The IPB Lamborghini solved many problems in for the last qualifying session
CR Scuderia
Tomas Enge
Jos Menten
Michelin
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CR Scuderia
In just over 24 hours time the 2008 Total 24 Hours of Spa will get underway and the CR Scuderia team is ready to race. The team had a good run in the two night-time qualifying sessions yesterday and a clear run in the final session this afternoon. Andrew Kirkaldy qualified the no.56 Ferrari in fourth place and Tim Mullen qualified no.55 in eighth place.
CRS Team Principal, Chris Niarchos, is happy with the team's performance in qualifying and looking forward to the first 24 hour race for his team.
"Overall qualifying went extremely well for us," said Chris. "Pole position was never the objective as we were not driven by the need to be fastest. This is not a sprint race so all you need is a solid starting position and we have got that. We wanted to have a smooth lead up to the race so we can go into it fully prepared for anything Spa throws at us. We have a squad of very strong drivers and a fantastic team behind them all the way so we're looking forward to a great race tomorrow."
James Sutton is the reserve driver in CRS Ferrari no.56. As one of the team's British GT drivers James got the call up to join the team at Spa to provide back-up for Andrew Kirkaldy, Rob Bell and Dirk Mueller. This is James' first time at Spa, his first time in a GT2 Ferrari, and last night was his first time racing in the dark.
"The GT2 car is really impressive," said James. "There are not as many driver comforts as there are in the GT3 car; it is more of an all-out racing car and that is what I love. From that perspective the car really suits me and I have really enjoyed driving it. The atmosphere here is fantastic and it was certainly an interesting experience to drive around here in the dark last night. Eau Rouge is amazing; the compression as you go through it and then the lightness you get as you go over the brow at Raidillon is awesome. I've really enjoyed my Spa experience so far. As a reserve driver I will only race if something happens to one of the others so I'm just off to trip one of them up!"
Tomas Enge
FIA GT: Enge's quartet to start from fourth row
Third and last qualifying sessions today closed the fight for the grid positions of the Spa 24 hours race. The highlight of the FIA GT championship will see Tomas Enge and his team-mates Petr Kox, Jan Lammers and Roman Rusinov to start from the eight place on the grid. The Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT of the IPB Spartak Reiter Engineering team improved lap times considerably today and moved up one position comparing to yesterday. The team did 13 laps today and only Kox and Lammers got behind the wheel today.
Tomas Enge: "I did not drive today at all because there was just third and last qualifying. Peter Kox, the leader of the team, did majority of the driving and also Jan Lammers drove. Both improved comparing to yesterday and we solved brake problems from yesterday. Our car worked well, so we are satisfied. I am happy that the Czech Sport 5 TV will show the race live, so Czech fans will have an opportunity to see our fight live. I hope that we will not disappoint them."
Jos Menten
The Total 24 Hours of Spa started well for Phoenix Carsport. With spots on the first and third row of the starting grid the German team heads full of confidence to the start of the race of two times around the clock.
Both Phoenix quartets take it easy in the first free practice of the most important FIA GT race of the season. Jos Menten and his co-drivers finish the first practice in seventh place (2:18,679). "This morning I only did one installation lap. We checked the car and it felt just as good as during the official test day", Jos Menten tells us. "Then I handed over the steering wheel to my team mates. I think we already found a good set-up for the race. The team is very experienced. Up until now we haven't clocked competitive lap times but as soon as the track warms up, times will drop very fast."
In the pre-qualifying session the pace goes up. Phoenix Carsport finishes the ninety minute session in first and sixth place. Hezemans-Fassler- Deletraz-Gollin, the quartet that won last year's edition of the Total 24 Hours of Spa, lead the pack, whilst Menten-Schlunssen-Margaritis-Alzen spend time working on the tire choice: "We found a good rhythm in order not to push the tires to the limit. If we can keep up that pace in the race, and the tires remain consistent, we might have an interesting trump card in our hands", says the 27 year young Limburger.
Three qualifying sessions will decide upon who will start from pole position on Saturday. Two qualifying sessions, separated by a short break, are held on Thursday evening. The third - and maybe decisive - session is held on Friday at 12h30.
