Charlie Eastwood still positive after a difficult 8 hours of Bahrain

After back to back wins at Fuji and Shanghai, Belfast-driver Charlie Eastwood had a challenging FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 8 Hours of Bahrain as the TF Sport Aston Martin suffered mechanical issues leaving the team to finish tenth in the LMGTE Am class.

Driving the Aston Martin Vantage AMR for TF Sport with teammates Salih Yoluc and Jonny Adam, Charlie showed strong pace even with mechanical problems and a 45kg of success ballast.

Although Charlie had to compete with ballast due to his team’s success earlier in the season, he was able to set similar times to the front running drivers setting the teams fastest lap, a 1:58.794, before they were hampered with mechanical issues in the later stages of the race. 

“Heading into the race we knew it would be tough to match our performances in Fuji and Shanghai but I still thought that some big points were definitely on the cards. The Aston Martin felt good in the middle stint and I was able to set some competitive times before we suffered a mechanical issue” said Charlie.

Charlie and TF Sport team battled with #54 AF Corse Ferrari for fifth place until the car suffered a gearbox problem leaving them to only score two points.

Charlie’s next race is the WEC Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of Americas on 23 February.