Le Mans Series - 8 Hours Of Le Castellet - Post Race Quotes

Allan McNish

“The first victory for a new car is something very special, Audi have got probably an unequalled record as we won with the R8, we won with the R10, the R15 and now the R15 Plus.  It was tough in some ways because we didn’t have many test miles before getting here but the car itself once it settled down the race built some grip and it was actually quite nice to drive so I am very pleased that we have got this first win under our belt, especially after the end of last year, so it’s nice to chalk another victory up to the Audi marque - I’m pretty sure that by the time we come to Le Mans we’ll be better prepared than we were last year.”

Rinaldo Capello

We had such a big advantage that we decided to put a rain tyre on in case the rain got bigger, but in the last few laps I was just driving watching my mirrors because I was so slow that every GT could overtake me accelerating out of any corner and it was not so nice to drive the last two laps but because of the advantage we had it made sense to do what we have done.
It would have better to beat them [the Peugeot] just by one second but last year we got some problems in some races, this year they had bad luck at the beginning of the race and for them the race after one hour their race was almost over.  We ran with a brand new car for 8 hours without any problems and as we said already it was a test in race conditions but if the result is like that I would like to go to Le Mans and run another test in race conditions!”

Ralf Juettner

“Of course it’s nice to win a race.  We said before that we chose to come here with one car which was not planned from the beginning but we decided to do that because a race is a race and a test is a test.  It’s just different.  Once we are at a race weekend though we want to win.  We would be disappointed not to win, it makes it even sweeter.
Despite the finish and the victory today we take away quite a list of things we have to work on but that was exactly the idea to come here.  The basic changes from the R15 to the R15 Plus have worked pretty well.”

Stefan Mucke

“It was not easy for us, pushing during the whole race, but it was good, a podium is a bit of a surprise for us, we had a few little problems at the end.  We are really happy, it was good preparation for Le Mans and everybody did a good job.”
Fernandez

“This is a new adventure for me and it’s fantastic for me to join a team like Aston Martin Racing.  This car is a really good car and we’re working hard to make it the best we can but there is still a gap to the diesels.  I’m here for three years so hopefully I can see that big trophy one day in Le Mans.”

Jean-Christophe Bouillon

“I have to say that I am delighted because I joined this team in the winter and to get a podium, the mechanics and team have done a really great job on the car because we didn’t have any problems during the race.  After the free session and the qualification we were not expecting a podium.  We were third place because we didn’t have the speed to finish higher up so in the end it’s a good weekend for us.”

Andrea Belicchi

“We have changed the name but it’s the same people in the team.  I’m part of the team from three years ago and I can say that we have improved year by year.  I think the Lola is a very nice car, we need a little bit more speed on the straight and we need to work on it to improve our results.”

Guy Smith

“This is probably the ideal place to test for Le Mans.  We know Audi and Peugeot come and test here and we did a lot of work here when I was with the Bentley program so it’s an ideal opportunity to work on the car, work on the engine, to test the tyres.   It’s very hard on the tyres here so it’s a great test.  Any package that can come here and get a good result have done a very good job.”

Marc Lieb

"We are very, very happy to win it and the 8 hour race suited us very well because we could run with one pitstop less than the Ferrari.  We were hoping we could stay out one lap longer but in the end we were staying out three laps longer.  It was nice to have it and it helped us a lot.  At the beginning we had the same speed as the Ferrari so this gave us an advantage but then we had some small gremlins in the car and the speed wasn’t there so the pitstops helped us in the end for sure.

"To get also that we could take the speed of the Ferrari as well was very surprising but very good.  We had a very good three stints and then we got some problems.  We lost the damping in the front and it was jumping around a little bit like a kangaroo.  Richard did a good job, he got the problem first but was doing really good laptimes.  He said ‘the car is OK, you can drive it.  It was an issue but it was not too bad if you drove around the issue.  You had to drive a little bit more carefully especially in the fast corners and you could not brake as hard without locking up the wheels and missing the chicanes.  I was at one point sideways at Signe, which is not nice in 5th gear!  If you look at Patrick Pilet’s times at the end we were about 5/10ths off.  We were just lacking a bit of stiffness.  Overall the consistency was still there.

"We lost the lead with a problem with the refuelling, it was a very, very long stop, we lost over a minute with not getting any fuel in the car.

You can see that Schnitzer is a team that can develop a car through a weekend and you could see that they could follow us for at least the first half of a stint, they will be quick at Spa and for Le Mans.”

Richard Lietz

“The gaps were really close (in the sessions leading up to the race) and I’m very proud to be part of this championship because I think in Europe it is the most competitive championship we have in GT and to win the first race is amazing.  They have done a fantastic job with the pitstops we had one small problem with the refuelling but they sorted it out pretty easy so we could go out and push again.”

Jean Alesi

First experiences?  “Long!  I enjoyed it very much.  Giancarlo and myself have a good teacher in Toni, a young teacher which is not usual.  It was great, in the beginning we fight and then through the traffic all this is a new way to race for me and really the championship is competitive and it’s good to be here.”