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Detroit, Michigan -
A more careful, cautious approach was called for
today by VICI Racing at the Belle Isle street
circuit in Detroit; rapidly changing weather
conditions, coupled to a car that has just been
rapidly rebuilt since last Sunday’s accident at
Mosport and which was slightly down on power, meant
that the team had to be satisfied with Marc
Basseng’s best qualifying lap of 1:28.075, which
will place the car onto the fifth row of the grid
for tomorrow’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge.
The driver line-up in the #18 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
which is supported this year by Hughes Telematics,
Hughes Network Systems, LuxuryMotors.com and Wempe,
is unchanged going into Detroit; Marc, who qualified
the car today is teaming up with Nicky and Francesco
Pastorelli once again.
It promises to be yet another demanding race for the
team as none of the drivers have been to the island
circuit before, and with just a handful of laps in
damp conditions today, they will be plunged right
into the thick of the action in tomorrow’s 2 hour 45
minute race. For the team, on its first visit here,
there isn’t the data of previous visits to rely on
so thought will have to go into developing a final
set up. The team is also awaiting a new exhaust
section, the part, reused from last weekend today,
caused a slight loss of power. A new unit will be on
the car tomorrow.
It’s been a tough week for the Miami, Florida-based
team following a crash last Sunday at Mosport in
Canada in the previous round of the American Le Mans
Series, caused by a suspension component failure
that was beyond our control. However a lot of very
hard work by the crew and a string of late nights in
the temporary paddock on Belle Isle later and the
#18 car was prepared and ready for the start of
running on the track this morning.
Action on the 2.09-mile, 14-turn temporary course,
laid out at the southern end of the 982-acre island
which is sandwiched by the United States on one side
and Canada on the other, was scheduled to get
underway this morning (Friday August 29th) with a 90
minute long practice session (9:00-10:30AM) which
was open to all the ALMS classes. This would be
followed by a further hour’s practice in the
afternoon (3:20-4:20 PM), again open to all classes,
before the customary, and brief, 15 minute break
lead into the 20-minute qualifying session
(4:35-4:55 PM), this time reserved as usual for the
GT1 and GT2 class teams.
The 90 minute long opening practice session would
give the drivers useful time to familiarize
themselves with the temporary track and the
vagracies of a street circuit, although Nicky can
count on some street circuit experience, having
raced in the ChampCar series at temporary tracks
including San Jose, Long Beach, Denver and Long
Beach, as well a couple as in Europe.
This morning at Belle Isle started off damp,
overcast and generally miserable. A brief shower
during the minutes leading up to the waving of the
green flag to indicate the start the first session
ensured that the teams were greeted with a very
slippery track and consequently wet tires were
called for. Further rain fell during the opening
quarter of an hour of the session, with Nicky, who
started first, making several careful exploratory
laps before turning in a 1:56.682 after 9 mins. He
followed this up with a 1:56.422 before making a
brief visit to the pits after 12 mins. Out on track
again after 16 mins the rain was still falling
steadily and the 25-year-old turned in a 1:59.785
after 22 mins before pitting to hand over the #18 to
Marc.
With the rain easing off but still with a lot of
standing water on the track, the German recorded a
1:56.238 as the clock ticked to the half an hour
mark, one third duration. His next lap was a
2:02.414 as he eased his way round, before chopping
his best to 1:53.897 (33 mins). With the track
slowly drying the times started to tumble; he
followed up with a 1:53.201, 1:51.272, 1:51.026,
1:51.664, 1:50.628 and a 1:50.242, set after 43 mins.
Next time round Marc posted his first sub-1:50 lap,
in 1:49.370, before heading to the pits after 42
mins of the session.
With some fuel added to the #18, it was now
Francesco’s chance to get out on track for the first
time, and he headed into the fray after 50 mins of
the session. With the track rapidly drying, although
he was still running on the original Kumho wet tyres
that had started the practice session, the
21-year-old turned in a 1:56.805 and 1:52.653 as he
completed his first flying laps. He followed this up
with a 1:53.484 (58 mins) and then a 1:53.305 as the
clock ticked to one hour (two thirds duration).
Francesco then ran a 1:53.305, 1:50.473, 1:49.633,
1:50.130, 1:48.100 and a 1:50.353 before, after 1
hour and 10 mins of the session, he pitted to end
the team’s involvement with the morning’s
proceedings. At the end of the session the #18 car
had run 30 laps with Francesco’s 1:48.100 (lap 28)
being the quickest in an average speed of 68.936
mph.
It remained overcast, but without anymore rain
falling, through the late morning and early
afternoon right up to the 3:20 PM start time of
second practice session. With the track now bone dry
and the teams all relishing the chance of getting
some serious running in, the first spots of rain
arrived as the final seconds counted down to the
green light. Nicky took the #18 car out, and just as
the island began to reverberate to the sound of
racing engines, the heavens opened once again. The
Dutch former Jordan and Midland F1 Official Test
Driver completed only one lap (for the record in
1:37.515; 4 mins), before an off track excursion by
the #40 Ford GT brought out the red flags after 5
mins.
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