Level 5 Motorsports put in a superb effort in qualifying for the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with Christophe Bouchut setting a quick lap of 1:09.420 in the No.055 Honda HPD ARX-03b around the fast and flowing Canadian track. The Frenchman was edged in the P2 class by the Conquest Endurance Morgan-Nissan of Martin Plowman – the first time this year that a Level 5 Motorsports has been beaten to pole position.
Bouchut said: “We spent the practice sessions working on the balance of the car. It took some time to get the set up right, to give us the confidence we need on this fast track, but I’m happy with it now. We were running a bit low at the start, and with many fast corners and flat in 5th gear you have to really trust the car. It’s a package and we’re on our way. We might not have got another pole position today but, as our team manager David Stone always says, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish that matters!”
Only the No.055 car will be entered for the race, but the Wisconsin-based team was able to benefit from having two cars at the 2.45 mile, 10-turn high speed track. Using both in the practice sessions before qualifying allowed the team’s engineers, led by Jeff Braun, to evaluate different technical set ups, and work through different possible tire permutations to see what would best suit the high ambient temperatures.
Although Team owner Scott Tucker has raced at what was formerly known as Mosport twice before, the Level 5 team was missing from the 2011 grid as they were racing in Europe. Having to delve further back into his knowledge bank was not a problem for the Kansas resident, however, and he has been able to profit from a good number of laps this week as he is racing in the IMSA Lites and Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup series as well as the ALMS.
Tucker scored excellent podium finishes in both of Saturday’s races, and was a strong runner-up in the IMSA Lites event, and commented after Saturday’s running: “This track is incredibly fast and it’s like a roller coaster but it has a nice flow and it’s a lot of fun in a prototype. You put your foot on the brakes just one time properly in the whole lap so your concentration levels are maxed out for the entire lap. At those speeds you can’t afford to make any errors.”
Source : Level 5 Motorsports