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12 Hours
Strakka Racing Welcomes HRH Prince Michael of Kent
Strakka Racing has been delighted to extend a welcome this weekend to His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, who is attending the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours as a guest of the team.
During the Saturday morning build-up to the race, Prince Michael visited the Strakka Racing garage, met members of the team, and viewed the engineers and mechanics as they completed their final preparations for the race. Once the car had been pushed out onto the track for the pit straight walkabout, the Prince joined Nick Leventis, Peter Hardman and Danny Watts to see the team's Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S taking up its position on the grid.
HRH Prince Michael of Kent visits Strakka Racing. Photo: Regis Lefebure During the course of the morning Prince Michael met a number of prominent members of the Le Mans community, including Daniel Poissenot, Sport Vice President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO); Stephane Sarrazin, the pole setter for Team Peugeot Total; and Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin. He subsequently watched the start of the race from the private box of the President of the ACO, Jean-Claude Plassart.
HRH Prince Michael of Kent visits Strakka Racing. Photo: Regis Lefebure "There is tremendous excitement in seeing a new British privately owned team doing so well in its first year, and I am delighted to be here at Le Mans to support Strakka Racing and wish it every success," said Prince Michael.
"We are enormously fortunate to have Prince Michael's interest and support," said Nick Leventis, who drove second stint during the opening hours of the race. "It is a great privilege to have him here as our guest, and we appreciate his good wishes for the race."
Strakka Racing's fortunes during the first quarter of the race fluctuated slightly. Peter Hardman drove a strong opening stint, and found himself battling with both the Kolles Audi R10s and also the #009 Lola Aston Martin, but his early defence paid dividends, and he started to ease clear. He completed a solid double-stint before handing on to Nick Leventis.
Nick Leventis, Le Mans 2009, first stint. Photo: John Brooks In his first Le Mans 24 Hours as a prototype driver Nick (right) demonstrated his ever-increasing pace and ability by circulating as one of the fastest in his class, regularly lapping quicker than a number of highly regarded professional drivers. His mature and consistent double-stint ended at six o'clock, when he handed over to Danny Watts,
The A1GP Team Great Britain driver showed further speed and skill as he started to reduce his lap times steadily, topping out with a best of 3:33.276 on lap 76. Nearing the end of his third stint at the wheel, Danny was holding a comfortable 13th position overall when he returned to the pits for a refuel and driver change to Peter Hardman. Unfortunately, the crew found it impossible to remove the right-rear wheel using conventional pit-box tools, and the car then had to be hauled back into the garage, where more mechanics could attend to the problem. The full repair cost forty minutes and, as the race entered the seventh hour, one quarter distance, the car was holding 35th position overall.
Peter Hardman began the team's spirited recovery at nine o'clock, and with him the sequence of drivers was reset. Nick Leventis followed on, and as Saturday moved through to Sunday, the Strakka Racing Ginetta-Zytek had moved up to 25th position overall, a full ten places recovered since the extended pitstop.
18 Hours
Strakka Racing Meeting the Challenge Strakka Racing
Strakka Racing is being put through the mill in the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, facing the highs and the lows, the clean running and the rough, yet has demonstrated a professionalism and determination that does credit to the debutant team.
Having run as high as twelfth, or fourth in the "petrol class", Strakka Racing's Peter Hardman, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts have had to contend with a succession of minor issues that began at eight on Saturday evening, when the rear left wheel seized during a pitstop. Subsequently the team encountered an alternator belt failure; a problem with an exhaust manifold; a starter motor issue and an electrical circuit fault. Individually, these were modest problems that were relatively quickly solved, but each contributed to an accumulated loss of around an ninety minutes in the garage..
Even so, when the race stood at three-quarters distance, the #23 Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S was running in 20th position overall and was continuing to fight for position. Nick Leventis had completed the final stint of Saturday, picking up three positions before handing over to Danny Watts from 26th in the early hours of Sunday. Through the night the three Strakka drivers drove their utmost as they steadily recovered lost ground, working through to 17th at just before four o'clock with Danny Watts in the cockpit. Next into the cockpit, Peter Hardman had been in the car for little more than twenty minutes before the next enforced drama, and the loss of three more hard-won positions. However, by the end of his stint at half-six, Peter had recovered to 17th overall once again, but would end his run in the garage once more.
Peter Hardman, Le Mans 2009. Photo: David Lord / Dailysportscar Despite the frustrations, the crew have handled the pressure excellently; tackling each new challenge with enthusiasm and professionalism. "The guys have done a tremendous job," said Nick Leventis. "Each time we've had an issue, they've worked fast and efficiently to get us back out again as quickly as possible. It has been impressive to watch."
After Peter had tackled the awkward dawn run, when conflicting light and shadow can make driving at Le Mans more than usually difficult, Nick took over at just after seven. Within the hour he had recovered all the lost ground to have the #23 Ginetta-Zytek running 16th overall.
With six hours remaining the car was back in the garage once again, this time with an electrical fault that prevented the engine firing up after the pitstop. The team is confident of having the car back out in a few minutes and will work towards their principal goal of achieving a representative finish in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Nick Leventis, Strakka Racing, in the pitlane. Strakka Racing went the distance in an impressive debut run in the Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend, covering a total of 4430 kilometres from start to finish after Nick Leventis took the chequered flag in 21st place, 14th in LMP1. Co-driven by Peter Hardman and Danny Watts, the team's Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S had been one of the fastest petrol-powered cars in the race, and battled hard amongst the front-runners for several hours before three minor mechanical problems put them on the back foot. Despite this, they rallied repeatedly, and the team exhibited great professionalism, determination and spirit as they fought to keep the car in with a chance.
