Strakka Racing could have set the 2nd fastest time in qualifying for
tomorrow’s opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6
Hours of Silverstone – but after posting just two of the required four
laps, the local team will start the opening round of the FIA World
Endurance Championship from the back of the grid.
Danny Watts set an impressive average time of 1:49.347 with two
magnificent flying laps in the team’s Honda Performance Development
ARX-03c – an average time only beaten by Alex Wurz in the pole-setting
works Toyota, and an average time ahead of the works Audis.
However, a new WEC qualifying format requires two drivers to set a
minimum of two flying laps each, with grid positions determined by
calculating the aggregate time of the fastest four laps.
Strakka Racing lost time by starting the 20-minute qualifying session
on slick Michelin tyres, spinning off the dampening track and coming
into the pits for repairs. After Danny set his best times on
intermediate tyres, time ran out for Jonny Kane to set a timed lap
around the 3.66 mile (5.89km) Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit; the
penalty for not posting four qualifying lap times demoting the
Silverstone-based team to the back of the grid.
With dry conditions forecast for race day tomorrow, the fast pace of
the team’s Relentless Energy Drinks-supported LMP1 car leaves Strakka
Racing optimistic that it can fight its way through the field – and it
promises to take no prisoners in overtaking GT and LMP2 cars the early
stages of the race, as it attempts to regain lost time and catch its
LMP1 Privateer rivals.
Prior to qualifying, Strakka Racing’s preparations with its new HPD
ARX-03c for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Silverstone had been encouraging,
despite very cold and slippery track conditions during all three free
practice sessions.
Having set a 2:00.123 best in FP1, Strakka Racing then set a
magnificent 1:45.287 (1st LMP1 Privateer and 4th quickest overall) in
FP2 – almost a second quicker than its qualifying time at Silverstone
last year (1:46.160). This morning’s FP3 was run in very cold and damp
conditions, with a 1:52.761 best recorded.
Jonny Kane: “We’ve had a very tricky qualifying session, where the
weather changed in a short period of time. We started off on the wrong
tyre and Danny got caught out on a gear change, which is very easy to
happen. I had a lot of very close calls this morning in free practice in
exactly the same conditions. Being on the wrong tyre, spinning off and
having to change the front bodywork cost us time – and although Danny
did a very good lap time on intermediate tyres, we were running out of
time. By the time I’d completed my out lap on slicks the chequered flag
was out, so I didn’t post a representative time. We’re starting our home
6 Hours of Silverstone race from the back of the grid, but we just have
to get stuck in and do the best we can.”
Danny Watts: “We had a downpour of rain before the start of
qualifying and it was difficult to judge how damp and slippery the
circuit was, so we decided to go out on slicks. As soon as I got to the
first corner I knew it was the wrong choice. But we know from experience
that it can dry very quickly at Silverstone and sometimes it’s better
to carry on and wait for the track to come to you. But that wasn’t the
case today. I’d come out of Copse Corner and was gently accelerating in a
straight line, at just sixty or seventy per cent throttle, but when I
changed up from third to fourth gear the rear wheels lost grip and I was
just a passenger. It caught me completely by surprise; I’ve never had
that happen before. I hit the wall side on and luckily only had bodywork
damage. I was able to come into the pits, put intermediate tyres on,
register a couple of quick laps and bring the car back for Jonny to take
over. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time.”
Nick Leventis: “It’s been a tricky weekend so far. Conditions have
been interchangeable, so it’s been very difficult to get a consistent
direction in which to go. The race itself is forecast to be dry, so from
that perspective we are confident we have a good car to go racing with.
I think we have a lot of work to do internally, because this being the
first race of the season, and our home race, we can definitely step our
game up. But we’ve been in this position many times before, where things
haven’t quite gone so well in the lead up to a race, but then things
change for the better on race day. At the moment I’m a little bit
disappointed with the way things have gone, but as ever I believe
Strakka will bounce back and put in a great performance tomorrow.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “We wanted to start the
WEC campaign strongly, but we haven’t had much luck. Free Practice
didn’t allow us to try all the testing options we brought with us, but
in the brief dry running we have done we’ve seen that the pace of the
car is incredibly good, so we’re very encouraged by that. Like most, we
went with slicks at the start of qualifying to post an early fast time,
but Danny had a spin on his first timed lap and had to pit for repairs.
After those delays, it wasn’t possible for us to record the four
required qualifying lap times. However, if we look at the average times
posted, we are second fastest of all cars – but unfortunately we only
recorded two lap times, demoting us to the back of the grid. We’re going
to lose time early in the race overtaking the GT and LMP2 cars, but
we’re going to do that as aggressively as we can. We have to take
chances in the first hour of the race, in order for us to push hard and
try to catch Rebellion in the remaining five hours. We know our car’s
quick, we’ve got great drivers, a great team spirit and we’re all
focused on turning a disappointing day at the office today into a great
fight-back tomorrow.”
The 6 Hours of Silverstone begins with a rolling start at 12.00
tomorrow (Sunday 14 April) and will be broadcast on Eurosport (please
check TV guides for details).