Penultimate race of the European Le Mans Championship wasn’t an easy one for the team of Benoit Morand and Joe Genoud. Natacha Gachnang and Christian Klien behind the wheel of the Morgan powered by Judd #43 faced various track conditions from dry during free practice to heavy rain in qualification and wet during the race. Qualified in 4th row of the starting grid, team took the decision to start the race with intermediate tyres, a gamble that never paid off. Track stayed wet for more than half of the race and both Natacha and Christian have never been able to come back to the leading cars. New recruit racing for Morand Racing, Christian Klien took the chequered in 5th place. Morand Racing is 4th in team ranking.
BENOIT MORAND – TEAM MANGER « Tonight, we are facing our responsabilities. We made two great free practice sessions. 2 sessions in dry conditions with good times. 3 teams took the same decision today to start the race with intermediate tyres, it was a mystake and we paid the price all race long. New duo Natacha – Christian is brand new but is working well. In two weeks time in South France, we want to conclude our first racing season with a victory. »
JOE GENOUD – MANAGER “It was a tough weekend. Natacha showed one again that she was reliable. She overtook many cars and came back from 18th position to the 5th place. Both Natacha and Christian have been very courageaous, racing under poor weather conditions is never easy, specially with car under dry configuration.”
CHRISTIAN KLIEN « It was a good weekend with the team. We have been to work well in both free practice sessions. We have a car and a team able to fight for victory but in qualification, weather was terrible. At the beginning of the race, Natacha made a great start in tricky conditions but our choice of tyres wan’t the right one and we lost many places before being able to come back to the top. Lost time is gone forever unfortunatelly. We all learned a lot today during this race »
NATACHA GACHNANG « Tonight we are all a little bite disappointed. Track conditions didn’t help us. Intermediate tyres could have been the right decision but the track was too wet too long. I made a fautless stint and I am able to come back from 18th to 5th place here in Hungary where overtaking is so hard. Every lap was a bet. »