Difficult wet conditions brought an early end to the 3 Hours of Silverstone for French driver Franck Mailleux as his Morand Racing Morgan Judd LMP2 car aquaplaned out of the lead of the race just before the one hour mark. 

It was an action packed first race of the European Le Mans Series with rain meaning that drivers had to pit for wet weather tyres and making for tricky conditions on the 5.791km Silverstone circuit.

Having completed the first laps of the weekend in mixed weather conditions during Friday’s free practice session, Franck was on qualifying duties on a dry track for his debut race with the Morand Racing team this morning. Although he did not get a clear lap, he still registered the fifth best time of the session.

Rain started to fall during the formation lap so Morand Racing made an astute call to pit Franck on the first lap for full wet weather tyres straight away. That decision proved decisive as the rain intensified. Franck initially took the lead and he became embroiled in a thrilling battle with Brendon Hartley. Franck took back the lead when Hartley made a trip to the gravel, and subsequently increased his advantage over the field. Franck was mastering the wet well but he was unable to do anything when his car aquaplaned down the straight in the torrential conditions and took him into the tyre barriers, agonisingly out of the race.

Franck, who was yesterday confirmed as a Morand Racing driver for the entire 2013 ELMS season, will take positives from the performance of the Morand Racing Morgan Judd LMP2 car this weekend as he looks to the next round of the season at Imola in May.

Franck Mailleux commented: “I am devastated to have had to retire from this afternoon’s race after leading the race in the first hour and I am sorry to the team for not being able to salvage the car from the gravel. The Morand Racing team made the best decision to pit me early for wet weather tyres and that instinct enabled us lead the race so I am disappointed with the outcome. The Morgan Judd LMP2 has been great to drive this weekend; I was just caught out with unavoidable aquaplaning in the very wet and difficult conditions which ended our race. The wet weather made it tough and I wasn’t the only one to run into trouble but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get back out on track. Nevertheless, it’s the first race of the ELMS season and there are plenty of positives to take from it in spite of the result. Thanks to the Morand Racing team for all their support in our first race together and I look forward to making progress at the next race.”