Asian Le Mans/ILMC, Zhuhai – Friday Morning
A Gloomy Start Greetings from a damp and very murky Zhuhai International Circuit (henceforth to be known as ZIC in these reports), where official track action will soon be underway. DSC is honoured to report that the ACO is so impressed with our orange and white polo shirts that they have decided to kit out all their staff in the same livery, prompting several suspicious ‘Bonjours’ to be sent our way already this morning. Thursday saw a private test session for the ILMC teams, and we are grateful to Audi UK Press Officer Martyn Pass for forwarding the leading times: Thursday – Free Practice 1 1 Bourdais/Pagenaud (Peugeot) 1min 20.961
2 Kristensen/McNish (Audi) 21.002
3 Montagny/Sarrazin (Peugeot) 21.609
4 Capello/Dumas (Audi) 22.629 Fastest GTC: Watts (R8 LMS) (38.646) * 14 cars on track Thursday – Free Practice 2 1 Montagny/Sarrazin (Peugeot) 1min 20.908
2 Bourdais/Pagenaud (Peugeot) 21.196
3 Kristensen/McNish (Audi) 21.550
4 Capello/Dumas (Audi) 22.172 Fastest GTC: Watts (R8 LMS) (38.200) * 19 cars on track
* Last 60mins wet An early wander down the pitlane showed only that not many people were about, but Drayson Racing team manager Dale White and Jonny Cocker were on hand to describe their early experiences; “The first four days were sunny and dry,” said White, “and there was so much dust on the track when the cars were first out yesterday that you could see ‘spray’ in front of the pits when they went past.” “It’s not a particularly technical track,” said Cocker. “It’s basically a sequence of fast straights and hairpins.” The rain settled in during the afternoon and the forecast is for the gloom and showers to hang around for the next couple of days before improving on raceday. SpeedTV.com’s John Dagys, who was at the circuit for the “low-key” test day, reported that the Tokai University car apparently had a big off and incurred damage, so we’ll try and follow that up later today. As I type, the first of the two one-hour practice sessions is about to begin. The rain has stopped and the track looks quite dry. MH | 
