The new for '08 Trading Performance Zytek team had a strong showing in Spa
Zytek
Charouz
Horag
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Zytek
Trading Performance team delighted with its Zytek 07S
In only its third ever race, this weekend's 1,000km of Spa, the recently established Trading Performance team raced to a commendable finish. The Swiss squad expressed delight with the performance of the Zytek 07S that enabled it to stay in touch with the field for over five hours. At one point it was even up to third in the LMP2 class, an admirable effort considering the team's inexperience at this high level of racing and the level of the competition. Fifth place in class and 13th overall was its eventual reward, just 10 laps behind the front-runners from the major manufacturers
"It has been a very nice weekend, very gratifying," said driver Karim Ojjeh, whose mother Renate owns the former factory 07S, the same chassis that came second in class at last year's Le Mans 24-hours. "The car is absolutely fantastic. I have great confidence in it. The race proved to us that we have a good chance of performing well at Le Mans next month." Team manager Luc Andre added that the car's Zytek ZG348 engine was "quite perfect."
Saudi, Karim was partnered by fellow drivers Belgian, Julien Schroyen and Frenchman, Claude-Yves Gosselin. The former, he observed, did a "fantastic job" towards the end of the race when conditions were far from perfect.
The other Zytek 07S in the race, that of the Barazi-Epsilon team from France, immediately proved on the pace. Owner Juan Barazi from Denmark drove the first stint after Dutchman, Michael Vergers had taken third LMP2 class place in qualifying. During the early stages of the race he held tenaciously on to fourth spot, setting up a potential podium for himself, Michael and third driver, Brazilian, Fernando Rees. However, problems with the power steering caused a series of pit stops before the car was eventually retired. Once again a Zytek 07S had shown its undoubted potential.
Both Zytek customer teams now look forward to the famed Le Mans 24-hours, which takes place over the weekend of June 14/15. The Barazi-Epsilon team's drivers will be as at Spa while the young Englishman, Adam Sharp will join Karim and Claude-Yves at Trading Performance.
Charouz
Charouz and Mucke without points at Spa After two points finishes from a third place at Barcelona and eighth at Monza, Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke did not enjoy such a good day in the third race of the Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps. Despite showing strong pace, they finished 10th in the lead LMP1 class and 29th overall after their new Aston Martin powered prototype suffered electrical problems.
They started fifth and held the position for the team's first stint of the race. Only the more powerful turbo diesels were ahead and Mucke was able to stay in touch with one of the Audis. However, the Charouz Racing System car had to be pushed to the garage before the one hour mark for the mechanics to fix a problem with the alternator. After that the gap to the front was too big and it was not possible to climb back into the top eight by the end of the race and score points.
Stefan Mucke: "We had bad luck in the race again. The car was again very quick and we had a chance to fight with the second Audi and be the best petrol car but it was not our day today. The machine was against us and I just hope that we will do better in the next races, the first one is the 24 Hours of Le Mans."
Jan Charouz: "It is not easy to speak after races like this. It is a big shame because our car was again very quick. However, we have to remember that we are still in the very early phase of our programme and it was only our third race. I am happy for myself that I set our quickest lap time in the race. We are more and more evenly matched with Stefan and this is important for the future."
Antonin Charouz, Team principal: "A sad Sunday. There is no other way to put it. Unfortunately, we had technical problems with the alternator and some other things which prevented us from fighing for a podium as we wanted. The positive thing is that our drivers are more and more evenly matched and Spa just confirmed it. "
George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing: "After an alternator failure during the first stint we effectively used the rest of the race as an extended test. The team and drivers worked incredibly hard and the car showed good pace, allowing Jan to set the fastest overall time for a petrol-powered car.
Horag
Horag Racing Finishes Second in LMP2 In Sunday's 1,000 Km of Spa
SPA, Belgium - After finishing third in class at Monza, Italy 14 days ago, Horag Racing placed a strong second in the LMP2 class Sunday in the 1,000 Kilometers of Spa Le Mans Series race at the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps.
The Lista Office and Lista, Making Workspace Work Porsche RS Spyder No. 27 led the class for more than two hours of the race, which ended after 5:17:48 had elapsed and the overall winning Peugeot had circled the 7.003-km, 15-turn road course 143 times.
Horag Racing's No. 27 finished on the same lap as the class winner, another Porsche RS Spyder fielded by Van Merksteijn Motorsport, as both completed 138 laps. What's more, the Horag team was only 10.387 seconds behind the class winner at the end.
Team Essex made it a Porsche RS Spyder class sweep. It was three laps behind the Horag No. 27 at the checkered.
In its first four races, the brand-new Horag Porsche RS Spyder has been on the podium twice, in the top five three times, and never worst than sixth in class.
For the bulk of Sunday's race the LMP2 class battle was between the Van Merksteijn Porsche, the Horag Porsche and the Speedy Racing Team Lola Judd. The latter had difficulties around the 114-lap mark, opening the door for Team Essex to move up. There were 15 cars in the LMP2 class out of the 46 overall entries.
Fredy Lienhard of Niederteufen, Switzerland decided not to drive in this race due to back pain, so Jan Lammers of Katwyk, the Netherlands, and Belgium's Didier Theys of Scottsdale, Ariz., did all the driving Sunday.
Theys qualified fourth on Saturday in a session delayed by three red flags. He had to abort what would have been his fastest lap in quals due to a red flag, but he still qualified with a 2:06.955, just 0.606 of a second slower than third.
Lammers started the race, Theys drove in the middle and Lammers finished the event, which was held under warm and sunny conditions and attracted some 35,000 spectators. The car was very competitive throughout.
The class winner was a bit faster on Sunday, but being able to finish on the same lap, just 10 seconds behind in second place, was very satisfying for the Swiss team. Lammers set the No. 27's fastest race on its lap 117 with a 2:07.664, which at 197.478 kilometers per hour was the third-fastest race lap for the class.
As far as the official hourly reports go, the No. 27 was third in class at the end of hour one, leading at the end of hour two, and second at the end of hours three, four and five. The Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche finished sixth overall; Horag Racing was seventh overall and Team Essex was eighth overall.
"We had a very good race," Theys said afterwards. "Fredy didn't want to take any chances with his back, so he decided to just watch this one.
"We were first for more than two hours. Jan started the race and had a good stint, then I got in and also had a good stint. Then Jan got in at the end too, and again, we had no problems. We had a good set-up. Neither Jan nor I had contact with anybody. It was a very nice and clean race for us, without any drama. The pit stops were perfect; everybody did a very good job.
"The car that won was a little faster than we were, but we got second and it was a good fight in all the classes from the beginning until the end," he concluded. "Everybody is happy with the results."
The race was broadcast on Eurosport and Motors TV, with live audio provided on the Internet at radiolemans.com.
Horag Racing was fourth in the LMP2 point standings going into this race. Unofficially it is now third, just five points out of second and 11 out of first.
Horag Racing does not plan to complete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans June 14-15, so its next race is at Germany's Nurburgring Aug. 15-17. The season finale is Sept. 12-14 at Silverstone, England.