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Strakka Racing predicts that
its Honda Performance Development ARX-03a’s superb race pace in cooling
conditions, as seen during yesterday’s free practice sessions for the 6
Hours of Bahrain and at Le Mans earlier in the year, will play into its
hands when it starts Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at
16.00 tomorrow from 2nd in the Privateers’ category and 5th overall (out
of 28 cars).
In the build up to qualifying, a great team effort by the only
all-British LMP1 driver line-up of Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts
(Buckingham) and Jonny Kane (Thame) saw Strakka Racing’s ARX-03a set the
fastest Privateer time in both Free Practice 1 and 2 – setting a time
beaten only by the two works Audis and works Toyota.
The track temperature had dropped from 60ºC at midday to 40ºC by the
time qualifying started at 16.30 today, and with the temperature
continuing to drop rapidly all the time, crews waited for as long as
possible before attempting their qualifying runs. Indeed half way
through the 20-minute session, only three out of the 18 prototypes
(seven P1 and 11 P2) had set a time.
With six and a half minutes of qualifying remaining, Danny left the pit
lane for two planned flying laps. The team had managed the traffic
perfectly, giving him a clear track in which to run unhindered. He
initially set a 1:48.952 lap time before bettering it with a 1:48.446 –
both of which were good enough for 2nd in the P1 Privateers’ class,
behind the #12 Rebellion.
Danny: “We had great track position in qualifying, but I just couldn’t
get the most out of the car. It may have been the worst qualifying laps
I’ve done all year, but I think we’ll be right up there in the race. We
had mega pace in Free Practice 1 and 2, which took place at exactly the
same time of day as the race takes place tomorrow, and our car seems to
be really good in cooling conditions. We saw that at Le Mans earlier
this year and we saw it yesterday, so it should really suit us in the
race.”
A 20-minute warm-up at 12.25 tomorrow is followed by the start of the 6
Hours of Bahrain at 16.00. The race will be broadcast on Motors TV and
streamed live on fiawec.com
