ALMS, Petit Le Mans - Qualifying Quotes

Damien Faulkner, #34 Green Hornet - “Well it wan’t good enough. The track just changed a bit on us. We were quickest last night and the car was really setup well. But today not so good. We were not able to do a mock qualifying run in the morning practice and maybe that could have made a difference But we are on the sharp end of the field, although I would’ve loved to have gotten the pole for Green Hornet.”

Leh Keen, #22 Alex Job Racing - “I really don’t know how this week could be going any better for us. I’m really looking forward to the race tomorrow.  The AJR WeatherTech car has great since we rolled it off the truck.  I was confident we had a great shot at getting the pole. This morning on yesterday’s tires the car was great and we were a half-second ahead of everybody else. We had a simple plan going into this week; get the pole and win the race. So far so good. I have to thank Alex and his team; they do such a great job with this race car.”

Ed Brown, #02 ESM - “We’ve been working really hard for over two years on this race program, and it’s starting to pay off. It’s been nice to have Toni Vilander here with us this weekend.  He’s a great guy and a great driver.  Having the factory guy gives you verification that you’re heading in the right direction.  The cleanest car will win the race tomorrow, and hopefully that is us.”

Guy Cosmo, #02 ESM - “It feels awesome! This class is always so close, so competitive that it only takes the tiniest thing to put you back. You have to be almost perfect to be quickest. We made some changes before qualifying that really worked.  And every lap I ran the tires just keep coming in better and better. The last lap was really good, but you always think you can improve and I think there was a little more in the car if I had more time. I’ve waited, and worked, for this for a long time. It’s a team effort and you just have to be patient.  You have to do whats best for the team and sometimes that doesn’t always work out best for you individually.  But I believe in this team and I’ve always believed in me. I couldn’t do it without this team and especially my engineer, Jim Malicki.  He’s an animal!”

Kyle Marcelli, #8 Merchant Services - “The car was great. It was very nervous yesterday.  It was quick but not a good race car.  The engineer made the changes that improved the car.  We have a little understeer on entry to the high speed corners, like turn one, but that is okay and better for the race. The driving talent in the PC’s is so good this year.  Everywhere we go we are setting lap records. Last year we got pole with a 1:14.8 and I thought this year it would take about a 1:14.5. I did a :14.6 and the crew said not good enough go again, then a :14.5 still not good enough. The bar got raised on every lap. I finished the fast lap and was going for another, and then the car just shut off going through turn two. So I coasted down through the esses trying to get to a safe place to pull off so I wouldn’t cause a red flag.  Once I parked it I saw that one of the engine breakers had popped off. After several tries I was able to reset it, but that makes me a little nervous going into the race.”

Lucas Luhr, #6 Muscle Milk - “The car was good.  It looked a little nervous but that’s to be expected when you push it that hard.  If it’s not on the edge you are not going fast enough. I think we should have been at least within a tenth of the Rebellion car, but I ran into a little P2 traffic on my best lap. I expected them to be quick they had always qualified well in Europe compared to the other non-diesel cars.  I think we will be much closer in the race.”

Marino Franchitti, #95 Level 5 - “I don’t think we could have done much more but you always want to get pole so I’m slightly disappointed.  If you put all the sectors together we could possibly have got a bit closer to pole but we slightly missed on the set up.  Just a very small amount but, as you see, as close as it is, that’s all it takes. 

“We know we have a good race car once we make a couple of little tweaks after qualifying and go back to what we ran this morning, we were very happy with the balance.  Obviously the Morgans are very quick because you can see how close they are together.  The main thing now is to look forward to the race and our task of getting Scott and Christophe the championship.”

Luis Diaz, #055 Level 5 - “To be honest my goal was to qualify a little bit better than that but for some reason I didn’t have the speed today.  But the good thing is that we have a good race car, the car is in one piece and hopefully we’ll be strong tomorrow.” 

Martin Plowman, #37 Conquest Endurance - “It was so close and so far!  The guys have been working on a really fast car all week but our main focus has been on a good race car and we didn’t give too much thought to qualifying.  We knew we had to find a little bit, but I feel I’ve really grown as a driver this year and we’ve got quite strong in pulling something out of the bag so I knew I’d find the courage and take the risks to find the time we needed. 

“For a while there it was looking good.  I could have improved on my next lap but I hit traffic and then Olivier pipped me right at the end for two thousandths of a second.  When it’s that close it’s really frustrating because you go back in your mind and think of all those places you could have found those fractions of a second.

“You don’t want to take any risks with the tyres that you’re due to start on and we’re starting on the hardest compound possible.  We know our sister car was on the softest compound and they’re going for a different strategy to us.  Knowing that, it gives me some satisfaction to be the faster car but it’s a ten hour race and tomorrow is going to be where the work really matters.”

Alex Brundle, #1 Greaves Motorsport - “By my standards I’m disappointed but we had a decent session.  We’ve been ever so slightly behind the curve since we set the car down as we lost a lot of testing time on Wednesday and we’ve been fighting set up ever since.  Those war wounds showed in our final qualifying performance.  It’s great to be out there alongside such well-known names in America and close to the front.  We ended up being half a second off the pace which is nothing over 10 hours. 

“We need to make a few tweaks after qualifying but the main thing is that I think our car will be strong over the race distance and that with this Zytek our tyres work better over a stint rather than over a few laps and that’s what you want.”

Brendon Hartley, Murphy Prototypes #118 - "I am really pleased with qualifying; it couldn’t have gone much better. We had provisional pole after the fourth lap and so decided to box the car. By not staying out we start with tyres six laps fresher than our rivals tomorrow, so hopefully that plays out in our favour. The whole team is extremely happy as we had experienced a few issues during testing this week, but to now be only three tenths off with some laps in the bag, we certainly fancy our chances in the long race.” 

Neel Jani, #12 Rebellion Lola - “We very much enjoy racing here, we like the American tracks but they are not very forgiving if you go off.  Also, the atmosphere, look around the track, all the spectators and the camping going on; it's a big party which makes us enjoy racing around even that much more. We came here with one target: win Petit Le Mans.  We know qualifying is just a very small thing, the race is a totally different game. We won't interfere with direct contact with the other cars, we'll just run our own race.  We want to win, that was why we came over here.”

Olivier Pla, #35 Oak Racing - "The car felt great. The competition is very close, during the session the lap times were getting quicker and quicker.  I set a good time at the end although I hit a fair bit of traffic at the middle of the session. The team gave me a good car today, and it should be great for the race tomorrow.

“I love racing in America, it is my third time here.  It is very different than what we do in Europe. Tomorrow the competition will be very tough, but it will be good for sure.”

Collected by RW and FM