Datum: 18.05.2008 · Le Mans Series
Drop Out for Pierre Ehret while heading for the Podium
Beeing championship leaders, the duo from Farnbacher-Racing travelled to Spa and already in the free practice one proved to be most competitive. After using the first practice session to find the right setup for the 450 PS strong Ferrari, the duo placed the car on rank two in the third free practice session.
In qualifying one was quick too, driving a time of 2:22,314 Minutes on the 7.003 kilometres long track, which finally meant the second starting row! “The car’s’ performance was very good and we can really be happy with position three”, Pierre Ehret explained.
And the beginning of the 1.000 kilometres race in front of 35.000 spectators along the highspeed track went off without a hitch, too. One kept in touch with the leading cars and sometimes even led the GT2 grid. But after about four hours the race was over for Ehret. Only one hour before the end, a broken wheel mount forced to the number 90 car to pit and give up the race.
Pierre Ehret after the race: “We were sure to make it to the podium this weekend again. Of course it is a great disappointment, when you drop out close at the end of the race, and end up without any points The tyres had a lot of pickup today. When we were overtaken by the faster prototypes we had to leave the racing line and the tyres picked up the dirt from the track. This could cost you about two seconds a lap. Even after several laps the tyres were not free of dirt yet, which cost us a lot of time. In the future we try to keep our racing line better.”
Now there is time for a small summer break until season goes on at Nürburgring. From 15th to 17th august 2008 the fourth racing weekend will be ready to go. “We are really looking forward for the race in Germany. Hopefully we will be more lucky there”, Pierre Ehret stated. (Text: Ralph Monschauer - motorsport-xl.de)