Level 5 Motorsports Manager David Stone only regret during the testing week for Petit Le Mans was that he didn't have any exciting, dramatic news to report; things were going great.
"I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record this week," he said after the second official practice. "But in a positive way. We're not having any problems with the cars; the guys are doing great. It's hard to pinpoint any challenges because everything's gone so incredibly well; it's been really great."
The team was at a theoretical disadvantage because they were running two brand-new LMP2 entries together for the first time. That required a lot of the team to put in long, late hours into the early morning to get everything set up for the cars and make sure everything was in order. But the disadvantage turned into an advantage, when the new cars performed flawlessly and faster than any other prototypes on the track.
"The guys are feeling really good on the car setup," Stone said. "Certainly, having the one car for Laguna was a big advantage and certainly having the result we did with no hiccups ... it was a good learning tool, and we've been able to transfer that learning to the other car."
Even with two brand new, top-of-the-line prototypes, Stone recognized the drivers as the real key to winning.
"Primarily, it's definitely the experience," he said of the team's greatest strength. "We've got a lot of good guys on this team that have a long history of taking good care of cars. A lot of them have won this race before. There's a lot of depth here."
The team picked up Marino Franchitti for Petit. Franchitti has driven nearly every iteration of the HPD ARX-01 series, beginning with the HPD ARX-01a.
"Petit Le Mans is like [the 24 Hours of] Le Mans in hyperspeed," Stone said. "It's become a 10-hour sprint race. There's not many places, if any, that the drivers can get what you might call a rest every lap. It's full-on intensity all the time. The key is to be patient and stay out of trouble. The key is using the depth of experience to find that balance."
"I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record this week," he said after the second official practice. "But in a positive way. We're not having any problems with the cars; the guys are doing great. It's hard to pinpoint any challenges because everything's gone so incredibly well; it's been really great."
The team was at a theoretical disadvantage because they were running two brand-new LMP2 entries together for the first time. That required a lot of the team to put in long, late hours into the early morning to get everything set up for the cars and make sure everything was in order. But the disadvantage turned into an advantage, when the new cars performed flawlessly and faster than any other prototypes on the track.
"The guys are feeling really good on the car setup," Stone said. "Certainly, having the one car for Laguna was a big advantage and certainly having the result we did with no hiccups ... it was a good learning tool, and we've been able to transfer that learning to the other car."
Even with two brand new, top-of-the-line prototypes, Stone recognized the drivers as the real key to winning.
"Primarily, it's definitely the experience," he said of the team's greatest strength. "We've got a lot of good guys on this team that have a long history of taking good care of cars. A lot of them have won this race before. There's a lot of depth here."
The team picked up Marino Franchitti for Petit. Franchitti has driven nearly every iteration of the HPD ARX-01 series, beginning with the HPD ARX-01a.
"Petit Le Mans is like [the 24 Hours of] Le Mans in hyperspeed," Stone said. "It's become a 10-hour sprint race. There's not many places, if any, that the drivers can get what you might call a rest every lap. It's full-on intensity all the time. The key is to be patient and stay out of trouble. The key is using the depth of experience to find that balance."
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