Allen Timpany and his Binnie Motorsports team mates Bill Binnie and Chris Buncombe ended the Spa 1000kms fifth in class, but only after having suffered an electrical problem which took them out of a strong second place in LMP2.

Buncombe made a strong start from sixth on the LMP2 grid, moving through the field to second by the end of his double-stint. Having handed over to Timpany, the Hampshire-based driver closed the gap to the class leading RML MG Lola of Mike Newton by over 30 seconds before the electrical problem struck.

Having lost over five minutes in the pits, Timpany rejoined sixth and had climbed to fifth at the end of his double-stint. Binnie took over to conclude the final part of the six-hour race and was running fourth when Saulnier Racing’s Bruce Jouanny cut across his Lola’s nose and damaged his front suspension whilst lapping him.

The team worked quickly in the pits to repair the damage, losing just one place, and Binnie was able to bring the car home fifth and score some important championship points.

Timpany said: “It was a very bitty race. Chris made a fantastic start to put us second and things were looking very good at that point. When I got in the car I was able to close the gap to the leader by about 30 seconds before the electrical problem caused me to pit. After I rejoined there were a lot of safety car periods and twice it rained quite heavily when I was on slicks, but I was on the pace and very pleased with my lap times.”

Binnie Motorsports’ Sporting Director Gilbert Casse said: “Allen did a fantastic job today. When he left the pits following Chris’s strong start, we were over 1m 20s behind Mike Newton in the RML Lola. However Allen was between 3 and 5 seconds per lap quicker and had closed the gap to 51 seconds when we sustained an electrical problem.”