Status Grand Prix ended the first day of qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours in seventh place in the hotly-competitive LMP2 class. The team’s first visit to the legendary twice-round-the-clock race began in good fashion, with Dutch Le Mans rookie Yelmer Buurman setting the best lap in Status GP’s Lola-Judd B12/80 Coupe, a time that was good for 19th overall. Buurman’s lap of 3m41.451s put the car just 2.199 seconds behind the provisional-polesitting Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA-Nissan, driven by Mathias Beche. Frenchman Romain Iannetta drove the first couple of laps of the session but returned early to the pits after he had a moment and flat-spotted his tyres. Buurman then got in and drove his stint, setting his best time on only his third flying lap, when the car was relatively heavy with fuel.

Alexander Sims then drove, but the Englishman – like Buurman a Le Mans debutant – had the worst of traffic and track conditions as other cars went off the road. Iannetta then drove the final shift, which ran until midnight, and gradually improved his laptimes. The car’s qualifying time was two seconds faster than in the four-hour free practice session on Wednesday afternoon, which Status GP ended 14th of the 20 LMP2 cars. Status GP also qualified all three of its drivers for the race, according to the Le Mans ruling of minimum number of laps in the dark to ensure all competitors are safe to race.

Status GP technical director Rob Arnott said: “”It all went absolutely fine. It was our car’s first time at night, and laptimes were very competitive. Yelmer never got a totally clear lap, so I’m very happy with P7.

“We had one small excursion. That was because there was a traffic jam in the pit lane and by the time Romain got into the queue the tyres had lost temperature. But overall I’m very happy with the day’s work, and the guys all say the car’s balance is very good.” Qualifying continues from 1900 on Thursday 14th June, with the race starting on the afternoon of Saturday 16th June.

Yelmer Buurman:

“At the time I did the lap we had a lot of fuel so the car was quite heavy, so bearing that in mind it was quite a good performance. There wasn’t too much traffic. Then later, when the car got lighter, I did another lap quite close to the quickest, but there was a lot of traffic then. The car felt good, well-balanced, and it was mainly about seeing how the track was in the dark, because it’s quite different to the day. It all went smoothly, so no troubles.”

Alexander Sims:

“It’s just a great experience, to be honest. I did find it really tough at first, because it was my first time on a racetrack at night with other cars around me. So that took a little bit of time to adjust to. In the middle of my stint I had four laps with a load of traffic and gravel at one of the chicanes. The car felt nice, and there’s more time in me when I adjust.”

Romain Iannetta:

“”The car is fine, and my second stint in free practice was much better. I was gaining in confidence and beginning to get used to the downforce of the car. In the dark it was difficult because I had lost my reference points for the corners, so I was braking very early. But all I need is more time in the car, and we were happy to work on the strategy and tyres – I did my last run on the same set of Dunlop tyres that Alexander had used.”

Source : Status GP