Podium and WEC points for Strakka Racing at Spa

Strakka Racing finished 3rd in the FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 Privateers’ category at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, achieving its pre-race aim of a points-scoring finish with its ultra-reliable Honda Performance Development ARX-03c.

This was despite losing almost a lap to its class rivals with an unfavourable Safety Car deployment and losing additional time in the pits replacing the rear bodywork panel, after the #35 LMP2 car accidentally hit the back the Relentless Energy Drinks-supported LMP1 car.

The Silverstone-based team’s all-British driver line-up of Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts (Buckingham) and Jonny Kane (Thame) was able to enjoy 161 laps of dry running at Spa, gathering vital data ahead of its next race, the Le Mans 24 Hours (22/23 June).

With 20ºC air and 33ºC track temperature, Jonny made a clean start from 8th overall/3rd LMP1 Privateer to hold position. He came in as planned after 21 laps to hand over to Danny, but no sooner had he got into his rhythm, than car #25 (running immediately behind) spun into the barriers at Eau Rouge. As the queue formed behind the Safety Car, Danny was unlucky to lose the best part of a lap to Strakka’s LMP1 Privateer rivals, Rebellion, who was able to complete almost a full lap before joining the Safety Car convoy.

Later, whilst in a line of traffic braking for the Bus Stop corner, car #35 ran into the back of Danny – although Strakka cleverly waited until the next scheduled pit stop to replace the damaged rear panel.

Nick carried on the momentum with an excellent middle stint, carving his way through the backmarkers and pushing hard to enable the team to be in a position to benefit from any problems ahead.  Which is precisely what happened, as Strakka moved up to 7th overall when the #7 Toyota retired.

Nick Leventis: “The main purpose for us at Spa was to bring the car home and score WEC points. We were careful, stayed out of trouble and were pretty much on our own for the entire race. We knew after qualifying we weren’t going to be able to challenge for LMP1 Privateer victory, yet we were still unlucky to lose a lap with the Safety Car and time repairing bodywork damage, neither of which was through fault of our own. We have work to do moving forward towards Le Mans and the rest of the season, and we’ll be working hard to get more pace out of the car. But we’re moving forward confidently and with typical Strakka spirit we’ll be aiming for victory and double WEC points at Le Mans.”

Jonny Kane: “Our race pace was a little bit closer than we’d had in qualifying and the car felt really good, so a lot of positives have come out of the Spa race and it’s very encouraging. The car felt well balanced, had good grip, ran faultlessly and I had no issues whatsoever. Le Mans is a completely different story, because anything can happen in a twenty-four hour race. I can’t wait to get testing there, because the low-drag kit has always been very strong for us around there and we’re confident that will bring us another step closer.”

Danny Watts: “To finish on the podium and score our first points of the season was a great achievement. Spa is a difficult circuit to get a good car set-up, and we had a great set-up for the race. Our car lacked a little bit of overall pace, but I never had any issues in my stints – except when I almost got wiped-out by an LMP2 car at the Bus Stop! There was rear bodywork damage, but it didn’t cause any problems to the aero, so I kept going. At the end of the race I was following Sébastien Buemi in the Toyota – he was a carrot on a stick to me and was fun to chase! I really enjoyed the race, we’ve learnt a lot about the car and we’ll now head to Le Mans with a solid points-scoring finish under our belts.”

Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “It’s been a really challenging race weekend and we’ve made massive progress with the car. The drivers are all happy with the way it handles on track, although we are lacking some pace and that’s what we’ll be focusing on between now and Le Mans. Everyone in the team has been fantastic. We were missing our chief mechanic, Paul Stephens, who’s recovering from an operation, so the guys really pulled together well and Jay Davenport chief engineered a car from a clean piece of paper to a great race car this weekend. All three drivers played their part too; it was a busy race track and we managed to avoid everything we could and the LMP2 car that hit us was purely accidental on their part. We’re now looking forward to unlocking more pace with our car and taking the fight to Le Mans.”

