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omen for his final race victory as
he battled with eventual champion
Brian Chandler, taking away 6th
and 5th place trophies.
The following round at Brands
Hatch in May was the biggest
of Tuck’s career thus far as the
Mazdas rolled in to support the
Blancpain International GT Sprint
Series. In front of a packed crowd,
Tuck pulled out all the stops to
claim pole position and the fast-
est lap of the weekend. Both
races served up some of the most
exciting action of the year with
Tuck centre of the battles for the
lead and gaining extensive TV
exposure. He came away from the
weekend running 3rd in the cham-
pionship, having cemented his
reputation as the rookie to watch.
Castle Combe later that month
brought his first disappointment of
the year when he just missed out
on a podium in Race 1 and then
had to make the drive of his life
to pull out a stunning recovery to
9th after a collision spun him out
to last place in Race 2. Soon after,
Rockingham was to be a similar
story where, in downpour condi-
tions, mistakes by other drivers
saw him spun off in both races.
Yet again, Tuck recovered both
times, this time to record 6th and
5th places.
In July, Tuck came back with a
bang despite engine and gearbox
failures. At the beautiful Cadwell
Park Circuit, he claimed not only
his first podium, but also fastest
lap, and narrowly missed a certain
win due to the gearbox issue. The
weekend’s work left him in 2nd on
points in the championship.
Oulton Park will always be a
special place for Tuck, as he made
his debut appearance there in
2014. The Cheshire circuit was to
give him the perfect anniversary
present in August as he took the
first win of his car racing career.
In a stunning display of domi-
nance that had been building all
year, Tuck wiped the board with
fastest lap in testing, fastest lap
in practice, pole position, fastest
lap and win in Race 1, followed
by pole position and a podium in
Race 2.
With confidence on a high, Tuck
next tackled his first international
in September, racing as a guest
driver at the legendary Spa-Fran-
corchamps circuit in Belgium sup-
porting another International GT
race. In typically wet conditions
for the circuit he again dominated,
with fastest laps in practice, qual-
ifying and Race 2, and also a pole
position, class win and fastest
MX-5 lap of the weekend.
However, it was not all plain
sailing as he had to contend with
a freak mechanical failure and
last-minute rule clarifications,
which demoted him to start Race 2
at the back of the grid and looked
set to derail his weekend.
With the championship title
now a very real prospect, Tuck
returned to the UK ready to push
forward at the next round, this
time at Croft. Fate was to inter-
vene, however, and poor weather
and tyre issues dented his pro-
gress, but not his determination,
dropping him to 4th in the cham-
pionship. At this stage, Tuck had
never been outside of the top five
championship positions.
All was set for a thrilling show-
down at the season finale at
Donington Park in October, with
the top five drivers all in with a
chance of carrying off the champi-
on’s trophy. Unexpected tyre prob-
lems in qualifying were to hamper
Tuck’s assault on the title, giving
him a mountain to climb. But with
a determination characteristic
of his 2015 campaign he battled
through the fierce fights in the
pack to take 2nd place in Race 1
as the TV action was transmit-
ted live. Now one of three racers
with title hopes still intact, Tuck
launched his final push for Race 2
and scrapped in a race-long dog-
fight for the lead, claiming 2nd at
the flag.
Only a win would do in the
final race of the season and Tuck
calmly set about the job, breaking
away from the pack and picking
his moment to take a superb win
to deliver his pre-season objec-
tive of a top-three position in the
championship.
Rarely has a rookie season been
so endowed with hard won suc-
cess as 2015 was for Ben Tuck,
and his performance is a show-
case for his exciting and impres-
sive mix of hard work, determina-
tion and raw talent. With the right
budget and opportunities, 2016
looks bright for one of the UK’s
hottest young racing talents.
Tuck’s performances in his Mazda MX-5
Mk3 earned him the highly coveted RSF
MSA Young Driver of the Year award.