Brandon McCaughan once again highlighted his immense potential behind the wheel as he produced podium pace on his prototype racing debut in the Ligier European Series at Portimão (17-18 October).
Off the back of some brilliant race wins in the GB4 Championship earlier this year, the talented Northern Irishman further cemented his status as a bright young talent for the future in motorsport as he delivered a superb performance in his first ever overseas race event.
Linking up with reigning Ligier European Series champions Team Virage for the trip to the south of Portugal, McCaughan would share a Ligier JS P4 prototype with Danish single-seater champion Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen across a pair of one-hour races.
Building on experience gained during two previous test days in the Ligier, McCaughan showed impressive pace from the off around the 2.89-mile Autódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit, lapping as one of the four fastest drivers in both free practice sessions on Thursday.
The Ballymena racer went on to produce a fantastic performance in his 15-minute qualifying session, finishing second on the timesheets, just 0.091s shy of the quickest time. Pedersen then replicated that performance in his session, ensuring they’d start both races from the front row of the grid.
It was McCaughan behind the wheel for the start of race one on Friday morning. Initially slipping to third off the line, the ex-Formula Ford racer quickly stormed back into second place. After a short safety car period, he was hot on the heels of the leader for a number of laps.
From there, McCaughan comfortably maintained second into the mid-race pitstops to complete an impressive first race stint in the Ligier. Pedersen took over from there and while an unfortunate spin dropped him back to seventh, he recovered well to secure them a fourth-place finish.
Pedersen started race two that afternoon and enjoyed some brilliant battles over the podium places in the early laps. Unfortunately, a spin on lap nine dropped him back to fifth though, just before the safety car came out and they executed their mid-race driver change.
When the race went green again, McCaughan enjoyed some exciting wheel-to-wheel action as he fought his way to fourth place. He sadly suffered a spin of his own, but showed brilliant pace and racecraft as he picked his way back through from eighth to fifth at the finish.
McCaughan’s exciting race opportunity in the Ligier European Series came thanks to the incredible support of his partners Mulholland Scrap Metals, Raceview, ADM Group, AAA Biomass, DMMF Services, UtilityMapz, MacPac Refuse Bodies, Bovill Lead Ltd and Galgorm Dental.
Brandon McCaughan: “It’s been a very positive and encouraging few days at Portimão. The circuit is fantastic and I felt at home straight away. With only ten laps of dry testing under my belt, to qualify second fastest and miss pole by only nine hundredths of a second was a real highlight.
“The races were a steep learning curve, but I feel I adapted well and I’m pleased with the speed I showed across my stints. It was a shame to miss out on a podium finish, but we got two strong results and I know that with more time in the car, I’d be up there fighting for wins.
“A huge thank you to everyone at Team Virage for the opportunity and for giving us such a competitive car, and thank you to my sponsors for making this fantastic experience happen. The Ligier European Series is definitely something we’re looking at for 2025 and I’m confident I could be a title challenger.”
McCaughan is exploring some exciting avenues for the next step in his motorsport career in 2025, and has some great commercial opportunities available for prospective partners to join him. Interested parties can get in touch with him via email, brandon@mccmotorsport.com.
Images from DDPI Images / Ligier European Series.
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