Quotes

James Ruffier – No.1 Martini Callaway Corvette Z.06R GT3, 4th in Q2: “We qualified fourth for the second race, seventh for the first. It was difficult, because of all the traffic – I could have done better, it’s my fault that I didn’t. I went slowly on my warm-up lap, trying to find a gap to do a clear lap, so the tyres weren’t warm, the pressures were too low, so I didn’t have any grip. It’s frustrating, because I got a clear lap, but the tyres were too cool.”

 

Paul Warren – No.4 Kessel Racing Ferrari F430 GT3, 32nd in Q2: “My qualifying didn’t go too well – I seemed to be caught up in traffic the whole time. I only got about two clear laps across the whole session – every time I got clear of one car, and found some free space, I caught someone else. It’s not an easy circuit to find a clear lap on.”

 

Richard Williams – No.6 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S, 12th in Q2: “I’m much happier – we’ve got the car working better today. We’ve nearly got it there, although it’s not perfect – we’re competitive, and I think we’ll be strong in the race. Conditions were horrible – it was really frustrating with all the traffic.”

 

Andrew Shelley – No.7 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S, 37th in Q2: “I’ve now done a lap of the circuit! It’s a great circuit, just fantastic – my first goal was to find my way round, which isn’t ideal for qualifying. The car was great today, everything worked, but there’s still a lot to learn. At least I’ve got more idea of which way the track goes, which should help in the race!”

 

Thomas Accary – No.8 Hexis Racing Aston Martin, 3rd in Q1: “I’m very happy – it was difficult because there were so many cars. It’s fantastic to qualify third. I’m very happy, because it’s great for Pierre-Brice and myself. Thank you to Hexis Racing and Aston Martin.”

 

Julien Rodriguez – No.9 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9, 18th in Q2: “We had a big problem with the front right of the car in first qualifying. The mechanics worked hard to fix that, but in second qualifying we didn’t have a great set-up. We were just happy to get out there, even though we didn’t qualify well. The Aston Martin is very good on this track, so I think we should be able to improve in the race.”

 

Luca Pirri – No.19 Matech GT Racing Ford GT, 11th in Q1: “We were fortunate to be able to go out for qualifying today, after our accident in free practice yesterday. The mechanics did an awesome job, working through the night; unfortunately, the accident broke the cooling system for the brakes and we couldn’t have it ready for qualifying, so the brake balance wasn’t ideal - hopefully it will be fixed for the race.”

 

Thomas Mutsch – No.20 Matech GT Racing Ford GT, 1st in Q2: “We were here with the German GT Masters, so I know the track well. The car was really good – we changed the set-up after free practice, which helped. It looks good for the race, we’re just going through the data. The equalization is working – now, if you are a second slower, you aren’t third or fourth, you’re tenth or fifteenth. It’s getting harder.”

 

Ian Khan – No.20 Matech GT Racing Ford GT, 20th in Q1: “I’m still struggling with the handling of the car, with the extra weight. I’m trying to adapt my style, to keep up with Thomas – he’s definitely got it licked, and I’m still learning. I don’t have the confidence in the car I had before. The handling has changed a lot – on the way into a corner it understeers, so you have to brake right up to the apex to control that, and then there is oversteer on the way out, so you have to get the car positioned exactly, and not get on the throttle too soon.”

 

Bradley Ellis – No.21 Matech GT Racing Ford GT, 10th in Q2: “That was quite hard work, just trying to find a clear lap. There are forty cars, and the track is quite narrow. I nearly had a clear lap towards the end of the session, but then there was a slow Lamborghini at the penultimate corner. I was just unlucky with slow cars, and cars spinning off in front of me. So we’ll be starting tenth – just out of the points, so we’ll be looking to make it into the points in the race. The increased ballast has upset the balance of the car quite a lot – it’s more nervous, you get understeer and then snap oversteer.”

 

Martin Rich – No.26 Team Berlanga Ascari KZ1R GT3, 15th in Q1: “It was okay – I got badly held up by traffic. On one lap the tyres were just coming in, and I caught another car which wouldn’t let me past. That cost me three key laps on the tyres – this is a difficult circuit to overtake, especially in qualifying where you want to keep both you and the other cars safe. It’s frustrating – a couple of tenths quicker and we’d have been five places higher. There was as much as a second still in me and the car, as the other guys in the team proved. We’re much better placed for the second race – Andy did a great job, and absolutely got the best he could from the car, there’s no way we can match the times that some cars are doing.”

 

Johan Charpilienne – No.28 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z.06R GT3, 11th in Q2: “Qualifying was really difficult, for both of us – we had understeer. We tried something based on what we saw yesterday, but it didn’t work, so we’ll go back to how things were. The lap times weren’t too bad, so hopefully we’ll have a couple of good races – we’re close to the top ten for both races.”

 

Charles Morgan – No.30 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 GT3, 39th in Q2: “That was good – it’s very warm out there, and I’ve lost some weight! This is my first international race for about five years, so I’m still learning. I’m still off the pace, but I’m four seconds quicker than yesterday. I’m really enjoying it – it’s a lovely car to drive, very smooth and predictable. It’s quite fast round the corners, too – I think we could do well here.”

 

Gilles Vannelet – No.43 La Torre Motorsport Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, 16th in Q1: “Qualifying wasn’t too good – I waited for too long to do my fast lap, so the tyres weren’t great, and then I hit traffic. So I had to preserve the engine and tyres for the race.”

 

Christopher Haase – No.47 Tech 9 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, 1st in Q1: “It was good for our car, but unfortunately the No.46 car had an accident, and won’t be able to race this weekend. We made a couple of changes to the car for second qualifying, but they didn’t work too well – we’ll have to see how the race goes this afternoon. It doesn’t get much better than starting from pole.”

 

2008-07-05
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