Camathias fourth in rain-soaked season-opener at Silverstone

Joël Camathias took an excellent fourth in the opening round of the European Le Mans Series in Silverstone, at the wheel of the Ferrari F458 of JMW Motorsport shared with Andrea Bertolini.

The result could have been even more positive if the race hadn't been definitely red-flagged half-an-hour to the end because of the heavy rain and poor visibility.

After qualifying fifth, the Swiss and his Italian team mate drove a solid race in typical British weather and were the only car among front-runners to have performed the last scheduled pit-stop during the safety-car period, losing a sure podium finish.

Joël Camathias: "A fourth is not a bad result given the conditions today, but the premature end of the race actually handicapped us. We had already done our last stop during the safety-car period, contrarily to the three cars ahead of us, so we probably lost a top two position.

But I am very happy of how the whole package worked throughout the weekend and I am very confident for the races ahead. Today, choosing the right tires for the different phases of the race was a real dilemma.

I took the start on slick, but had to stop for intermediate. On the rain, though, we were the fastest car on track. Still, I think it was a wise decision to stop the race, as there was a lot of water everywhere, including on the straight."

Joël Camathias

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