Time-lapsed significant race moments
0mins: Danny takes the chequered flag. 7th overall/3rd LMP1 Privateer
9mins: Fuel
57mins: Driver change, Danny in for Jonny. Tyres & fuel.
1hr 50mins: Fuel.
2hrs 13mins: Moved into 7th overall (#7 Toyota retired)
2hrs 38mins: Driver change, Jonny in for Nick. Tyres & fuel.
3hrs 29mins: Driver change, Nick in for Danny. Tyres, fuel and replace damaged rear panel.
4hrs 18mins: #35 ran into back of Danny at Bus Stop.
4hrs 18mins: Fuel. Remained 8th overall/3rd LMP1 Privateer.
4hrs 45mins: Minor contact with #95 when overtaking.
4hrs 58mins: Safety Car (#25 crashed Eau Rouge). Lost almost a lap to Rebellion in queue formation.
5hrs 15mins: Driver change, Danny in for Jonny. Tyres, fuel & change steering wheel (sticking paddle shift).
6hrs 00mins: Jonny makes a clean start from 8th overall/3rd LMP1 Privateer (outside of Row 4) to hold position.

Strakka aims for strong WEC points-scoring finish in Spa

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.

Strakka looking to strike back at Spa

Strakka Racing is determined to reignite its FIA World Endurance Championship campaign by aiming for LMP1 Privateers’ victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (3-4 May).

The Silverstone-based team endured a difficult opening race at Silverstone, and despite showing incredible pace with its Honda Performance Development ARX-03c early on in the dry, the car’s WEC debut was cut short after two hours following an incident with a GT car.

Taking the positives of that courageous charge up from 30th on the starting grid to 7th position in just six laps, the team’s all-British driver line-up of Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts (Buckingham) and Jonny Kane (Thame) head to one of their favourite tracks, the challenging 4.352 mile (7.004km) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, set in the picturesque Ardennes countryside, with sights set on the top step of the podium.

This year’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will be the most intense WEC meeting ever, with the normal three days of track action condensed into two. A pair of 2-hour free practice sessions (starting at 09.00 and 14.30) and the two-driver/four lap aggregate qualifying session (19.30), which has been extended to 30 minutes owing to the length of the circuit, all take place on Friday 3 May. Race day (Saturday 4 May) begins with warm-up at 09.00, before the rolling start at 14.30.

And as a precursor to the Le Mans 24 Hours (22/23 June), Spa is a doubly important race.

Nick Leventis: “There is a big hunger in the team to put our championship campaign back on track. It didn’t start the way we’d hoped for at Silverstone, but that doesn’t alter the ambition and drive everyone at Strakka Racing has to make this a truly great season for the team. We’re very optimistic heading to Spa. We know the circuit well and we believe the new HPD ARX-03c will be very competitive there. The changeable weather usually plays a big part in proceedings at Spa, and this may also play into our favour as we were very strong there last year in the wet and our 2013-spec car has incredible pace in the dry. We’ve been busy since Silverstone with our Strakka Performance driver development programme and have enjoyed another very good test at Valencia, so we’re going to arrive at Spa ready to go and with a very positive attitude.”

Jonny Kane: “I always look forward to racing at Spa, and as a team we’ve always done well there. We did more dry running in the race at Silverstone than we did in all our pre-season testing, so we learnt a lot about our new car in those fifty-eight laps. The weather is getting warmer, and whilst changeable conditions are part and parcel of a Spa race weekend, all being well we should have less trouble keeping the heat in the front tyres. The new two-day race forward shouldn’t be a problem. I doubt we’ll have any mechanical issues, we very rarely do, so we need to try and avoid any incidents out on track to make sure we start the race having done as much running as possible around Spa. We take a lot of positives from Silverstone into round two of the WEC, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Danny Watts: “The track layout at Spa should suit our HPD ARX-03c down to the ground, so I’m confident we’ll have a good race weekend. The weather’s normally very changeable, and whilst the new car was very good straight out of the box in the dry, we’ve still got work to do to unlock its potential in the wet. Having the free practice sessions and qualifying in one day doesn’t really matter from a driver’s point of view, because we just jump into the car and get on with it, but it will make it a very long day for the technicians and engineers. We’ll have to make sure we keep the car on the track and not sustain any damage, because the timetable only allows for small changes to be done. Getting the maximum amount of track time will be vital, not just for Spa, but because the race is also an important part of our build up to Le Mans 24 Hours.”

Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “We were disappointed with our result at Silverstone, but what happened in the race was out of our control – so we head to Spa knowing we have a fast car and the ability to deliver a good result and get our championship challenge back on track. Like all Michelin runners, we’ll have a new evolution tyre at Spa, which I’m confident our engineering team will quickly get on top of in terms of performance and durability. We’d like to do more running in the dry, but that’s not often the case at Spa – but come rain or shine, we’re feeling positive and quietly confident ahead of race weekend.”

Motors TV will broadcast the entire race live, including the build up and post-race celebrations, while Eurosport will broadcast the start and last hour of the race live (please check TV guides for details).

Every WEC session from Spa will be broadcast live on radiolemans.com, with live timing and live race streaming on fiawec.com.

Many thanks to race fan Phillip Sleeman, who suggested this story’s headline on our team’s Twitter page: @StrakkaRacing

Stunning Strakka stung by back marker at Silverstone

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).

Fast Strakka to launch fight-back from the rear of the grid

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).

Strakka’s all-British team to fly the flag at Silverstone

Strakka Racing will field the only all-British driver line-up at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone (Sunday 14 April) – with Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts (Buckingham) and Jonny Kane (Thame) giving the team’s upgraded Honda Performance Development ARX-03c its race debut.

The Relentless Energy Drinks-supported LMP1 car features a completely new front end, with wider Michelin tyres, different suspension geometry, a new steering configuration and a brand new front aero package. The team admits there is still a lot of performance potential to unlock with the 2013 spec. HPD ARX-03c, as it arrives at its home round of the WEC after running the car just twice this year – at a brief systems shakedown test at Sywell Aerodrome in the UK and at a rain and fog interrupted track test at Paul Ricard in southern France.

With a Union Flag proudly displayed on the car’s centre fin, Strakka Racing still aims to begin the eight-race WEC season on a high. It will be fighting hard at Silverstone to record a strong points-scoring finish, as well as trying to challenge for victory in the LMP1 Privateers’ category. Victory will be a difficult ask, as its main rival, Rebellion, is running two cars and has more experience of the wider front tyre, having raced that configuration last season.

Yet, in the great tradition of a small British privateer sportscar squad taking on the enormously-resourced manufacturer teams, Strakka Racing won’t let the opportunity pass to also try and snap at the heels of the works Audi and Toyota cars.

And there is even greater incentive for the 31-car grid this year, as the overall race winners will receive the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy (pictured).

The first Tourist Trophy meeting was held on the Isle of Man in 1905, and at 108-years old, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards in motorsport.

Last year, Strakka came from over a minute down to finish just 0.627 seconds behind the LMP1 Privateer winners, after a 28 lap final stint at qualifying speed by Danny Watts. The team also finished 5th overall.

Nick Leventis: “I can’t wait for the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone. As a team we have covered all angles and are as best prepared as we can be for the start of the season. We all want to go to Silverstone and enjoy it. We’d love to win the LMP1 Privateers’ category and it’s important to score a good haul of early points in the championship. It would be nice to stand on the top step of the podium in front of our home fans, yet staying out of trouble during the race and making a good start to the season is priority.”

Jonny Kane: “As the 6 Hours of Silverstone is the first round of the season, I’m not sure where the Audis and Toyotas will be. They’ll probably a fair chuck ahead of us, so as a team we have to concern ourselves with trying to be the first LMP1 Privateer home. That won’t be easy, as it will be our first race with an upgraded car, and our main rival Rebellion ran with that configuration all of last year. Having said that, we’re looking in good shape and will go to Silverstone to try and win. Getting through traffic without delay, keeping out of trouble and all the usual stuff associated with endurance racing will be important to our success. We’ve been going through a lot of data since our test at Paul Ricard, and that should set us up well for Silverstone.”

Danny Watts: “Silverstone this year will be a slight unknown for us with a lot of variables. The weather may be unpredictable, so not only have we got to be prepared as drivers on the track, but the guys on the pit wall have to be on top form and strategically picking the right tyres at the right time is going to be vital. It will be our first race with our upgraded car and we have a lot to learn about the new front end, but our recent test at Paul Ricard was encouraging and we have a great engineering team at Strakka Racing that will undoubtedly unlock its secrets pretty quickly I’m sure. If we can get some good points on the board at Silverstone, that will set us off for a great year.”

Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “The FIA World Endurance Championship is going to be fought out over eight months, four Continents and sixty-six hours of racing – it’s a long hard series, and the priority right now is to make the best start we can at our home round. I think we’ll do well, given all the data we’ve analysed since our recent pre-season test at Paul Ricard. You can guarantee we’ll do our best. Our three drivers love racing at Silverstone and as a team we love racing in front of our family, friends and home fans, so we can’t wait to get out of the traps.”

The 6 Hours of Silverstone will be held on the 3.66 mile (5.89km) Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. Action begins with two 90-minute practice sessions on Friday 12 April (starting at 12.25 and 16.30). A final 60-minute practice session begins at 09.00 on Saturday (13 April), followed by 20-minutes of qualifying at 12.40 – where the aggregate time of two drivers per car will determine grid positions. The six-hour race on Sunday (14 April) begins with a rolling start at 12.00.

The ‘Super Endurance Weekend’ at Silverstone hosts rounds of the European Le Mans Series and FIA F3 European Championship, as well as the WEC. Spectator entry to all grandstands are included in the entry ticket, as is access to the Paddock, WEC Fan Area, pit lane walk and autograph signing session. The Parachute Regiment Freefall Team, The Red Devils, will also be dropping in on race day.

The WEC race will be broadcast on Eurosport – please check TV guides for details.

Encouraging WEC test for Strakka Racing at Paul Ricard

Strakka Racing completed 207 trouble-free laps with its new Honda Performance Development ARX-03c during a weather-interrupted two-day test at the Circuit Paul Ricard (March 29-30).

It was the first time the Silverstone-based team had run its upgraded 2013 spec. LMP1 car at a race track, and was encouraged with the progress it made in understanding the Relentless Energy Drinks-backed car’s new wider front Michelin tyres, front suspension geometry, steering configuration and front aero package.

Despite wet weather limiting running on both mornings, and dense fog curtailing the team’s planned night time session, drivers Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane together completed a total test distance of 747.27 miles (1202.46kms).

A large crowd attended the pre-FIA World Endurance Championship test at the Le Castellet track, which is situated 25 miles (40kms) north east of Marseille in southern France.

The team will now analyse the technical data and driver feedback to be the best prepared it can be for the opening round of the series, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, on Sunday 14 April.

Nick Leventis: “It’s been a really good test. We’ve been slightly hindered by the weather – we had a long list of items to run through and we still got through a lot of it considering we lost two mornings worth of running. We’ve got a good understanding of the car and we’re looking in good shape for the first race of the season. Personally I spent a lot of the second day in the car, running through a check list and ticking most of the boxes. As a team, we never really went for a fast lap time, and we’re happy we’ve got a good fast and safe car to go racing with.”

Jonny Kane: “We were a bit unlucky with the weather, yet it’s still been a very productive two days test for us. We had a massive test programme that we wanted to get through, to learn about the new front of the car, and the weather limited that a little. We still got through quite a lot of stuff and we’ve got good direction to go and battle with Rebellion, who are a little bit ahead of us, having run this spec. of car all of last year and also at Sebring this year. The upgraded HPD ARX-03c is the same to drive as last year’s 03a, because you’re still looking for the same feeling from it; it’s just that you have to change the set-up slightly to achieve that – and that’s what we’ve been working on over the last two days. Towards the end of the test we had a very good run and I’m really looking forward to Silverstone.”

Danny Watts: “The first test of the season with the new front end has been pretty productive. We’ve got a lot of good work done and we’ve learnt a lot, but we didn’t get as much running time as we wanted because of the poor weather. We certainly made progress and we’ve got some good ideas to think about before Silverstone. From a driver’s perspective, the new car isn’t any different to drive than last year’s car, it’s more about getting the set-up dialled in to that new front end.”

Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “This test was not about going fast at Paul Ricard, it was about getting ready for the new season – and in that respect we achieved a lot. With our upgrades and moving to the new specification Michelin tyre, we really wanted to maximise our track time. We were a little frustrated with the weather, but we at least got some good afternoon running both days and that’s given us a lot of data to analyse. We’ve learnt a lot of interesting things that will help us with our set up direction for the rest of the year, we got all three drivers through the test without a hitch and we had no reliability issues whatsoever, so we’re in good shape. Ultimately it was a successful test. The car’s easy to drive, reliable and consistent – we just need to unlock a tenth or two more of its potential and we’ll be extremely competitive.”