"I said our goal was to finish and we achieved that, but it's the way we achieved it that is impressive. I'm very proud of everyone at Strakka Racing, all the crew, my team-mates Nick and Danny and all associated with us. To finish the biggest sportscar race in the world; the Le Mans 24 hours, is a huge a achievement," said Peter Hardman, Driver and Team Principal at Strakka Racing.
Peter Hardman, first race stint. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC "Although I do feel a certain sense of frustration, having looked so close to a top-ten finish earlier in the race, I am also immensely proud of what we've accomplished here as a team," said Nick Leventis. "We've shown tremendous potential, and we've only been let down by small mechanical problems. However, we have successfully completed the Le Mans 24 Hours at the first attempt, and that in itself is a considerable achievement. For me personally, considering how far I've come in the last three or four years, I'm really delighted. We've certainly not disgraced ourselves, and I also believe we've demonstrated the enormous potential of the Ginetta-Zytek."
The race had started with a gritty opening stint from Peter Hardman, who found himself embroiled in a tight-fought dispute between two of the Kolles Audi R10s (last year's winning cars) and one of the new Lola Aston Martins. For 40 minutes they battled over ninth place until Peter made his first pitstop for fuel. Moments later, as others also pitted, an accident outside the Peugeot garage ultimately lead to a lengthy safety car period, and Peter was caught on the wrong side of the queue. Purely by mischance, the team lost an entire lap that would prove impossible to regain.
Peter Hardman, concentration. Photo: John Brooks Peter pitted in 12th place and handed over to Nick, the second of the team's three drivers to step aboard the #23 Ginetta-Zytek. From a low of 19th, he picked up three places before handing over to Danny Watts, but when Danny returned to the pits at the end of his double-stint, the rear-left wheel refused to budge. The car had to be hauled back into the garage, where the entire upright needed to be replaced. The repair cost the team some 40 minutes, and when Peter resumed racing, it was from a lowly 35th position overall.
Undaunted, the team pressed on through the night, with Danny Watts completing an impressive quadruple stint of over three hours. Peter then took the difficult dawn period and completed a resolute triple stint, and by the time the sun was up on Sunday morning Strakka Racing was running 17th. Nick Leventis returned to the cockpit for the first daylight run, and continued the recovery, taking 14th place just before handing over to Danny Watts at nine o'clock. Unfortunately, as Danny prepared to set off, the engine refused to fire up. This, and a succession of further minor issues over the remaining hours, saw the team's position fluctuate between a low of 26th and an eventual high of 21st.
"Once you've had a taste of what it's like to be up there near the top, it's so disheartening when you get kicked back down 20 places or so, and then have to start fighting your way back up through the field, all over again," said Nick.
"We had a tremendous car and great pace, but we simply encountered problems that were not related to what we were doing as a team, or as drivers," suggested Peter. The Ginetta-Zytek itself impressed all three drivers. "We got out of the car on Thursday evening and gathered for a de-brief. When Piers (Phillips, Race Engineer) asked us how we might improve the car, we looked at each other, and then agreed. There was nothing!" smiled Peter. "It was frustrating to have prepared a car that was such a dream to drive, only to have these niggly little problems, but whenever the crew worked on the car to fix anything, and sent us out again afterwards, it felt exactly the same as it had before -- perfect. That kind of support instils you with confidence, as a driver, and encourages you to do your best. The whole team has been highly professional throughout, and I'm proud of our achievements here at Le Mans," said Peter.
Danny Watts into the darkness. Photo: David Lord / Dailysportscar Danny Watts is the newcomer to the squad this season, but relished his opportunity. "I've had a lot of fun this weekend, and I've learned a huge amount. I'm just very grateful to Strakka Racing for giving me this opportunity. They also placed great trust in me, which is gratifying, and to offer me a quadruple stint in the middle of the night was something very special. It's the most I've ever driven in one go, but I enjoyed every second."
Now in its fourth season, the team was nonetheless completely reshaped with almost all new crew earlier this year, and has gelled together very quickly. "What I have really appreciated this weekend has been the tremendous team spirit here at Strakka," said Watts. "We've all pulled together as a unit towards a single goal, and we made it to the finish with significant credit. I'm proud of everyone involved in this project -- Nick and Peter, the engineers, the managers and organisers, and Kate (Horan), of course, who's kept us all under control and in the right place at the right time. Those are the guys who often don't get the acknowledgement they deserve, while drivers like us just sit in the car and do what we love doing. We couldn't do any of it without them."
Peter Hardman, iconic view. Photo: David Downes / Dailysportscar ""Karl Patman, our Crew Chief, is such a clever guy, and he knew exactly what we needed to do to be fully prepared for this week," agreed Peter and Nick. "He and Piers have done a tremendous job, as have all the members of the team. We were just so well prepared for this race, and it's all credit to them. The bigger picture is very positive."
"The engine gave us plenty of power," added Nick. "We had good straight-line speed, and the Michelin tyres were fantastic. They lasted well enough for us to triple stint comfortably, and I tended to find that my quickest times came mid-way through my second stint."
In conclusion, Nick said; "We had the opportunity here to drive an LMP1 car against the best sportscar drivers and teams in the world. Once we were out there on the track, we had a real race on our hands, and we were in with a chance from the start. We've raced the equivalent of a full season in Formula 1 in a single day. Well, you can't beat that kind of feeling. And there's a lot more to come yet!"
The team's next outing will be at the start of August for the 1000 Kilometres of the Algarve.