Tuck secures a top five finish at Silverstone 500

The Silverstone 500 is the only race of the championship to be run over three hours, featuring three pit-stops with two stints per driver.

Ben Tuck and Ben Green arrived with mixed expectations. Their BMW is durable and very fast, but as winners of the previous race, they were to carry extra weight and serve an extra 20 seconds in the pits due to the Championship’s success penalty regulations.

Qualifying saw the duo qualify fifth on the grid.

Ben Green suffered a difficult getaway and found himself in 11th at the end of the first lap, but he had reclaimed his starting position by the first pit-stop 52 minutes later.

With Tuck at the wheel, the car was still in fifth after all the pit-stops had been completed. Tuck claimed another place on Lap 33, holding that until the second pit-stop. Mindful the third and last stop would include the hefty 20 second success time penalty, Green took on brand new tyres and resumed driving duties.

The extra-long final pit-stop was taken with 45 minutes of the race left to run. After an wait of nearly three and half minutes, Tuck rejoined the fight in third as their sister car leapfrogged them in the pits to take the lead.

After being chased down by cars on fresher rubber, Ben staved off their attacks before eventually succumbing in the final couple of laps to take fifth.

Ben was philosophical after the race: “I tried so hard to keep the tyres going after I started the final stint but with about 5 laps to go they were rapidly going and with 2 laps to go I had pretty much nothing left.”

Tuck and Green next compete in the British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on July 22.