2013 WEC, IMSA&ELMS News

[Rob]

WEC: Audi on pole at Spa with a 1-2-3 R18 e-tron quattro.

The qualifying session has been completed at Spa-Francorchamps. Audi Sport Team Joest was again able to achieve a fantastic 1-2-3 with their Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars.

Pole position for the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro shared by André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler. Their teammates Lucas di Grassi, Marc Gene and Oliver Jarvis, driving the #3 "Long-Tail" Audi, were second. Third was the #2 car of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval.

The best factory Toyota TS030 Hybrid was fourth, the #7 Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima and Alexander Wurz. The sister #8 Toyota of Anthony Davison, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Buemi was fifth. The two Rebellion Lola/Toyota cars were sixth and seventh. In Eighth was the Strakka Racing #21 ARX 03c.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, was satisfied after qualifying, he spoke to Radio Le Mans: "We are happy with this result even if we know that pole position is not important in endurance racing"

The six-hour race, round 2 of the FIA World Endurance Championship, is set for tomorrow.

Qualifying results:
1- #1 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R18 e-tron quattro
2- #3 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R18 e-tron quattro
3- #2 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R18 e-tron quattro
4- #7 Toyota Racing - Toyota TS030 Hybrid
5- #8 Toyota Racing - Toyota TS030 Hybrid
6- #12 Rebellion Racing - LOLA B12/60 Coupe
7- #13 Rebellion Racing - LOLA B12/60 Coupe
8- #21 Strakka Racing - HPD ARX 03c - Honda

[Rob]

wow Audi 1,2,3 hope they have better race this year than last year.

[Rob]

#3 Audi longtail

[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

ASTON MARTIN BEATS FERRARI TO POLES IN THRILLING LMGTE SESSION

03/05/2013 - 20h56

For the second consecutive year, Fred Makowiecki’s name will be marked in the record books as having claimed the LMGTE Pro pole position at Spa-Francorchamps. However, unlike in 2012, the Frenchman’s pole will this year be shared with Bruno Senna – courtesy of the new qualifying format introduced at the start of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship. The pair, driving the No.98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 set an average time of 2:19.811, the time being taken from the average of the four best lap times (the best two of each driver) set during the 30-minute session.

Senna, obviously still buoyant from his class win at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, was very impressive at the start of the session and showed that, together with their team mate Rob Bell, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow.

The introduction of the new qualifying format produced plenty of excitement towards the end of LMGTE qualifying as AF Corse Ferrari’s Gianmaria Bruni put in a series of flying laps to try and steal pole position from the Aston Martin. Bruni’s team mate, Giancarlo Fisichella, has put them in the ballpark at the start, and Bruni knew that he had to produce some of the best laps possible in order to better their average, keeping everybody on the edge of their seats right to the chequered flag. The No.51 F458 Italia used every inch of the track in trying to achieve pole, rising from fourth place to second in class, but ultimately fell short by 0.12 seconds as the Roman duo’s average of their best four laps was 2:19.853.

Lining up behind the Ferrari will be its sister AF Corse car, the No.71 of Toni Vilander and Kamui Kobayashi. The Finnish-Japanese combination both put in an excellent effort to set an average of 2:20.089 – stealing third place from a hard charging No.97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner-Stefan Mücke by just 0.018s. Behind these four were the No.99 Aston Martin (Richie Stanaway-Pedro Lamy) with an average of 2:20.241and the No.91 Porsche AG Team Manthey 911 RSR (Bergmeister-Pilet) just two thousands of a second further back on 2:20.243.

In LMGTE Am it was equally exciting as Allan Simonsen, paired with Christoffer Nygaard, clinched pole position after many different cars had taken their turn at the top of the time screens. The No.95 Aston Martin Vantage achieved an average of 2:21.265, just three hundredths of a second ahead of the No.81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia of Matteo Malucelli and Rui Aguas. In third place was the No.96 Aston Martin Vantage of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall with an average of 2:21.549.

Bruno Senna, No.98 Aston Martin Vantage V8, LMGTE Pro: “We’re really happy with qualifying. We put in a very strong performance, which was helped by lots of running in practice to understand the car. It’s great to be in front in Spa. I love this circuit and I normally do well here so I’m really enjoying it.”

Fred Makowiecki, No.98 Aston Martin Vantage V8, LMGTE Pro: “Yes, it was a great qualifying session. It’s really close between all the teams here so we will have a really nice race where we’ll have to push to the max. We have good set up and the car feels really comfortable for the race; it should be good for us.”

Christoffer Nygaard, No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8, LMGTE Am: “The car feels great here; it definitely suits Spa and Silverstone. But, it’s a long race. We have three good drivers but we all need to do a good job on the day.”

