low visibility certainly wasn’t easy.
“We took on wets, but the rain stopped and the track dried up more quickly than we thought. It was difficult to know where the crossover point was, this being my first time racing an LMP3 in such changeable conditions. To lose so much ground with wet tyres on a drying track was disappointing. We were definitely capable of a top-ten result in the Silverstone Round, which provided even more invaluable learning experiences.”
