The #41 WRT ORECA-Gibson 07 shared by Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade dropped from second to sixth early on after Andrade was hit by the #23 United Autosports entry of Josh Pierson, an offence for which Pierson was slapped with a 10-second time penalty.
While the incident put the #41 crew on the back foot, Kubica, Deletraz and Andrade clawed back the lost ground and returned to the front by the end of the fourth hour, eventually taking a comfortable 16s class win over the #22 United crew of Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Freddie Lubin.
Kubica completed 50 percent of the #41 WRT crew’s tally of 218 laps, first jumping aboard in the middle of the second hour after silver-rated Andrade had completed his minimum driving time.
Joining the track in a net fourth, Kubica gradually propelled the team to the front of the pack, getting within 10 seconds of the race-leading #22 United car.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Kubica said that it was during this part of the race that proved key to victory, as it put team-mate Deletraz in a position where he could pass Hanson for the lead.
“Before managing to get the lead I think the crucial hours were after Rui [drove], when I took over,” he explained.
“We managed to bring the car within eight seconds of the lead from 52 behind, so it was a crucial 90 minutes behind the wheel.
“The degradation was high, we managed to take care of the tyres very well. We have been in the fast first stint but especially the second one, then of course we were back in the game.
“Louis did a good job saving fuel more than United so we knew we have a bit of an advantage. Even when we were behind them, we knew that we could make it work our way in the pitstop area, so there was no big panic. It was a lot of management.”
Source: Autosport