Traditionally most of the teams keep their cars in the garage for the first half hour of the first session. Phoenix Carsport is the last team to send out their drivers for their first qualifying run. The track is definitely faster than earlier on. but "it's not enough to put in a flyer", Menten comments from the Phoenix pitbox. At around 21h00 the big guns are brought out. Jos Menten rushes out on the track but in his first run the Dutchman loses time in traffic. The car is called back in for a fresh set of tires: "We were about to go out again, but then the SRT Corvette crashed. Red flag and the session was over, with our car in sixth position."
No improvements are made in the second qualifying session: "Maybe the track is a little bit faster, but a better place on the grid doesn't outweigh the risk of doing flying laps in the dark. Everyone did his compulsory laps, we're done for today. Let's wait and see what tomorrow's weather will bring. If the conditions are good, we'll try again tomorrow", Menten comments after the second session. And the weather gods are at the side of the Phoenix Carsport team.
The third and final session starts under a sunny sky. Compared to his team mates from the #6 car, Menten only uses one set of tires for his last run, which eventually puts him in sixth position for Saturday's race (2:15,148): "We're ready for the big day. We've got a homogenous team and the Corvette C6.R is an exceptionally reliable war horse", a combative Jos Menten remarks. The sister car bearing the starting number #5 will start from second place on the grid.
Michelin
Although the fastest time set during Thursday's two qualifying sessions was secured by the No.33 Aston Martin/Michelin, and despite the fact that the best lap of Friday's run was the work of the No.6 Corvette/Michelin, it is the Saleen S7/Michelin of Vosse/Franchi/Lamy/Zacchia that will start the 2008 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps from in front thanks to its aggregate time over the three sessions. The Larbre Competition car will be joined on the front row tomorrow afternoon by the Corvette/Michelin of Hezemans/Fassler/Deletraz/Gollin, while Michelin runners monopolise the top ten places on the grid.
The Jack Lecomte-run Larbre Competition squad has long been a regular feature of endurance racing's major fixtures over the years and its record includes two previous wins at Spa-Francorchamps in 2001 and 2002, as well as several category wins at Le Mans. Today's third and final qualifying session saw its Michelin-equipped Saleen S7 (Vosse/Franchi/Lamy/Zacchia) claim pole position for this weekend's 24 -hour showdown, ahead of the Phoenix Racing Corvettes, the Jetalliance Aston Martin and the Maserati MC12s run by Vitaphone Racing which also counts two wins on the Belgian classic to its name.
Following Wednesday's traditional parade through the streets of Spa, drivers took to the track for the first time on Thursday morning's free practice session which was dominated by the Larbre Competition Saleen. Few would have predicted at the time, however, that the Franco-American machine would go on to secure pole-position for Saturday afternoon's start.
Thursday evening's first qualifying session (8.30pm -9.30pm) was won by the Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin/Michelin of Wendlinger/Sharp/Muller/Lichtner-Oyer, although the session was red-flagged following a big crash at Blanchimont involving the SRT Corvette with Christophe Bouchut at the wheel.
The No.6 Phoenix Racing Cor vette (Hezemans/Fassler/Deletraz/Gollin), which topped the timesheets at the test organised at the Belgian venue earlier in July, was the quickest car on the track during the night-time run (10-11.30pm), but the fastest aggregate time over the two sessions went to the No.33 Aston Martin/Michelin which took provisional pole ahead of the damaged No.3 Corvette/Michelin (Bouchut/Maassen/Soulet/Pillon) and the Maserati MC12/Michelin of Bartels/Bertolini/Sarrazin/Van de Poele.
The third and final qualifying run on Friday afternoon saw just one GT1 car get under the 2m 14s mark, however, thanks to Portugal's Pedro Lamy who covered the 7km, 3m and 95cm of the legendary Belgian track in a time of 2m 13.923s to clinch pole-position in the dying moments of the session.
The Larbre Competition car will be joined on the front row by the No.6 Corvette/Michelin, with the No.33 Aston Martin and the No.1 Maserati (which tops the provisional championship standings) following on the second row. The No.3 Corvette was forced to sit o ut the third session following its crash on Thursday evening but it is expected to be repaired in time for the race. It will start from the back of the grid despite being accredited with the fourth quickest time.
