Strakka Racing is aiming for a strong points-scoring finish in
tomorrow’s FIA World Endurance Championship race in Belgium, after
qualifying 8th overall and 3rd LMP1 Privateer with its Honda Performance
Development ARX-03c.
Danny Watts set a new team personal best around the 4.352 mile
(7.004km) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with a magnificent 2:02.969 –
smashing last year’s qualifying time of 2:04.636.
Unfortunately, both of Jonny Kane’s qualifying flying laps were
compromised when he encountered traffic, meaning the aggregate time over
four laps was 2:03.688. This was +3.317secs off the pace of the
pole-sitting #1 Audi, but just 0.410secs slower than the #13 Rebellion.
Strakka made good progress throughout the day, with Danny, Jonny and
Nick Leventis making the most of the team’s first dry running with the
new HPD ARX-03c. Working through a number of planned set-up changes, the
team recorded a 2:05.813 best in the morning’s Free Practice 1 session,
followed by a 2:04.309 in the hot and sunny afternoon’s Free Practice
2.
Danny Watts: “I was pleased with my 2:02.969 time in qualifying when I
saw it on the dash, but when you see you’re the last LMP1 car on the
timing screen, and with a bit of time to find, it’s disappointing. The
car felt really good and I exerted every single ounce out of it. I don’t
think I could have gone quicker anywhere. It feels really good for a
race car, which is the most important part of endurance racing because a
six-hour race is long and anything can happen. Strategy will be
important tomorrow, because at the moment we lack overall pace.”
Jonny Kane: “Unfortunately I got delayed in traffic on both my flying
laps and both times at Pouhon, which is one of the most important
corners on the track. It made a big difference to my middle sector
times, but that’s how qualifying goes sometimes. Realistically, we’re
not as quick as Rebellion this weekend, so we thought it better not to
push for another flying lap and save our tyres for the race. The balance
of the car felt really good and we’ll be pushing hard in the race.”
Nick Leventis: “We’re on the back foot against Rebellion, especially
the #12 car which has really good pace, and it’s up to us to chase them.
We feel we got the best out of our car today that we possibly could.
It’s been good to get some dry running, which is something we haven’t
had leading up to this race, so we’re still on a learning curve and
gathering good information ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Our main
objective in the race tomorrow is to score points and start our WEC
campaign.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “It’s hard to feel
anything but deflated when the team has worked so hard and so well over
the weekend, after a first meaningful dry running of the car, to deliver
a car that felt balanced and fast to the drivers but ultimately lacked
the pace to compete with Rebellion. We’re not a team who gives up
easily, so we’re not beaten yet, but we recognise we face a difficult
task tomorrow in the race.”
Race day tomorrow begins with a warm-up at 09.00 before the rolling
start at 14.30. The race will be broadcast live on Eurosport and Motors
TV, streamed live on fiawec.com and uninterrupted commentary on
radiolemans.com.