- June 1 test: Shortened usable track time due to rain
- Four qualifying sessions prior to race
- Fastest time over four qualifying sessions = qualifying time
- Final setup: tire compounds/longevity, fuel usage
- Race day: cool temperatures, chance of rain on Sunday
- Competitive GT2 field: 3 Porsches, 7 Ferraris, 2 Spykers
On the test day, June 1, we had hoped to make a lot of progress towards our race setup. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we had very little time on track. But even with the few laps we had, we did get a good reading on the car, and we believe that we are close on setup. We have four two-hour qualifying sessions -- Wed. and Thu. -- and will use those to complete our prep and race setup. There's a chance of rain tomorrow (Thursday) so we have to hustle to get things done today.
The No. 80 is nearly a brand new car at this point in the week. We'll put in the race engine and gearbox tomorrow, do a final shakedown, and we'll be ready to go for the race.
We are all eager to get racing: it's been a long stay here so far with very little time on track. Our focus this week is in our final prep for the race -- this isn't a race that you prepare to beat your competition, it's a race in which you prepare for the challenges of an endurance event. Really it's about minimizing everything you can so that you can maximize the time that the car is on track during the race.
Chief Strategist Thomas Blam
Because we had so little time during the test day, these four qualifying
sessions are very critical. We have to determine which tire compound we will
use for the race, and the tires' longevity -- can we double stint tires
during the race? We also have to determine the fuel mileage that the car
will get during the race -- we weren't able to get to that in the test day.
We will also need to get some fast qualifying times down over the next few days. At Le Mans, the fastest lap over all of the four sessions is your qualifying time. In addition, each driver needs to complete 3 laps during one of the two night sessions. We'll try and get that out of the way today (Wednesday).
We expect race weather conditions to be fairly cold for the entire race with a slight chance of moisture on Sunday (there is?), but hopefully it will be nothing like the incredible rain of 2007.
Johannes van Overbeek, driver, No. 80 Porsche
Because the test day was virtually washed out, it puts a greater emphasis
than normal on the two test days (Wednesday and Thursday). Everyone will be
starting basically from scratch on their setups. We need to get to a setup
that all the drivers are comfortable with and that produces good, even tire
wear.
In the few laps that I had on track on the test day, I noticed that the track is slightly different on the edges but the actual racing surface has not changed. Every year, the ACO makes improvements to the safety and layout of the course and this year is no exception.
The GT2 field will be very competitive this year - many of the entries have the ability to win the race -- with strong teams, fast cars and solid driver lineups.