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Spirit Takes Pole But Denied Podium Result In France |
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
The Spirit Racing team was denied another race victory in the VdeV European Endurance championship this weekend, as the two car team struggled in diabolical weather conditions at the French Grand Prix venue of Magny-Cours.
The Spirit Motor Group backed squad had started the weekend with mixed fortunes as previous round winners, Rob Garofall and Simon Phillips ended the Friday test day topping the timing screens. However, team-mates Adam and Jamie Derbyshire found they were suffering with an engine issue, which was putting them down on top end speed on the long straights.
The team managed to cure part of the problem in time for qualifying,
bringing the Derbyshire car closer to the top speed of the other car.
But it was Garofall who once again was able to show the rest of the
VdeV grid the way to go, putting the Norma chassis onto pole by seven
tenths of a second.
Adam Derbyshire was able to put in a great lap right at the end of the
session to put his car seventh quickest, putting the team at the sharp
end of the grid for the three hour race on Sunday evening.
Torrential rain and cars ending up in the gravel on the formation laps
at the start of the race, meant that Simon Phillips decided on a
cautious start from pole position.
The treacherous conditions caught him out too, though. And a couple of
spins in the early part of the race left him and Rob with plenty to do
over the next two and a half hours. At the one hour mark he handed the
car over and Rob set about trying to work his way back through the
field.
Unfortunately, several safety-car periods meant that he was unable to
get onto terms with the leaders and had to settle for tenth place at
the chequered flag.
Adam Derbyshire settled into a rhythm right at the start, but after
just a handful of laps he lost power and was forced to bring the car
into the pits. An electrical problem cost him just over 20 minutes,
putting him and Jamie 10 laps away from the leaders.
A brilliant drive in constantly changing conditions allowed him to gain
several places back up the grid. However, after he handed over to Jamie
at the two hour mark, he started to have problems selecting gears and
decided to call it a day after such a frustrating race weekend.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Jamie afterwards. “We tried
everything to find the cause of the engine issue and eventually managed
to make it slightly better. We were really unlucky to have the
electrical problem so early and the amount of time we lost just put us
right out of contention. When I finally got the gear selection issue I
thought it was best to stop. We can regroup for the next event for us,
at Brands Hatch on home soil and see how we get on there,” he added.
“We missed finding the right set-up for the really wet conditions,”
said Rob Garofall. “In the dry the car was flying and if it had started
dry I think we could have been in with a chance to win the race again.
But, it was really tricky out there and it caught both me and Simon out
while we were in the car.”
“The safety car cost us nearly a full lap right at the end of the race.
At least the car is in one piece and we are taking away points. We’ll
have to look at the championship table now and see how to approach the
next round,” he added.
The team will next be in action at the first ever full UK VdeV event,
at Brands Hatch on June 23. The next round of the European championship
takes place at the historic Dijon circuit in France at the beginning of
July.
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