The Jones brothers, who together won the 2009 Avon Tyres British GT Championship, teamed up with Jordan to tackle the Pro-Am class of the round-the-clock race in their Team Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS AMG. After using Avons in the British series, Avon’s tyres were the natural choice for the squad.
Conditions proved to be tricky throughout the race, with rain falling consistently but only once falling heavily enough to warrant the use of wet tyres. Even then, Jordan elected to stay out on slicks as the Avon performance in greasy conditions appeared to be strong compared to the tyre’s rivals.
In 24 Hour racing, speed and consistency for lap after lap is arguably more important than single-lap pace and the Avons received praise for their durability over stints of one or two hours on the long Grand Prix circuit.
Paul Coates, Avon Tyres Motorsport General Manager, said: “Our tyres proved to be very successful over the course of the 24 hours and weren’t lacking any pace at all over a full stint, even when conditions got a little damp. We are confident that we have a world class tyre and look forward to more outings like this in future.”
The second-placed Mercedes finished closely behind the class-winning Ferrari 458 of Franck Morel, Jean-Luc Beaubelique, Ludovic Badey and Guillaume Moreau, who completed 530 laps to the Preci-Spark team’s 529 laps.
Of the other two cars in the race that used Avons, The Ecurie Ecosse Aston Martin finished 20th overall and ninth in class, while the McLaren GT retired after 88 laps.
Coates added: “Although it left the race early, the McLaren was impressive on our tyres, to say the least, and was the fastest car in its class when it retired.”
