Clean off a mind-blowing triumph at their 24 Hours of Le Mans debut, the Level 5 Motorsports team, belonging to driver Scott Tucker and composed of also Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa, headed to Bologna, Italy with their Microsoft Office-sponsored Lola Honda. What turned out to be another handy win for the team turned into a bittersweet day after some late-race malfunctions prevented just another historic victory for the Wisconsin-based team.
The three drivers delivered again exciting shows behind the wheel. First maintaining a sixth place spot on the grid of LMP2 competitors, they moved to the lead with less than two hours remaining. Bouchut manned the end leg of the race, taking the wheel with just more than 1 hour to go. The win was theirs, just an official checkered flag from being official. But Twenty five minutes until the end, Bouchut's voice crackled over the radio to announce gear selection trouble.
The automobile was stuck in fourth gear as a result of gear actuator failure. Bouchut, experienced in the motorsports field and one of the most successful endurance drivers internationally, was able to persevere through to the checkered flag using only 3 gears. Finally, the team gained a third-place finish. Where they first enjoyed a 15-second lead, they now faced the reality that the win they nearly grasped was no more-and it was taking a while to sink in. "That's racing," Tucker said. "Still, ending up on the podium with this level of competition is incredible. However, it isn't sinking in right now because we were so close to a win here."
Despite the fact that victory eluded them, the team gained useful experience in a tricky field of challengers, and they experienced a substantial performance increase driving the Spyder, the car they changed to from the 2010 Lola Coupe after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "It was the first time we drove the Lola-Honda Spyder and it definitely proved to be the right choice," Barbosa said. "We were much more competitive than in the previous races. We still have to work on speed and qualifying pace, but we were strong heading into the race. That took us to the lead. There's a few more races to go, so hopefully we can continue to improve this package."
Betterment seems hardly a possibility when you consider the podium standing the team had already done at this point throughout the year. With any losses being less due to driver performance than mechanical issues, a clean car seemingly guaranteed Level 5 top finishes. With the win ever-present in their minds, the team looked ahead to continuing the ALMS season with races at Lime Rock Park and Mosport International Raceway in Ontario.
The three drivers delivered again exciting shows behind the wheel. First maintaining a sixth place spot on the grid of LMP2 competitors, they moved to the lead with less than two hours remaining. Bouchut manned the end leg of the race, taking the wheel with just more than 1 hour to go. The win was theirs, just an official checkered flag from being official. But Twenty five minutes until the end, Bouchut's voice crackled over the radio to announce gear selection trouble.
The automobile was stuck in fourth gear as a result of gear actuator failure. Bouchut, experienced in the motorsports field and one of the most successful endurance drivers internationally, was able to persevere through to the checkered flag using only 3 gears. Finally, the team gained a third-place finish. Where they first enjoyed a 15-second lead, they now faced the reality that the win they nearly grasped was no more-and it was taking a while to sink in. "That's racing," Tucker said. "Still, ending up on the podium with this level of competition is incredible. However, it isn't sinking in right now because we were so close to a win here."
Despite the fact that victory eluded them, the team gained useful experience in a tricky field of challengers, and they experienced a substantial performance increase driving the Spyder, the car they changed to from the 2010 Lola Coupe after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "It was the first time we drove the Lola-Honda Spyder and it definitely proved to be the right choice," Barbosa said. "We were much more competitive than in the previous races. We still have to work on speed and qualifying pace, but we were strong heading into the race. That took us to the lead. There's a few more races to go, so hopefully we can continue to improve this package."
Betterment seems hardly a possibility when you consider the podium standing the team had already done at this point throughout the year. With any losses being less due to driver performance than mechanical issues, a clean car seemingly guaranteed Level 5 top finishes. With the win ever-present in their minds, the team looked ahead to continuing the ALMS season with races at Lime Rock Park and Mosport International Raceway in Ontario.
Comments (0)
Posting Komentar