Report: Free Practice Quotes, Zolder 2009

Quotes from Free Practice for Rounds 11 & 12

Eric de Doncker (nr2 Matech GT Racing Ford GT)
"It was Christian (Mamerow) who set the time.  He did a fantasic job on new tyres and then I took the car and on my first lap I was hit at the hairpin, so my car was damaged, the steering was crooked so I had a bad session afterwards. It's going to be a tough battle this weekend, it is going to be tough to do a lap time in qualifying because there is a lot of traffic, so I hope I'll be lucky this time and get a clear lap."

Claudia Huertgen (nr24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3)
"That was a good session and at the end it was very good.  I'm very happy with the car, I only drove the last 20-minutes but we changed the set up a lot and everything worked well."

Johan-Boris Scheier (nr100 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero Super Sport)
"I have a new co driver this weekend, Julien Briche, and I only drove the car a little bit to give Julien more time in the car.  We tried to work on the set up for the race as it is very important for us to finish the race here in Zolder.  The team have worked hard and maybe we will have a good finish to the season here."

Julien Rodrigues (nr3 Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9)
"The free practice was not good for us because we were using really old tyres from Paul Ricard, so we didn't have a good session. I think the car is very good; we had a little bit of a problem with the fast corners but we have resolved this problem and the car should be good for qualification."

Christopher Mies (nr26 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS)
"Both free practice sessions were very good.  In the first session we were in first position and in the second we were P3. Our competitors in the championship were behind us so it is very good for us. The neck is perfect after the accident at Paul Ricard, I raced last weekend and everything seems fine."

Cesar Campanico (nr32 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS)
"We had a few problems with brakes, because I think Nicolas went over the kerbs a bit and something was broken; we lost a lot of time.  But OK we managed to do some laps but we're not in the optimum position for qualifying but we'll see."

Christoffer Nygaard (nr28 Fischer Racing Ford GT)
"It was a difficult session.  Florian did most of the times, so I got in a warm car which wasn't too bad and the brakes were good.  I hope we'll be good for qualifying, it has always been the difficult part of the weekend for me, it has been my downside this season and I hope to d a good qualifying tomorrow.  It has been a roller coaster season, with the win in Oschersleben and the second place in Portugal followed by two non finishes, but overall I am really satisfied as i had not expected to come into GT3 and win a race."

Niki Lanik (nr12 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S)
"Session one went quite well, I learnt the track relatively quickly and we were the quickest Porsche and about 12th overall.  In the second session we changed the car a little bit, Mikael went out first and then I went out and then after two laps the gearbox started being a bit stiff. So I went into the pits and then back out, then back in and then something came loose in the back, in the suspension, so I didn't have that much time.  I quite like this circuit, I don't like the tight stuff so much but I do think it does suit the Porsche and we'll see how it goes in qualifying."

Walter Salles (nr1 Matech GT Racing Ford GT)
"In the first session things were quite all right, but in the second we suffered a fuel leak which 25 to 30 minutes to fix.  Then during the run one of the rear pads was binding, so I had to come in again so there wasn't enough time to learn the circuit."

2009-10-23
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