Olli Caldwell was able to see the positives after a tough race for his Alpine team in the six hours of Portimao in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The 20-year-old from Farnham, together with Alpine team-mates Andre Negrão and Memo Rojas, set about claiming his first points of the year in Portugal following the team’s misfortune in the opening round at Sebring, Florida – when they were forced to retire from the race on lap 139 with an electrical fault.

In the end, though, Caldwell and his team-mates had to settle for an 11th-place finish.

“It was a tough race for us, but I think we can also take some positives away,” said Caldwell.

“I had a good battle for position during my first stint and I began to make some ground. It’s just a shame we couldn’t battle more towards the end.”

The Alpine trio had qualified in tenth place in Portimao. Rojas kept the car’s nose clean at the start of the race and handed over to Negrão on lap 47, before it was Caldwell’s turn on lap 95.

Jumping into the car for his first stint of the six-hour race, Caldwell headed out on track with a clear goal of making up ground on the cars ahead. Fully dialled into the car, the tyres and the track, Caldwell piled on the pressure on the JOTA car ahead.

Running within one second of the rival car and catching with every lap, Caldwell looped his way through the tight and twisty track. He punched his way through and took the spot, rising to tenth. He settled into a groove and focused on stretching out a gap to the chasing JOTA car.

Despite losing the place in the pit stops on lap 118, Caldwell aimed to make up ground as the race ran on.

Following a quick pit stop on lap 143, he found himself boosted up the order while his rivals did their planned driver swaps.

But with the cars around him opting for fresh tyres, Caldwell focused on keeping his nose clean in his third and final stint.

The strategy call for fresh tyres following their own driver swap was meant to give Negrão the extra boost to the chequered flag.

The only safety car of the race made its appearance with an hour left on the clock, which hurt the team’s strategy and left them a lap down once racing resumed as they finished 11th.

Next up for Caldwell and Alpine is the six hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

“Looking forward to Spa, hopefully we can pull out some more pace in qualifying to put us in a good position to fight in the race,” said Caldwell. “After we were forced to retire in Sebring, this is a step forward and we’ll be working hard to continue that as the season progresses.”