Allan Simonsen, No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8, LMGTE Am: “It was a fantastic session and everything went to plan. We were lucky to get some clear laps and put the car on the front row for the race. The aim is to get a good start, like at Silverstone.”

The cars will be back on track tomorrow morning at 09:00H for a 20-minute warm up session.

[Rob]

If we had the old style quali format, we would of had #51 on pole But still good job by AMR and AF Corse. Bring on the race.

[Rob]

Thankyou Paul and Andrea for Strakka press releases..

For Immediate Release: Friday, 3rd May 2013

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 with uninterrupted commentary on radiolemans.com.

[Rob]

ASTON MARTIN QUALIFIES ON POLE IN BOTH GTE CLASSES AT SPA

Aston Martin Racing has qualified on pole in both of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE classes at the second round of the series, the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, for the second consecutive race.

Under new regulations, each car must complete at least four laps with two drivers, with the qualifying lap calculated from the average of the best four laps.

In the 30-minute session, which took place on a dry track, Bruno Senna (BR) and French GT ace Fred Makowiecki put in four consistently fast laps to take pole position in the GTE Pro class with an average time of 2:19.811. Rob Bell (GB) will start the #98 2013 Vantage GTE in tomorrow’s six-hour race.

Bruno Senna comments: “We’re really happy with qualifying. We put in a very strong performance, which was helped by lots of running in practice to understand the car. It’s great to be in front in Spa. I love this circuit and I normally do well here so I’m really enjoying it.”

Fred Makowiecki: “Yes, it was a great qualifying session. It’s really close between all the teams here with 0.042s separating first and second, so we will have a really nice race where we’ll have to push to the max. We have good set up and the car feels really comfortable for the race; it should be good for us.”

In the GTE Am class, Allan Simonsen (DN) and Christoffer Nygaard (DN) topped the time sheets once again in their 2012-specification Vantage GTE, by an even smaller 0.030s margin with an average lap time of 2:21.265. Team-mate Kristian Poulsen will complete the all-Danish trio for the race.

Christoffer Nygaard: “The car feels great here; it definitely suits both Spa and Silverstone, where we able to win last month. But, it’s a long race. We have three good drivers but we all need to do a good job on the day.”

Allan Simonsen: “It was a fantastic session and everything went to plan. We were lucky to get some clear laps and put the car on the front row for the race. The aim is to get a good start, like at Silverstone.”

Completing the five-car line up, the #97 GTE Pro car, which won the Six Hours of Silverstone last month, will start from fourth on grid with the #99 close behind in fifth and the #96 GTE Am car in third in class.

John Gaw, Team Principal at Aston Martin Racing concludes: “So far so good at Spa this weekend. Running five cars is a big task but everyone has stepped up to the task and we’re working well as a team.

“The lap times are much tighter here than at Silverstone as our competitors seem to have closed the gap significantly, but we will push incredibly hard in the race for more great results from all the cars. We aim to take as many points as we can before we head to Le Mans for the 24-hour race in June.”

The Six Hours of Spa starts at 14:30 CET on Saturday 4 May. Follow the team’s progress at www.astonmartin.com/racing on Facebook www.facebook.com/astonmartinracing and on Twitter using @amr_official.

- ENDS -

[Rob]

SUCCESSFUL WARM UP COMPLETED FOR WEC 6 HOURS OF SPA FRANCORCHAMPS

04/05/2013 - 09h00
A successful 20-minute warm up has taken place in preparation for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, the last opportunity for the 35 entrants to check that all is working well on their cars and to validate any set up changes that might have been made overnight.

Audi’s No.2 R18 e-tron quattro (McNish-Duval-Kristensen) were at the top of the time sheets at the chequered flag with a best time of 1:59.659, followed by the No.3 long-tailed R18 and the No.8 Toyota TS030. The first of the LMP1 Privateer entries, the No.12 Rebellion Lola Toyota was in 6th place overall.

In LMP2 it was G-Drive Racing, OAK Racing and Jota Sport who led the way, the No.26 ORECA 03 Nissan setting a best time of 2:09.455.

Porsche’s 911 RSRs moved nearer to the front of the class in warm up, and were second and third in warm up (No.91 and 92 respectively) behind the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Kamui Kobayashi who set a fastest lap of 2:20.120.

Krohn Racing is one LMGTE Am team which has worked hard overnight to make set up changes and they appear to have paid off as Nic Jönsson put in a time of 2:23.521 to place him 0.6 seconds behind the class-leading No.81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari, much closer to the front than yesterday.

Since qualifying yesterday, it has been confirmed that the No.41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan has been withdrawn from today’s WEC 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps. This is due to chassis damage sustained in the accident which occurred in qualifying.

Look out for the Pit Walk at 10:45 and the drivers’ Autograph session at 11:15 before the grid opens at 13:10 in preparation for the start of round two of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship.

