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Strakka Racing’s skill and
experience at nighttime racing could pay dividends at the next round of
the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Bahrain (Saturday
29 September), which starts in daylight and finishes in the desert
darkness at 22.00.
The Silverstone-based team’s performance at night at Le Mans, together
with its outright victory at the day-night 1000Km of the Hungaroring in
2010, puts it in good stead as the only all-British LMP1 driver line-up
of Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts (Buckingham) and Jonny Kane
(Thame) continues its challenge for the WEC for Privateers’ title.
Just two weeks after finishing 2nd Privateer and 5th overall in Brazil,
the team has been busy preparing for its race debut in the Middle East.
With limited previous experience of the 3.36 mile (5.412km) Bahrain
Grand Prix circuit layout, Strakka Racing has been working hard in the
simulator to get its drivers familiarised with the track, as well as
establishing a solid base technical set-up for its 3.4-litre normally
aspirated, 600bhp, Honda Performance Development ARX-03a.
If the challenge of the heat of a late afternoon race start, dodging
slower cars at sunset and maintaining a near 200mph top speed down the
1km start/finish straight at night isn’t enough, a layer of sand will
sit off the racing line to penalise any minor misdemeanour – meaning the
6 Hours of Bahrain will be a gruelling, yet hopefully richly rewarding,
sporting adventure.
Nick: “There is a fantastic team spirit coming off the back of two great
results at Silverstone and São Paulo, and huge enthusiasm to continue
our battle for the Privateers’ title with Rebellion and JRM. We’re very
excited about going to Bahrain, because it’s another new challenge for
Strakka Racing and it’s an important race in terms of points. The
majority of the race will be held at night, but the in-car temperatures
will still be very high. Before returning to Britain I was lucky enough
to have a few days training in Rio; even though it’s winter over there,
it was still thirty-eight degrees on Copacabana, so perfect physical
training for the forthcoming race in Bahrain.”
Danny: “I really like Bahrain, because it’s a good fun flowing circuit
with a combination of high and low speed corners. I raced there in the
Porsche Super Cup in 2008; we had a three-day test beforehand and I
finished fourth and fifth in the double header, so I know the track
quite well – although it will be a lot different returning there in a
LMP1 car. It’s a challenging circuit because it’s sandy and grip levels
are generally low, plus the track evolves a lot over a race weekend.
It’s incredibly hot there too, so keeping hydrated is very important.”
Jonny: “We’ve been very competitive at every WEC race weekend this year,
so I’m looking forward to continuing our good run in Bahrain. I’ve
never raced there before, but I’m expecting the change in temperature
and the evolution of the race track to be a real challenge. The pre-race
sim session went well, and I’m confident that Bahrain is a circuit
we’ll quickly dial into as drivers and where the car will work very well
at. After two really strong performances, we’re going to the Middle
East full of optimism and aiming to win the Privateers’ category.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing’s Team Manager: “Bahrain presents an
interesting challenge for the team due to the permanently evolving track
conditions, with regards to track temperature, grip level and sand
contamination of the surface. From my experience of racing there with
GP2, I know we need a car that is adaptable to the conditions, to give
the drivers confidence to push at all times during the race. It’s an
important race for the team, where we need a Privateer victory to
maintain our championship challenge.”
The 6 Hours of Bahrain begins with two 90-minute practice sessions on
Thursday 27 September (starting at 16.00 and 20.30). A final 60-minute
practice session begins at 10.50 on Friday (28 September), followed by a
20-minute qualifying session at 16.30. Race day on Saturday 29
September starts with a 20-minute warm-up at 12.25, before the start of
the race at 16.00.
The race will be broadcast on Motors TV and streamed live on fiawec.com
