British Le Mans Racer Andy Meyrick just missed out on a podium finish at this weekend’s Le Mans Series race at the Nürburgring, following a flawless performance by the British Race Elite driver. Sharing the number 14 Audi R10 TDi with Narain Karthikeyan and Charles Zwolsman, the LMS rookie was in third position when he handed over driving duties to his team mates. Despite the disappointment of not taking the final podium spot, the number 14 car went on to cross the line in fourth place to take the Kolles team’s best result of the season.
Making his first visit to the Nürburgring in an LMP car, Meyrick’s Kolles team got off to a good start, finishing the first free practice session in fifth place despite the wet conditions. The team improved further in second practice to set the third fastest time of the session, with Charles Zwolsman qualifying the number 14 car on seventh on the grid.
With the drivers taking it in turns to complete the six hour race, Meyrick was chosen to run the first stint and line up on the grid for the start. The British racer made a strong start away from the line and showed competitive pace in the first few laps to move to sixth place, just behind Giorgio Mondini in the sister Kolles Audi R10 TDi. Having stopped for fuel on lap 31, Meyrick rejoined the track with impressive pace, and passed team mate Mondini to take fifth before moving up into fourth place. Running in third place by the time Meyrick handed over the number 14 car to team mate Narain Karthikeyan, the British racer had high hopes for the team’s first podium finish.
Despite the best efforts of Meyrick in the early stages of the race, tyre degradation during Karthikeyan’s stint forced the team to make an additional pit stop and following a strong third stint by Charles Zwolsman, the team lay fourth, only 14.5 seconds behind the final podium spot after six hours of racing.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a podium, it was the best result of the season for the privateer Kolles LMP team, who were second only to the factory Aston Martin team who took a podium lockout. Meyrick’s team mates in the other Kolles Audi R10 TDI saw their weekend end early following an accident two hours into the race when lapping a GT car.
Speaking about his weekend, Meyrick, said, “I’m pleased to have taken our best result of the season and I’m happy with my own performance, but it’s really disappointing that we didn’t get on the podium which had looked a strong possibility. With having such a short season its frustrating when you don’t get the results you know you are capable of, but fourth is still a good result and reflects the steps forward the team has made. Hopefully we can go one better at the season finale and my home race at Silverstone next month.”
Racing alongside former F1 racers Olivier Panis, Tomas Enge, Christian Albers, Tiago Monteiro, along with Oreca LMP1 driver Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, Meyrick will also race alongside former F1 champion Nigel Mansell at Silverstone, who will be making a one off visit to the series from 11 – 13 September.
Source : Andy Meyrick