Strakka Racing made a sensational start to the opening round of the
FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, when it
came from 30th on the grid to 7th position in the first six laps.
However, the local team’s Honda Performance Development ARX-03c was
pushed onto the grass whilst lapping a back marker on lap 58, and
retired with accident damage after the car spun on the grass and
collided with the Ferrari.
Jonny Kane started the race from the outside of Row 15, and made
astonishing progress though the field. He was up to16th after lap 1,
11th after lap 2 and 7th after lap 6. Fearing over a minutes could be
lost overtaking the GT and LMP2 cars, Strakka Racing was just 22 seconds
behind its LMP1 Privateer rivals and closing.
Jonny handed over to Nick Leventis after a magnificent double stint.
It was the first time Nick had driven on a dry track this weekend, and
was pushing hard to continue Jonny’s good work when he came up to lap
the #61 AF Corse Ferrari F458.
Having got inside the Ferrari in Turn 1, Nick was pushed wide at Turn
2 and onto the grass. The Relentless Energy Drinks-supported LMP1 car
spun backwards and at unabated speed came across the track backwards at
Turn 3, collecting the front of the #61 Ferrari.
Had it not collided with the Ferrari, the likelihood is that the car
would have flat-spotted its Michelin tyres and had to come into the pits
for a tyre change. Instead, the impact broke the HPD ARX-03c’s front
right suspension and retired instantly.
Jonny Kane: “The first stint reminded me of Le Mans last year, when
we started dead last and got back to seventh place. I managed to clear
all the GTs and LMP2s a lot quicker than we’d anticipated and in the
clear air I could knuckle down and try to catch the P1s. Our pace was
okay, but we started to struggle with the graining on the front tyres a
little bit towards the end of the first stint, and when we filled the
car with fuel it made it quite a lot worse. I had to manage the tyres a
lot and my pace had to drop, but once the fuel came off and the car got
lighter the tyres got better again. We’ve still got a lot of things we
want to try on the car, but because of the poor weather we’ve had at
Silverstone and during pre-season testing we just haven’t be able to get
through the programme. It’s early days with the new car, and it’s
certainly got a lot of potential.”
Danny Watts: “Jonny did a great double stint to get us back into the
fight for LMP1 Privateers’ and it looked like the car was really well
balanced and running with good pace. It was just a case of trying to
keep it going around and around, but there is always a danger when
overtaking slower GT cars. It’s a part of endurance racing, but if you
get pushed off wide and onto the grass, there is absolutely nothing you
can do about it. We wanted to score a good result and get some good
points on the board at our home race at Silverstone – but we’re a strong
team, we’ll get the car fixed and we’ll start our season at the next
round in Spa.”
Nick Leventis: “I was forced wide by a Ferrari on the exit of Turn 1,
and once I got onto the grass I was just a passenger. He must have
known I was there, because I was flashing my lights, but these things
happen and there was nothing I could do. The marshals nearby said it
wasn’t my fault. It’s really frustrating, because I think we had the
pace in the car today. I’m really sorry for the whole team that we’ve
had to finish the race early like this. This weekend just wasn’t to be
for us. But as ever, we’ll learn from this weekend and come back faster
and stronger.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “Jonny was superb at the
start, coming from the back of the grid and putting us up to seventh
after just six laps of the race. He was ruthless, took no prisoners, was
stunning to watch and cleared the pack in a way which only put us
twenty-two seconds behind Rebellion. We were struggling a bit with the
front left tyre, so Jonny did a great job to bring the car in for the
first driver change with the pace he did. Nick hasn’t had any dry
running at all this weekend, and on his third flying lap he got run onto
the grass by a GT car, skidded across the grass and hit the same GT car
at the next corner. It was a bad end to a bad race weekend for us. We
arrived at Silverstone with limited pre-season testing, and the weather
conditions continued to interrupt our preparations in free practice.
We’re all very disappointed, because we haven’t had the opportunity to
show what the car and team are truly capable of. But we’ll go forward
from this setback with renewed vigour and determination to make sure we
score maximum points at every other race this year.”
Round 2 of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship is the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on 4 May.
Time-lapsed significant race moments
4hrs 09mins: Retired with accident damage
4hrs 15mins: Driver change, Nick in for Jonny. Tyres and fuel.
5hrs 14mins: Fuel. Remains 7th overall.
5hrs 49mins: 7th after lap 6 (ahead of all the GT and LMP2 cars)
5hrs 56mins: 11th after lap 2
5hrs 58mins: 16th after lap 1
6hrs 00mins: Jonny makes a great start from 30th overall (outside of Row 15).