[Rob]

Spa WEC: Greaves withdraws due to chassis damage
By Gary Watkins Saturday, May 4th 2013, 07:45 GMT

The Greaves Zytek LMP2 squad has withdrawn from today's Spa round of the World Endurance Championship.

The British team's Zytek-Nissan Z11SN sustained chassis damage in a crash during qualifying on Friday evening and could not be repaired in time for this afternoon's six-hour race.

The car was crashed by Chris Dyson, who was sharing the entry with Tom Kimber-Smith and Michael Marsal, at the Bruxelles hairpin on this first flying lap during the 30-minute prototype qualifying session.

The impact damaged a front suspension pick-up point.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107187

[Rob]

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS FIA WEC QUALIFICATIONS: REBELLION RACING DOMINATES PRIVATE LM P1
Both Rebellion Lola-Toyota Racing qualify in the wake of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and other Toyota TS030 Hybrid, while confirming their grip on the trophy private teams in the premier class of the LM P1 prototypes at the end of qualifications of the second round of the World Endurance FIA ​​2013.

Qualified sixth and seventh respectively, Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost-Nick Heidfeld (No. 12) and Andrea Belicchi-Mathias Beche-Cong Fu Cheng (No. 13) ahead of the Honda HPD Strakka their direct opponent in the trophy private .

Neel Jani (pilot Lola-Toyota # 12 Rebellion Racing LMP1): "We are quite happy with our day. We are the first private team on the grid and that's what we were aiming for. A better result would just be a bonus for us. For the race, we're pretty near the factory cars to benefit if he had something happen to them. "

Nick Heidfeld (pilot Lola-Toyota # 12 Rebellion Racing LMP1): "I'm sure I could improve my best time in qualifying if I had not been slowed by an LMP2 prototype at my last fast lap. Anyway, I'm happy with the place we got it. We are changing the car as and and already beginning to reap the fruit of our efforts. "

Andrea Belicchi (pilot Lola-Toyota # 13 Rebellion Racing LMP1): "The format, with two sessions followed by the qualifying session in one day free trials, was a first for everyone. This is a special year because you have very little time to find the right settings in order to compete in the qualifying session. "

Mathias Beche (pilot Lola-Toyota # 13 Rebellion Racing LMP1): "It was the first time I drove real configuration of qualification, ie with a set of new tires and low fuel. I only had two laps to get into the rhythm but I was unfortunately blocked by traffic. This is the game We are happy to be in front of the Honda. If we can maintain this position after the end of the race, it will be a good result for the championship. But I can not be satisfied with my performance today in light of the drivers lap 12. I feel that we are not quite at our place. "

[Rob]

[Rob]

FIA WEC ‏@FIAWEC 20s
Vilander in #71 Ferrari takes lead in GTE Pro

[Rob]

dscracelive ‏@dscracelive 14s
Lap 4; Lotterer in the #1 Audi gets past Gene for third overall.

[458 Italia]

Can't believe I missed the start!

[Nova]

This is a great race, I cant see it..but a great race....
GTEs an epic battle!

[458 Italia]

It's been absolutely brilliant so far!!

The Astons have such an unfair advantage with fuel.

[458 Italia]

Ferrari 1,2 and 3 atm

[Rob]

18:42:16 : New fastest lap on lap 115 for Andre Lotterer 2:00.964

18:40:30 : Garage door down on Toyota #7

[Rob]

Had my tweet answered whoooop!!!

asked about our pitstops to Astons.

[Rob]

18:48:10 : Leading Audi #2 into pits - fuel only and Audi #1 retakes the lead

[Rob]

FIA WEC ‏@FIAWEC 1m
Rebellion Lola #12 still leads LMP1 privateer battle from team mate Lola #13

[Rob]

dscracelive ‏@dscracelive 2m
McNish pits from the lead, fuel only and rejoins third overall. Lotterer now leads again.

[Rob]

Lemansrace.com ‏@Lemansrace 1m
The No97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage is currently lapping in the lead of G

[Rob]

come on Bruni..

dscracelive ‏@dscracelive 30s
Bruni betters his lap again - 2:19.824. Meanwhile, Mackowiecki goes even quicker in the #98 car setting a 2:19.636.

[Rob]

OAK Racing Live ‏@OAKRacingLive 2m
#45 Jacques Nicolet made a quick fuel stop and now he is back on the track !

FIA WEC ‏@FIAWEC 1m
2nd place Audi #3 into pits Oliver Jarvis will stay in - fuel and tyres #FIAWEC

[Rob]

18:57:48 : Aston #97 now leads GTE Pro by 19 seconds from #51 Ferrari

[Rob]

Heres the video of Audi testing the long tail at Monza, that sounds amazing, and look at the speed going around the curva grande


19:04:33 : 8Star Ferrari #81 reports it was hit by an Audi at Raidillon and lost it's right mirror - the door has been replaced