Spyker Squadron will start the opening race of the Le Mans Series season from ninth in the GT2 class. Even though several other GT2 drivers improved Jeroen Bleekemolen’s time the Dutch driver was satisfied with the result and the progress made by the team during the weekend.
- Successful shake down for Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R at Paul Ricard
- Jeroen Bleekemolen ninth in GT2 qualifying
The Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R completed its first laps in the 2010 configuration on Friday during the first free practice session of the season. The team used the entire first session to shake down the car and then started to work on the set-up of the car for the weekend a few hours later in the second free practice session. The team ended the first day in seventh place. During the final free practice session on Sunday morning the car suffered from understeer. After some changes were made the car finished the session in ninth place.
In qualifying Jeroen was the first of thirteen GT2 drivers to start his qualifying run. With a car that handled better than it did in the free practice session he was able to improve his lap time on every lap and on his fourth and final lap he posted a 1:59.117. In the end several other teams were quicker than Bleekemolen’s time and when the checkered flag was shown after 20 minutes Jeroen was ninth in class.
Jeroen Bleekemolen: “I think we can be satisfied. The gap to the front isn’t that big and we beat some strong drivers. This morning we had a lot of understeer, but the car is now much better and that is really important. The car remains consistent now, so it looks much better now for tomorrow’s race.”
Peter van Erp, Managing Director: “The car has been completely stripped during the winter break and the first session was therefore used as a shake down. In the second session we started to work on the set-up and we did quite well. It was not easy to find the right balance on the new Michelins, but in the end we were seventh fastest on new tires. This morning things didn’t go as well as yesterday. We struggled with understeer during the entire session. We changed some bits for qualifying and we should be satisfied with ninth place, considering the gap to the Ferrari on pole and the cars that are around us. As there are many competitive teams and drivers, we should realistically be able to finish sixth or seventh tomorrow, if we stay out of trouble.”
The 8 Hours of Le Castellet is the opening round of the 2010 Le Mans Series season and will start at 11 a.m. local time tomorrow. Peter Dumbreck will take the start for Spyker Squadron. Eurosport will have live coverage of much of the race.
- Spyker Squadron
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