Le Mans Series – 8 Hours of Le Castellet – Saturday - Notes

We had chance over lunch to catch up with both Audi drivers and their team manager after Practice 3 and discussed how different the ‘Plus’ is to last year’s R15; thoughts on traffic; and Peugeot pace. 

Dindo Capello

“It’s a new car and a new challenge and it is not easy to find the right balance, especially here in the Le Mans configuration which is not optimum for this track.  It is the only way we can collect the data we will need for Le Mans though so we have a very low downforce configuration.

Every run we do we learn something about the car because it is so different to last year, so every run we do is important for us as drivers and for the engineers.  I was quite happy yesterday but am less happy this morning.  I hope to be happy again after qualifying, which I am doing.

We are changing quite a lot between the runs simply to shorten the learning process.  I think Oreca are running [the Peugeot] in Le Mans configuration too so are probably struggling like hell in some corners, but I have not met them on the track yet.  We are doing what we need to do, they are doing the same.

This is a new car for us in effect and that is a 2009 Peugeot so we will need to do a lot of work to continue to improve for when we meet the 2010 Peugeot at Le Mans. 

The petrol P1s could be the problem [traffic-wise] because they are still fast on the straights even with running high downforce, which makes them quick through the corners. They are not easy to pass on the straights and it is very easy to lose seconds a lap.  I think Spa will be a much better indicator as to where we are than here because everyone will be more up to speed by then.  This is not the best track to overtake, particularly sector 1 where if you have not passed by turn 3 you have to wait until the back straight as there is no room for them to change directions.  The worse thing that can happen is you come up on a P2 car passing a GT2 on the straight, that is worst case.  The speed difference is not great so you have to wait.  It happened yesterday and I was part throttle for about 300 metres and you lose a lot of time like that.”

Allan McNish

“When they change the rules there are gains and losses and we will always be looking for a solution.  Less power does give us better economy but they aren’t idiots and the ‘reduction in your losses’, if you like, is dependent on what the opposition do too.  For example in the practice session this morning the 009 Aston Martin was quicker than us on the straight, it drove away from us, so the changes in the regulations have had an effect.  You can only be properly prepared when you know what everyone else is doing so we are still learning a lot.  I think we will be doing a lot of work up to Le Mans because this is a different concept to before.

I’m not so concerned about the traffic at the start, it’s perhaps the second and third stints where the less experienced people are driving.  It’s difficult for them to see us, especially in the long high speed corners where they can’t do very much about their line and we come on them so quick that they won’t have a chance to see them in their mirrors, they can’t show them everything all the time.  I don’t think it’ll be any worse here than the first race in any LMS season, in fact here we have the big run-off areas which give us an option and I’ve taken that option already to avoid a car that hadn’t seen me.”

Ralf Juettner (Team Manager, Audi Sport)

“We have addressed the problems we had last year, such as the radiators, but I believe that the biggest problem last year was that we didn’t do enough races – and we have addressed that too.  It is too early to talk about our prospects for Le Mans but we will know more after this race and Spa.” 

We discussed the potential ‘problems’ of lapping and a very tight GT2 battle, Ralf pointing out the very obvious advantages of being in an Audi as opposed to a Peugeot – and also the fact that in Practice 3, the Audi could not pass the 009 Aston Martin – on acceleration or top speed.  It turns out that a number of cars ran in low downforce trim in that session: 009 335kph, 7 332kph, 4 327kph.  335kph is 13kph faster than anything yet seen here...

We also caught up with emerging Bruichladdich sensation Thor-Christian Ebbesvik after yet another impressive showing in the Ginetta Zytek 09S.

“I am happy to be P3 in class again this morning as I didn’t even get a proper run.  I did a short run on old tyres and an empty tank and then put some new tyres on but there were 5 cars stopped on straight for some reason.  All the time I am getting more used to the car and getting more knowledge so I can be more confident with what I can say to the engineers.

It’s getting more and more fun all the time and before the car felt really big it is shrinking around me all the time now.  I have driven GP2 cars around here and they are quicker and the F3 cars do similar speeds in the corners. The biggest issue compared with single seaters is the traffic but as there are not many P1s here it is not being overtaken that is the problem, it is getting past the slower cars.  I even nearly passed the P1 Oreca [AIM] this morning until I thought ‘that’s not what I’m here to do’ so I let him go.

Tim and Karim are happy too so I think we can do well even though we are just starting with the car and I think we can close the gap on the leaders through the season.”

We also caught up with Danny Watts, whose qualifying time with pole in P2 was sensational.  “It was on the limit, as a driver I could tell I was right on the edge of the grip level everywhere. The car was good though and it’s nice to be leading the championship by a point on Saturday afternoon! The reality is though that today is only one small part of what will be a long and difficult day tomorrow, but it does show that the pace of the car is there.”

And did it surprise him that the others weren’t exactly in close contention, Quifel being over a second back.  “Yes it does surprise me to be honest that they are so far away.  I don’t know if any of them had problems but I thought RML and ASL would be closer.  I suspect they will be back there tomorrow.  It will be interesting to see our pace over a longer run and I think they will be bang on it, so we just need to be composed and calm and stay out of trouble. Traffic could be important too as it is not easy to pass and we’ll have to deal with a lot of GT2 and Formula Le Mans cars, and if you catch either of them at the wrong point it can easily cost you three seconds a lap.”