Le Mans Series – Barcelona – Comments
Before Qualifying

Stefan Mucke: “That was a good run but we were running that as a qualifying simulation whereas I don’t believe some of the others were doing so. 1:33 is possible again in qualifying but the track is generally slower here in the afternoon.

Wolfgang Ullrich, fresh from shoving a cake in Alexander Primat’s face in celebration of his 26th birthday today: “We are struggling to find the grip here, the corners are more a matter of waiting than driving but we know from experience so far with the R10 that this might get better as track time goes on.

“That might be the same reason why Marco (Werner) did so well at St Petersburg, there was plenty of rubber down and the grip was good. Even so though it was a very good and very committed lap. The team tell me that the car came back in good shape but with no decals down one side so it looks as if he was trying hard!

“The Peugeots are quicker here but we saw that at Sebring too. You must remember that Peugeot took the opportunity to test here earlier this year and that is something that our programme didn’t allow us to do. We must now find some of the answers that they already know.

On promotion of the Le Mans Series: “It is true that we asked for much greater efforts from the Le Mans Series and I’m pleased that we are now working, together with the other manufacturers and the ACO, with them to take steps forward. We are seeing progress but it is important not to expect too many big steps too soon.”

On the prospect of a GT2 programme with the R8 supercar: “I never announce announcements!”

Santiago Garcia, Team Manager – Epsilon Euskadi: “The second car is here in the transporter. Our programme is running a little late because the FIA’s crash testing machine broke down and we finally managed to pass the test on Wednesday.

“That meant that we missed out on some opportunities to test, the car has done less than 1000km in total since it was completed: we tested on Monday and Tuesday at a track nearby to here. But the car is working well now and getting faster with no major problems. It’s a baby – we’re learning about it as we go and we have already dealt with the steering and shift problems we had at Paul Ricard.

“The drivers for this race have been chosen because they are Spanish and because they both have experience of racing this sort of car (from the last two seasons in the ASM Lola).

“We are fighting to get to the finish here which would double the running we have so far and after that we will decide what we should do for Monza.

“On Le Mans (where the team have one accepted entry and a second which is third reserve) we haven’t given up on two cars at all. We have paid the entry fee for the reserve list car and will prepare as if both cars are in the race.”

Kai Kruse: “It is good to be back but we have a new car and a circuit that neither of our drivers have driven before.

“We have been getting great support from AER with the Mazda engine and Lola have done a REALLY good job with the car, no mechanical problems whatsoever, the car has been bulletproof apart from a few minor electrical issues, quite normal with a new installation like this.

Hardy Schiller, Kai Kruse’s new business partner: “I have been in motorcycle racing for 25 years but this is my first time at a sportscar race. I have known Kai for many years, our businesses are neighbours so this arrangement makes a lot of sense.”

Schiller has had experience of a couple of Kruse’s previous cars, driving “one of his really old M3s and I did a shakedown test in the Courage C65 for them a few years ago too.”

David Legangneux reports that the WR’s problems have focussed around a faulty dashboard readout and other electrical niggles, the car having only had one brief shakedown run before arriving here.

The Pescarolos aren’t perhaps having the trouble-free runs we have come to expect, the five cars here include two brand new chassis, the #17 factory car and the #35 Saulnier Racing LMP2.

Allan Simonsen was very pleased with his pace in the third session of free practice, the Farnbacher Porsche man re-affirming that there were no development Michelins here despite rumblings that a set or two might be around!

It’s been another whirlwind week or two for the much travelled Dane, after racing at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend he then spent 4 days at a charity event in Copenhagen, together with an array of other notables including Stirling Moss, Jochen Mass, Tom Kristensen, Stanley Dickens and Thorkild Thyrring.

“It was a great event, I drove members of the public around in a Cobra, Maserati Gran Turismo and Supercharged Lotus Exige in exchange for donations to UNESCO on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday last week (they raised an excellent 250,000 euros) before travelling to Nogaro to test the Gigawave DBR9 and then on to Barcelona.

Stephane Lemeret, JWA Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2: “This is really a development race for us but I am already surprised at the power, the torque and the smoothness of the engine. I have recent experience of the Ferrari 430 and I can tell you that in those areas it is already comparable to the 430 and already has more torque at lower revs.

“Our main problem is that we have too much understeer, we’re struggling with that really. I tried in one session with the Gurney flap on the rear wing removed but it was too much and we went straight into oversteer. Apart from that, and a small issue with an oil pump, the car has been very reliable.”

Rik Bryant at Team Modena reports that the Aston Martin’s late start to Friday’s action was due to an electrical problem, the car refusing to fire up. The team are therefore running behind on set-up time.

Alexander Premat: “The Peugeots are around 5-8 km/h faster on the straights (than the R10) and while we are nearly equal under braking the 908 seems to have better front/ rear balance and less understeer . It also seems better out of the corners .

“The R10 is in the same full 2008 specification that was raced at Sebring with some improvements for this year in all areas.

“We still have some understeer problems here though, particularly in the tighter corners and we seem to lose a lot of downforce when following other cars. We have some work to do. At one point I was caught by one of the 908s and he pulled out, overtook and pulled away as if I was an LMP2 car.”

It’s not all been good news for the Peugeots. Rob Bell reported that towards the end of the session the two 908s had a minor coming together at Turn 5, both ending up stationary on the outside of the corner. No major work appears to be underway on either car.

Qualifying next: this should be very good.