Le Mans 24 Hours Scrutineering Monday 2
Lola Lads (And Lass)

#10 Charouz Racing Systems Lola Aston Martin
The very quick Lola Aston crew were looking very relaxed indeed, a situation explained concisely and confidently by Jan Charouz when asked why he had a bigger smile than in his rookie year in 2007?

“That’s easy, I have a better car!”

Stefan Mucke meanwhile was happy to analyse the chances for the great white hope of petrol-fuelled LMP racing :

“The test was OK but the changing weather made it very difficult for us to get any kind of meaningful laps in.

“The car is a very new package still and whilst the engine and, for the most part, the chassis are known quantities the whole is often very different.

“We were very pleased, but very surprised at Barcelona (where the car scored an overall third place finish).

“Compared to last year’s car the chassis is a big improvement and the whole car is better, faster and with better lap times and the Aston Martin engine is, of course very good.

The roof really makes no fundamental difference, after a very few laps you get used to it. The cockpit heat is no real difficulty as the air con works well and even the visibility is normally no problem unless it gets wet and then there are difficulties and it can get very bad.

“Any oil on the screen can cause us real problems, the little wiper doesn’t really do anything in those conditions.

“As for this race, beyond 6 hours the car is an unknown quantity so who knows – OK so the engine and chassis are proven but as we have seen in the last two LMS races there are so many little things that can be a problem.

“We are certainly able to be the fastest petrol car here and the team have been working very hard indeed. As for the vent, it’s a real one-off and it’s hard not to respond to that.

#12 Charouz Racing Systems Lola Judd
Greg Pickett And Klaus Graf were thoroughly enjoying their day in the sunshine at scrutineering in the Places des Jacobins, Pickett (is he the oldest ever Le Mans 24 Hours rookie?) swapping observations with a most amused Doug Fehan who was pulling his old friends leg with the comment “So let’s get this straight, we bring the cars to France then load them onto flatbeds and take them downtown!!”

Indeed you do, and great fun it is for all – thousands turning out on a glorious day in Le Mans for the first half day’s formalities.

“This is great,” said Pickett later, “There really is nothing anything like this anywhere else.”

For his team-mate Klaus Graf, lets not forget a man who has led this race (2001 in the Panoz LMP07), it was back to the future:

“To me sportscars is, and always has been, a fantastic discipline. As a spectacle and as an event, I think it took a dive after about 2001/ 02 but its very much on the way back now.

“It’s not just about speed, there’s intelligence involved too and the really good thing is that it has brought a lot of guys like me back into play into a career where we can help teams, and some essentially gentlemen drivers to step up.

“As for the future with the team, its not written in stone but Greg is very competitive and there is a plan.”

Did Le Mans come earlier than planned in this programme?

“Maybe a little but after talking with Tony Charouz about this car the rest just fell into place, an automatic entry and a car capable of doing well, why delay the effort. Hiring Jan (Lammers) to complete the line-up was a big boost. His knowledge of what it takes to bring a car home here is invaluable.

As for the future, the Lola Judd now seems certain to be bound for the ALMS in the team’s hands whilst the ex Dyson Racing Lola AER looks almost certain to remain in the Series too.

Greg Pickett: “I have all but sold it to an existing team. AER are currently doing some test on the engine on ethanol and the bigger restrictor and then we can finalise things but I’m very confident that both cars will race and that’s good news for the Series and for LMP1.”

#19 Chamberlain Synergy Lola AER
Gareth Evans – working very hard indeed to avoid being interviewed on the Eurosport stage so that he could watch team-mate Bob Berridge suffering the anguish of playing second fiddle to his wife Amanda Stretton.

“I’m going out amongst the crowd to wave to Bob. I think it’s marvellous to see him so uncomfortable. It’s like motorsport’s answer to Richard and Judy and it’s certainly the first time I’ve ever felt like a gooseberry!”

On the racing front though Evans was all business:

“We’re all more hopeful of better personal performances this year. The car is looking good and the (Dunlop) tyres are much better, we have loads more grip, even in the damp.

“We always want to improve year on year and I believe we can take a big jump this year, I reckon with luck that my lap times can be 4-5 seconds faster this year and if we can maintain that then a good finish could be on.