Following a promising weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, where Ruben Hage once again showed impressive speed and narrowly missed a podium alongside teammate Pérez-Cabello, the Nottingham-based racer made the short trip for his home race at Silverstone Circuit last weekend.
Hage has enjoyed previous success at Silverstone, having taken a hat-trick of race wins in the Ginetta GT Championship at the home of British motorsport in 2023.
This weekend marked the Ligier European Series’ debut at the British circuit and the first European Le Mans Series championship event at Silverstone since 2019, drawing a crowd of 110,000 fans and marking a new record for an ELMS round.
The ASM Motorsport duo immediately displayed strong pace in free practice, topping the timesheets in the second session despite wet conditions. Hage carried that speed into qualifying, setting the fastest lap early on. With at least five drivers trading quickest times, the fight for pole was intense. He ultimately secured P5, a strong position for race two, while teammate Pérez Cabello claimed P8 for the opening race.
Pérez-Cabello held steady through the opening stint of race one, keeping the ASM Motorsport car in touch with the midfield before handing over to Hage at the halfway mark. A slick stop gained the team a couple of seconds and sent Hage back out in P10 with just over half an hour to run.
From the moment he rejoined, Hage was on the attack. He immediately matched the pace of the leading group and began slicing through the traffic, moving past Bouteiller at Brooklands and then hunting down the next cars in quick succession. His relentless pace told the story: sector times kept tumbling and the 25-second gap to the P5 car shrank with every lap.
By the closing stages he had surged into the top five and was the fastest driver on the circuit, setting not only the quickest lap of the race but a Ligier European Series record for Silverstone. Hage crossed the line in fifth, finishing just two tenths shy of fourth after a charge that underlined his speed and race craft.
The second race promised more of the same, with Hage starting on fresh tyres and the team confident in the strategy. But the plan unravelled almost immediately. Caught in a first-lap incident not of his making, Hage backed off to avoid the initial contact only to be collected with nowhere to escape. The resulting suspension damage ended the race before it had really begun, a heartbreaking conclusion to a home weekend that had shown so much potential.
Commenting on the weekend, Ruben Hage said:
“It’s tough to end my home race like that, especially knowing how strong we were, but there’s a lot of positives to take away. The car felt incredible, we showed strong pace all weekend, and setting the fastest lap in race one really proved what we can do when
everything comes together.”
“It was really special to have my partners trackside to enjoy a great weekend of racing and networking and truly made the weekend one to remember.”
Hage now heads to the season finale at Portimão on 16-17 October, eager to convert his potential into a strong finish and leave a lasting mark on the season.