In the GT2 category, the No.51 Ferrari F430 /Michelin (Biagi/Montanari/Farnbacher/Russo) was the fastest car on the track on Thursday evening, while the second AF Corse car (the No.50 F430 which leads the championship thanks to a score of three wins) suffered an engine failure and will consequently start back in 19th place. The Imsa Performance/Michelin car, which claimed the third quickest GT2 time, is the best- placed Porsche on the grid.
Michel Droitecourt (FIA GT Championship Programme Technical Manager, Michelin)
Tyre choices
Our partner teams chose their tyres for the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps a month ago. Some went for a selection of 'soft', 'medium' and/or 'medium plus' compounds, while others chose to go for just one option.
Soft tyres
Yesterday's qualifying sessions gave us a chance to evaluate the different solutions we have here for this race. The soft compound, which represents a gain of around three or four tenths of a second per lap, turned out to be strong in terms of both performance and in consistency, despite the high track temperatures. Quite a few teams have chosen to start the race with the same soft tyre that was used in qualifying. It is interesting to see how important it is for them to start the race at the front of the field, even though this is a 24-hour competition.
Stints
After the start, we can expect to see certain teams pit after a just few laps, while others are likely to double- stint from the word go. After that, their tyres choices will depend on their respective strategies, the weather and the tyre options they each have. Just one mechanic is permitted work on either side of the car, so a pit stop at Spa is extremely costly in time terms; around 20 seconds. Teams which change their tyres after every stint - that is to say about every hour - stand to 'drop' four minutes over a period of 12 hours. The objective is consequently to double-stint as frequently as possible, which means spending approximately two hours on the same set of tyres.
Strategies
Consistency is always a crucial factor in a 24-hour race. That said, it is also important to remember that points will be awarded to the teams as a function of their respective positions after 6 and 12 hours of racing. We do not want to penalise our partners, so the tyres we have here are engineered to deliver both performance and consistency.
Night racing
Of the three types of tyre we have at Spa, teams will favour the soft compound option in cooler temperatures, that is to say once it gets dark and/or when the track temperature falls to around the 20/25o.C mark. This solution will run until about seven o'clock in the morning and teams won't have any difficulty double-stinting.
Wet weather
Although Spa doesn't give that much grip in the dry, it does tend to drain well, so that ensures relatively good grip in the wet. You frequently see slicks and intermediate tyres lapping at the same time.
Our partner teams can choose between three different wet weather tyres:
- 'Full wets' if there is a lot of water on the track,
- A tyre for drying conditions. This tyre is also suited to unsettled weather conditions because it is very versatile. It features the same tread pattern as the full wet tyre.
- The intermediate tyre is suited to damp conditions, but is not so strong in heavier rain.
It is important that teams take great care over their tyre choices. If the drivers have to pit to change tyres because of a poor call, they stand to lose a lot of time because the pit-lane is very long at Spa. That's one of the reasons why having a versatile tyre here is so important.
Jack Lecomte (Larbre Competition):
"I am delighted that we will be starting from pole position here at Spa thanks to Pedro's lap! It's been a real team effort and the fruit of the excellent working relationship we enjoy between the drivers and all those who work out of the limelight to prepare such a competitive car. It is nicely balanced and functions extremely well with its Michelin tyres. We will try to double-stint as much as possible to avoid losing the 20 or seconds its takes to change tyres during a pit stop. I have every confidence in Michelin and its staff. That's so important."
Pedro Lamy (driver, Larbre Competition):
"I am very pleased to have enabled Larbre Competition to start Saturday's race from pole position here at Spa which is such a fantastic circuit, even though changeable weather can make it very difficult. Happily, Larbre Competition benefits from a partnership with Michelin and that, I have to say, makes life much easier for us. Our tyres are competitive and the advice of Michelin's technical staff is always extremely valuable."
Facts and figures--
3500 tyres
This is approximately how many tyres Michelin has taken to Belgium for the 24 Hours of Spa- Francorchamps.
30
The number of sets of tyres available for each car in dry weather
17
The number of sets of wet weather tyres available for each car
3
The number of different dry weather compounds available ('soft', 'medium' and 'medium plus').
3
The number of types of wet weather tyres available (full-wets, a tyre for drying conditions and intermediates).
19
The number of cars running on Michelin tyres (10 GT1s and 9 GT2s)
10
The number of Michelin technicians at the race to follow and advise the firm's partner teams