Shows promise in LMP3 debut at Donington

Jerseyman Jack Butel made a strong start in his first sports car outing at the weekend (22/23 April). The Channel Islander got behind the wheel of the Speedworks Ligier JS P3 LMP3 in the new Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship at Donington Park. In the two, one-hour long races, Butel and teammate Dean Gibbs notched up tenth and fifth in the opening two contests of the new season.
 
20-year-old Jack Butel made a switch from the competitive Formula 4 single-seater series to the LMP3 sports car category over the winter period. With several strong test sessions under his belt, the Channel Islander prepared to take on a new adventure in 2017. Jack has had to learn a lot in the months building up to the first round at Donington Park including longer race stints, sharing a car with another driver and racing with a roof over his head to name but a few.
 
The first round took place at Donington Park in Derbyshire. With the circuit adjacent to East Midlands Airport, the St Saviour resident was hoping to fly around the 2.5-mile venue. In practice, Butel looked comfortable nestling the Speedworks prepared machine into sixth place in the standings.
 
Qualifying was to be a disappointing session as the powerful sports prototype suffered mechanical gremlins forcing Butel and teammate Dean Gibbs to the back of the pack. In the first hour-long race of the weekend those problems continued, forcing Gibbs into the pits early into the 60-minute race. After hemorrhaging time in the pit lane and a long way behind the leaders, Butel retook the wheel of the French machine and set about showing his pace and the performance of the new car. By the end of the race the Speedworks machine in the hands of the Jerseyman recorded the fifth fastest time, just four-tenths shy of the fastest lap of the race.
 
A new day and a new start for Jack and the team. Lining-up in tenth for the Sunday afternoon race, the combination of Butel and Gibbs had only one goal in mind, climb the field and head towards the podium. Gelling with the car and his new teammate, Jack was on the pace once again and before too long the red and black liveried sports car was making headway on the overall classification. At the fall of the flag, Butel and Gibbs chalked up fifth overall just a few seconds behind Steve Tandy and former Formula One driver Karun Chandhok in fourth.    
 
As the dust settled from the inaugural round of the championship, Jack Butel reflected upon his weekends work.
 
“It was a good, solid weekend to start the year off,” explained Butel. “ I really enjoyed the challenge as its completely different to Formula 4 racing that I am used to. I loved every minute!
 
“It was great to race with Dean [Gibbs]. He didn’t have much seat time before the weekend and he drove really well and improved with every session. With more testing I think we can be challenging for a podium.
 
“Speedworks did a great job running the car all weekend and it’s a shame the mechanical gremlins got in the way of a good result in race one. Race two was much better and Dean and I really made some progress and to finish fifth was a great result. I would like to dedicate that finish to my good friend Billy Monger. We proved to be one of the fastest out there on track so we can take many positives into the next race.”
 
The next round of the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship will be held at Brands Hatch in Kent on the 20/21 May. Butel and his Speedworks team will once again challenge for honours as they eye their first podium together next time out.