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LMS, Silverstone –
Post-Race Reaction Marc Lieb “It was an unbelievable race, with so many ups and downs, it was like the whole championship really. To win after three years of trying is just so good. We wanted to take it steady but with the engine problem we had to drive flat out after all and that’s what we did. In the end we had some luck with the Aston and a Ferrari breaking down, but it’s just unbelievable.” Marcel Fässler “It’s really frustrating because we could have won the race, so I think we are at least a winner in the heart. [The need to pit for louvres] is rules and that’s what you get with racing and you have to respect the rules.” Olivier Panis “The race was really tough today. I saw that we had to change our front and I knew we lost a lot of time but we had to do it. Marcel drove a fast stint and I don’t know what happened to the Speedy car at the end but I think to finish the season with winning is pretty good for everyone.” Nicolas Lapierre “My first stint was not so good for me, I lost the lead against Stefan (Mücke), he was much faster in a straight line. Then I made some mistakes in traffic but the car was looking good in fourth and we were stuck behind the Lola so we decided to change the strategy and pit early. We lost 30 seconds changing the nose so we were really lucky that Speedy had exactly the same problem.” Marcel Fässler “When I heard on the radio that I had to pit again I was saying some words that I can’t say now! Looking back on the season finishing second is still great, I think we did really well and the car was without problems. It’s always disappointing when you are leading to have to pit for such a small change.” Andrea Bellichi “Finally we found reliability. We have always been fast in the race, maybe not in qualifying, but always in the race. Finally we finish our first race without problems and [second] is the result.” Stefan Mücke “It’s a good result for us to win the championship and we are very happy about it. It was a difficult race and we had a lot of problems, especially with the tyres, but it was fine and we are very happy.” Jan Charouz “If the Pescarolo won we wanted to finish fifth, so after their gearbox problems we decided to take a bit more cautious strategy and to change all four tyres.” Tomas Enge “We tried to do some different strategy and tyre compounds but it didn’t work for our car. For some reason we were struggling to get tyres working with this track. We did a good job though, we were not slow and the whole team did a great job and I want to thank everyone for allowing us this brilliant result.” Xavier Pompidou “[Regarding the post-race crash] I stopped to say hello to my crew, as we are used to doing in endurance racing. It was a good win and one of the first things you want to do is say thank you so I stopped and opened the door [alongside the pit wall]. Fortunately I still had both hands on the steering wheel, and I don’t know if the Signature driver didn’t see the flag or maybe he was looking at the sky but he crashed into me. It was crazy!” Jonny Kane “[On winning the Michelin Green X Challenge for the race and season] Well, you’ve got to look after the planet haven’t you? I tend to do good mileage with the Judd engine and I’m very pleased to finally get the result we’ve worked for.” Benjamin Leuenberger “We’ve been fast all year and unlucky at a few races, so a win was long overdue and I’m very happy with the win. The P1 car had a good result today so it’s a perfect day for Speedy Sebah.” Peter Kox “It was a good run, the car was well prepared and Ryan did a fantastic job also. The Aston Martin is completely different to drive than the Lamborghini and it is not possible to compare them.” Ryan Sharp “I wish it was always that easy. Peter did a good job and the whole team have done a fantastic job to make the car quicker and quicker in each session and make it consistent for the race and that’s why we won.” Gianmaria Bruni “The race was very good. At Priory maybe on the first lap I should have been more careful and I spun. We were quicker than everyone every lap so I knew the race would be very close. When I got back to Narac I passed him and took the lead and then I think he had a problem and was knocked off but I had a problem the next lap when a P1 hit me, which was a little bit crazy and he broke my front tyre. I think we have led more laps than anyone this season, it’s been good but we lost the win at Spa and Nurburgring and gave the opportunity to Porsche. They took it.” Rob Bell “I had a radio problem in the first stint so couldn’t speak to the pits. I was coming into the complex and I saw [#77] in the garage on a big screen and I thought that was good, but we couldn’t do any more than we did. It was very tight and I guess it made for a good final race with excitement for the spectators. You need a little bit of luck in this series, and it’s been toe-to-toe with them winning three and us two. I want to be happy but a lot of work has been put in and we’ve just missed out. It’s been good but not quite enough. I’d love to be back next year, but for now I’m off to the States [to race the P1 Drayson car].” Steve Wills – Race Engineer #13 “They told us at the team managers’ briefing that, unless it was a safety issue, with damaged bodywork, they wouldn’t make you make another pitstop (after the last scheduled stop), referring specifically to the louvres and legality panels. But Oreca protested us because they changed their nose at the last stop because of a broken louvre, but that was at a regular stop.” One observer commented that the #13 Speedy Sebah car should have carried on to the finish and argued the toss later. PS & MCC |