During qualifying for the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza on Saturday, the United Autosports Pro Cup crew of Matt Bell (England), David Brabham (Australia) and Álvaro Parente (Portugal) brought the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 across the line as the second fastest McLaren GT in the field.
After plenty of rain during Friday’s practice and pre-qualifying for the opening round of the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Series at the historic Italian circuit, it stayed dry for Saturday’s three-part qualifying session until late into the last part of the session.
The combined result, helped by a 1m49.192s lap by Parente, the third driver in the #22 car, put the trio into 17th place out of the massive 57 car grid.
Meanwhile in the Pro-Am Cup car, early brake problems for first qualifying driver Mark Patterson (USA) in the #23 McLaren GT, combined with heavy traffic, negated his effort and when Zak Brown (USA) took over at the wheel, any flow he might have developed was disrupted by two red flags as stricken cars were removed from the track.
It was then left to former grand prix driver Mark Blundell (England) in the third session to attempt to restore the status quo as he wrestled the #23 McLaren GT, while fighting understeer during his five laps.
The Leeds-based team has put together two trios of winning drivers in the two-car all-new McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars, and all six drivers recognise the need to extract more performance from the new sportscar. However with 11 of the top 13 cars being a combination of Porsches and Ferraris, a better balance of performance is required in the series.
With two former Formula 1 drivers and Le Mans 24 Hour winners in Brabham – the youngest son of three-times F1 World Champion, Sir Jack Brabham – and Mark Blundell, the Anglo-American team has an abundance of talent within the two crews.
McLaren GT-factory driver Parente, has also been instrumental in helping the team with the new cars and the former British Formula 3 Champion and Formula 1 feeder series GP2 race-winner is working hard to provide valuable set-up feedback.
With rain forecast for tomorrow afternoon’s three-hour race, all six drivers believe wet conditions will provide them with an equalizing opportunity.
Driver quotes:
Matt Bell (UK), Age 22. Born: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Lives: Barningham, UK:
“I was out first and it was only a short run for me with three timed laps. It was not really enough time to bring the car up to the point I wanted and with traffic, I didn’t get the best of runs but obviously the time was always going to be done in the last session with Álvaro. So my main job was to do the best time I could in that session just in case it rained and hand it over to the other two guys. Álvaro did a good job and we’re less than a tenth off the top McLaren. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
David Brabham (Aus), Age 45. Born: Wimbledon, UK. Lives: Henley-on-Thames, UK:
“It’s great to be here for the first race and after qualifying I wouldn’t say we’re 100% happy with where we’re at, but we know there’s a lot more potential to come from the car. We’ll have a look at everything overnight and see what changes we can do for the race tomorrow.”
Álvaro Parente (POR), Age 27. Born: Porto, Portugal. Lives: Porto, Portugal:
“Qualifying was not great and we were expecting to qualify a little better to start the race. But we’re working hard on the car and there are some factors there that we have to improve. It’s always tricky here for the first race and some cars have a little bit more than others and some are too fast, which you can clearly see. Seventeenth on the grid was pretty much the maximum we could get out of the car today. We’ll see what happens tomorrow with the weather and we don’t mind it if it rains right now!”
Mark Blundell (UK), Age 45. Born: Barnet,UK. Lives: Royston, UK:
“Obviously it was quite a difficult session for all of us as drivers. Regretfully, we don’t have a car under us at the moment that either one of us is happy about. From what we tested and we’ve come to the race with, and the things that are put in place now for the cars to be balanced out, it’s equalisation we’ve got to get on top of more. It’s a new car, a new package, and we’ve got to get to know it better and improve performance.”
Zak Brown (USA), Age 40. Born: Los Angeles, California, USA. Lives: Carmel, Indiana, USA:
“Qualifying was difficult; I’m disappointed that we’re P17 and P40, and it certainly doesn’t meet the expectations. If you look down the grid, we’re as quick as any McLaren out there so we need to get it faster. It’s a long season but not many races so we need to find some more speed quickly. I hope it’s wet tomorrow and I think that will help our situation.”
Mark Patterson (SA), Age 60. Born: Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Lives: Bronxville, NY, USA
“I think given our brake problems we did okay, but this isn’t competitive for us and with the quality of the car, it’s a little disappointing. We’re working on getting the set-up better for the race. But you know, qualifying with 57 cars in 15 minute intervals is like feeding the pigs after a two-week holiday and they’ve had no food; everybody’s in the trough at the same time!”
Richard Dean (GB), Team Owner and Managing Director of United Autosports:
“With 57 cars it’s difficult to get a clear lap and there were several red flags that interrupted the laps for the #23 car and I don’t think they ultimately got the best time out of it. Álvaro was pretty close to producing the best times of the McLaren GTs around here at the moment. Balance of performance-wise, I’m not entirely sure; the top McLaren is 14th and we’re 17th, so we’re within reach of the pace of the car and Álvaro did a great job.
“Matt, David and Álvaro in that car are all very close so for the race over three hours, we’re in a very strong position there with that. It doesn’t sound great, 17th, but out of 57 cars, we’re nearer the front, although not as near to the front as I’d like to be. For the #23 car, there were just red flags at the wrong time; Zak got two red flags and Mark Blundell had a lot of understeer and some braking problems that we’re sorting out.”
Source : United Autosports