Last weekend all the Le Mans Series entrants arrived at the legendary Nürburgring circuit for the fourth (and second-last) round of the 2009 season. After its third place in Portugal the G.A.C Racing team was out to add another podium finish to its laurels. In qualifying, the Zytek set the second-quickest time, but things did not go quite so well in the race, which resulted in a fifth-place finish at the end of the 1000km event.
The G.A.C Racing team’s hopes were buoyed by its third place in the Algarve 1000kms in Portugal, and the team was out to score another podium finish in its category in the Nürburgring 1000kms. G.A.C Racing used the 3 free sessions on Friday and Saturday morning to get to know the Nürburgring and find the best set-up. “We ran Claude-Yves, Karim and Philipp in turn to help them find their marks on the circuit. Our next job was to find the best set-up to make the car as efficient as possible,” said Lucien Monte, the team manager, after three hours’ practice.
The team obviously did the job properly, and their reward came in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Philipp Peter set the second-best time in the LM P2 category during the tricky 20-minute session. “I’m delighted to have bagged this second place for the team. It’s a reward for all the hard work they’ve put in since the start of the weekend,” laughed the Austrian after qualifying.
On Sunday morning during the warm-up no.41 went through a gravel trap, luckily without any damage. The team gave the car a thorough clean out and just after midday, the midnight blue Zytek made it onto the grid in time. At 12h30, the pack was unleashed in bright sunshine. Philipp was in trouble on the soft tyres right from the start losing second after which he fell back to fourth then fifth place.
The team decided to call him to put on new tyres. Claude-Yves Gosselin, who relayed Philipp, ran into gear change problems after 15 laps, and was obliged to resort to manual gear changes. At the next pit stop the ECU was changed and Philipp went back out for another couple of stints. Despite the problem persisting he was able to move up from eighth to sixth place in LM P2.
Karim Ojjeh was entrusted with bringing the car home to the chequered flag. “I didn’t run into any problems during my first stint. After that my tyres picked up a lot of dirt and I had difficulty reading the information given on the pit wall. On the last lap I came in to have the engine cover changed. Finally, we finished fifth, which isn’t too bad a result after all the problems we had during the race.” The G.A.C Racing team is determined to finish the season on a high note at the Silverstone 1000kms in England, the final round of the 2009 Le Mans Series on 12th – 13th September.
Source : G.A.C Racing Team