Quotes

Alois Meir – No.2 Martini Callaway Corvette Z.06R GT3: “My sessions were quite good – I had a bit of understeer. I know the track quite well, from racing Porsches here, so I could get up to speed very quickly. The Corvette is more settled here than the Porsche was – the Porsche used to be very nervous in the high-speed corners.”

 

Richard Williams – No.6 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S: “I could have done with more laps – we wanted to give David as much time as possible in the car. I got in towards the end and put in a few laps. The circuit is fun – I’m looking forward to qualifying tomorrow. So far, the changes made by the GT Bureau have made the car slower, which is frustrating – you might think the bigger restrictors would offset the extra weight, but it’s not working like that for us, so far.”

 

Andrew Shelley – No.7 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S: “The sessions went really badly for us – I still haven’t done a flying lap around here, which is not good. Something broke at the back end of the car, which we’re still investigating, and then I got a puncture.”

 

Ian Khan – No.20 Matech GT Racing Ford GT: “We finished the second session third quickest, which says more about my team-mate, Thomas Mutsch, than the car. I can’t get within about five seconds of his time – the car feels terrible with the extra weight. It’s awful under brakes and acceleration, it feels like there’s no power – but obviously he knows his way around here, and he’s dragged the car round by the scruff of its neck. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re young and brave!”

 

Johann Charpilienne – No.28 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z.06R GT3: “My two sessions were okay – this morning I was learning the track, as I’ve never been here before. So I was working out how to take the corners – it was a good feeling to discover Oschersleben with the Corvette. This morning it was a bit harder – because the track was dry, and the weather warmer, there was more grip. This afternoon was better to work on getting a good set-up on the car. We were seventh quickest in the afternoon – but we need to find another second off our lap times!”

 

Charles Morgan – No.30 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 GT3: “The cars are going well – I’ve still got a lot of catching up to do, but the fastest of the three was sixth overall. Our fastest driver is Johan-Boris Scheier and we’ve put a lot of his set-up on the other cars, which has helped – this morning we were getting a lot of understeer, partly because of the cool track temperature.”

 

Marguerite Laffite – No.31 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 GT3: “We had a problem with the alternator this morning, so I didn’t get out on track – that wasn’t ideal, since I don’t know the circuit. This afternoon was almost perfect – I stopped a few laps early, to let the car cool down, but then the starter didn’t work, so we couldn’t get out again. I love the track; everyone had told me it was a fun track, difficult and technical – and it’s true.”

 

Robert Hissom – No.32 APEX Motorsport Jaguar XKR: “I didn’t crash, which is a good thing! I didn’t get out in the morning session, but the car seemed to be handling well. This afternoon, I had a successful session, and Ben has been dialling in the car for qualifying. With the engine we have, and the strength of it, this isn’t the best circuit for the car – it’s a bit tight for us, and I prefer Monza, but we have to race at all the circuits, so here we are.”

 

Ben Clucas – No.32 APEX Motorsport Jaguar XKR: “I think it will be interesting to see what happens in qualifying – for practice, some people had almost unused sets of tyres, because of all the wet running at Monza. I hope we can qualify some way above where we were in practice. This morning I made a mistake – I locked up the rear tyres when changing down, the back end started to slide wide, and with the track being wet off-line, once I had missed the apex of the corner I couldn’t keep it on track. It went through the gravel, which damaged the front splitter, and that meant Rob couldn’t get out in that session.”

 

2008-07-04
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