Last WE Nico Verdonck ended on the podium in the last heat of the Formula Le Mans Championships in Silverstone (UK) together with his team mates Charlie Hollings and Christophe Pillon. “Despite my fastest round during the race, the decisions of the race lead influenced the result: our team deserved better!” explains Nico.
The WE started well for the nr 48 car of Hope PoleVision Racing: during first free practices Nico realizes the best time, far in front of his rivals in the Formula Le Mans. He let the wheel to his team mates during practice 2 and 3, giving them advice: Pillon improves his lap times by 10 seconds and Hollings even places the car on the pole during qualifying. The team was ready for a great performance…
Charlie Hollings takes the start of the race, but loses the lead to his team mates from HPVR in the nr 47 car, due to heavy traffic. Christophe Pillon also loses a place due to a drive-through penalty (having crossed the white lines). Curious: lots of teams got a warning for the same reason, but nearly none were penalized…
Nico tried to fight back, approached to 1′ of the leaders (thanks to his fastest round) and finally ended on P3… Moreover their team mates in the nr 47 car (in the lead at that moment and virtually FLM champions!) got penalized as well for the same reason. No victory and no title for HPVR!
“What a pity for our team to be penalized twice (avoiding an accident!). Nevertheless we have to be pleased with our result: for the first time both cars could finish the race without any technical problems. The car felt great, the pit stops were perfect and the strategy was OK. I very much enjoyed!”
HPVR will take part in the last race of the Interconinental Le Mans Cup at Zuhai, early November (Nico hopes to be invited again), but the team doesn’t start in the ‘Petit le Mans’, early October.
“I’d like to thank the whole HPVR team, for their great job during this season, not always rewarded by good results; nevertheless the potential was on-side… Also thanks to my partners and especially to Benoit Morand, team manager of HPVR, who believes in me and gave me the opportunity to drive for them. I hope to be part of their new 2011 LMP1 hybrid project” concludes Nico.
“Next appointment is on September 18/19th at Spa-Francorchamps for the next BTCS race, where we hope to improve our lead in the BMW 320d of DB Motorsport.”
Source : Nico Verdonck