After a lightning start to Garage 59’s FIA World Endurance Championship debut season, GT REPORT shook hands with Antares Au at Le Mans. Since then, his #10 McLaren 720S GT3 has finished 16th and 17th in the two races that followed at Interlagos and COTA.
So, at the Tokyo Showcase ahead of this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji, we shook his hand again, just to break the curse. We talked about how Garage 59 is managing its debut WEC season after a start that exceeded everyone’s expectations.
From pole to plateau
Au shares driving duties with Marvin Kirchhöfer and Tom Fleming, and the trio has had an eventful year, to say the least. Pole position at the season-opening 6 Hours of Imola and a heartbreaking retirement from the lead in the final hour, then redemption with a breakthrough win at Spa: the car was fighting at the front from the outset. It’s easy to lose sight of that given the recent slump.
The team isn’t necessarily going backwards, but this plateau in pace puts it on the back foot compared to everyone else. As Au puts it: “Every team is improving in each round of this championship, and when your progress is slower than the rest of the field, it’s easy for a problem to be amplified,” the Hongkonger tells GT REPORT.
The McLaren 720S GT3 came into this season with a reputation for being slightly unreliable, and Au said the team’s recent struggles are largely down to tyre management, the brakes and not running the car as well as they should. His side of the garage sits 11th in the LMGT3 standings heading into Fuji.
Humble and realistic
Can they return to the front any time soon, and will their woes be solved by the start of next season? Au is optimistic.
“I think we need to be humble. For every round and every session we go, we’ll run into something new. I see some very positive progress and these are some very capable people, but we’ll need to expect the unexpected. The other manufacturers have been doing this for years, so I think we’ll also need to be realistic about our results in a way.
“We’ll keep working at it, I think we’ll get there, but I don’t really know what the conditions are that’ll get us there.”
How the McLaren MCL-HY could help Garage 59
One factor that could help get the team back to the front is the McLaren MCL-HY Hypercar, which will race full-time in the championship next year. Au believes having the Hypercar team racing alongside the GT3 cars will have a positive impact on Garage 59.
“It helps because there are always conversations between the manufacturers and the organisers. It’s always a better conversation with the ACO and the FIA when you have four cars instead of two. Even if the two teams are run separately [the Hypercar team is run by United Autosports] and operate as individual teams, as a brand you will find a more unified front in these sorts of conversations [with the organisers] overall.
“At least when you visit us next year, as opposed to the Garage 59 team facility, you’ll get to see the McLaren paddock instead!”
