Sky Tempesta Racing GTWC Endurance Cup Teams’ Champions in Barcelona

• Chris Froggatt, Jonathan Hui, Eddie Cheever III were crowned Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Bronze Cup Drivers’ Champions in Barcelona

• Sky Tempesta Racing clinchs Endurance Cup Teams’ Championship despite challenging season finale

The final round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup served up an exciting race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend, as Sky Tempesta Racing teammates Chris Froggatt, Eddie Cheever III and Jonathan Hui fought hard enough to secure the Bronze Cup Drivers’ Championship. Moreover, the British Team was also crowned the Bronze Cup Teams’ Champion despite finishing P6 at the challenging season finale, their first non-podium finish this year

The #93 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo has been a force to be reckoned with throughout the Fanatec GT Europe Endurance Cup rounds, often fighting at the sharp end of its class. However, the Sky-liveried car struggled in Barcelona last weekend with the extraordinarily high temperatures and increased tire degradation. The championship-leading trio put their best foot forward and qualified P4 in class among a 54-car grid, out of which 15 were racing in the extremely competitive Bronze Cup.

Froggatt started the 3-hour enduro in the #93 McLaren and showed spectacular pace right from the get-go. Nearly 20 minutes into his stint, he was leading the class and had built up a substantial gap to the chasing pack, yet, the lead was soon offset due to a quick succession of 2 Safety Car periods. Froggatt boxed to hand the car over to Hui under Yellow Flag conditions. However, the crew was held up in releasing the car out of the box due to traffic in the pit lane, losing about 5 seconds.

Hui was battling a muscle injury throughout the weekend and was forced to dig deep in one of the toughest races of his career, as he needed to work extra hard to keep his team in contention for the championship. He exited the pit lane P3 in class, and was giving it his all, but was not able to deliver consistent lap times due to suboptimal physical conditions and difficulty in maintaining focus due to his muscle strain. His stint was extremely difficult, but Hui managed to keep the car in one piece despite multiple incidents and contacts with other competitors. However, the team had dropped to P10 in class in the second hour

The British squad kept pushing and timed the second pit stop perfectly, with the Garage 59 mechanics making quick work of the tire changes and refuelling. As Cheever took the reins of the #93 McLaren, he came out of the pits in P6, and the full focus was to manage risk and maintain position, which would be enough to secure the championship by points. Half of the Italian’s hour-long stint was spent under Full Course Yellow conditions due to some oil on the track that was being tended to by marshalls. It was a 25-minute dash to the finish line as the race started again and Cheever executed a calculated drive, eventually crossing the chequered flag and completing the title charge.

Despite a challenging weekend, it was the merit of exceptional performances and consistency throughout the season that handed Hui, Froggatt and Cheever the Endurance Cup Bronze class Drivers’ Championship and Sky Tempesta Racing the Teams’ Championship. The team did a phenomenal job in 2023 to overcome the disappointment faced in the much less successful 2021 season and reclaim the Endurance Champion throne this year. The team have worked together for with for the last 5 years, and their team chemistry plays a credit in their success.

Sky Tempesta Racing now heads to the United States for the Indianapolis 8 Hour, taking place on Saturday, 7 October, the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli, in which teammate Hui, leads the Independent Cup standings by 13 points, and mathematically stands a chance to seal another title before the final round in Abu Dhabi.

Sky Tempesta Racing has another opportunity to add to the team’s accolades as they take on the Donington Decider in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship on Sunday 22 October. Drivers Chris Froggatt and Kevin Tse lead the Silver-AM standings by 9.5 points, so the race has to fight for in the final round.

Jonathan Hui, Driver, #93 Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren 720s GT3 Evo
“I knew it would go down to the wire, which was clear from how close Qualifying was. It was unfortunate that I struggled physically in this race with a muscle injury, but this is what battling is all about. With such a high-quality grid, with such fierce competitors, I’m glad we managed to hold on until the end. We’ve raced together for five seasons, so winning this championship means the world to me.”

Chris Froggatt, Driver, #93 Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren 720s GT3 Evo
“We couldn’t have hoped for a better year. The race was filled with incidents and safety cars so I’m juts proud of these guys for keeping it together and doing enough to secure this Championship”

Eddie Cheever III, Driver, #93 Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren 720s GT3 Evo
“It was a tough race, but I was thinking about last year and the bad season we had to become Champions this year, when there are so many good drivers in our category is amazing. It’s a dream come true, and to do it with Jon and Chris, I couldn’t have asked for more.”