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Corvette's P2 at Spa with ballast "better than a win" - Keating

Corvette Racing's Ben Keating says second place in last weekend's Spa round of the World Endurance Championship feels "better than a win" considering the team's success ballast.

#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg

#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, Nicky Catsburg

Eric Le Galliot

After kicking off their campaign with back-to-back GTE Am wins at Sebring and Portimao, Keating and team-mates Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone finished second to the Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari of Luis Perez Companc, Alessio Rovera and Lilou Wadoux at Spa.

That was despite falling to the back of the pack early in the race as the team's choice to start on wet tyres on a damp track failed to pay off, with further time lost when Keating had to come into the pits for an emergency stop during an early safety car period.

However, subsequent cautions allowed the Corvette crew to make up the lost ground and put the team in a position to maintain its perfect streak of podium finishes so far in 2023.

Keating said that Corvette's extra 45kg of extra ballast - 15kg for each of its two wins and an additional 15kg for leading the championship - gave the squad's Spa result extra significance.

"This is another team win," said the Texan driver. "Even though we came home second, with 45 extra kilograms this feels like it's better than a win.

"I came into Sebring with the idea that maybe we could win. I came into Portimao with the idea that a podium would be a success. I came into this race thinking a top-five would be good. I never dreamed we would be second. It's an unbelievable finish, especially given how we started.

"We were a lap down a couple of times because I made the choice to go out on rain tires at the start because I thought it was the conservative, safe choice. It turned out to be the wrong choice and had to come in for an early stop.

"Because of that, we were off-sequence with everyone and kept going a lap down. The safety cars came out exactly when we needed them to and we were able to get our laps back. It was a crazy race. It's hard to think that it was even crazier than Portimao!"

 

For the second race in succession, Catsburg put on a defensive masterclass in the closing stages, keeping the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Charlie Eastwood at bay in the fight for second.

That followed the Dutchman holding off a hard-charging Rovera in the AF Corse Ferrari for the win at Portimao.

"I knew we didn’t have the pace to challenge for the lead, and I was never expecting to keep P2," said Catsburg. "But it worked out.

"It was deja vu back to Portimao! I was struggling a lot to keep the Aston Martin behind. Charlie did a great job. He didn’t make any crazy moves and it was super-nice racing. An awesome feeling of two races in a row getting a good result."

Keating, Varrone and Catsburg now hold an enhanced 39-point lead in the GTE Am standings ahead of Spa winners Perez Companc, Rovera and Wadoux heading into next month's Le Mans 24 Hours.

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