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Davison gets first taste of Le Mans |
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
Australian Alex Davison turned his first laps of the famous Le Mans circuit in France on Sunday, in the official test day for next weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Davison will tackle the sportscar classic on 15-16 June, becoming just the 31st Australian to do so. The 75th running of the event kicked off with Sunday's test at the famed 13.629km circuit for teams and drivers competing in the race. Wet weather dominated the day, adding another element to Davison's first Le Mans experience. "Doing my first-ever laps of Le Mans in heavy rain was pretty interesting," the Melbournian said. "It was a challenge, but I really enjoyed it. "It's an awesome circuit and you have to build up to it slowly, especially in these conditions, while at the same time being aware of the faster cars coming up behind you." Dry tracktime was limited to early in the morning session, with team owner Horst Felbermayr Sr kicking off Team Felbermayr-Proton's campaign. By the time Davison and team-mate Wolf Henzler got behind the wheel of the team's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, the rain had set in, with the track only drying slightly late in the day.
Davison shone in the wet conditions, setting the #77 entry's fastest-time of the day at 4:12.879, the fourth-fastest LM GT2 class time of the afternoon. With the majority of the quick laptimes set in dry conditions earlier in the day, Davison's lap put him seventh overall in LM GT2. "The weather played a massive role in the test," Davison, 27, said. "There was some relatively dry tracktime early on, but then the rain arrived and it was wet for most of the day. "We had good pace in the rain and our dry laptimes aren't indicative of what we are capable of, so it's looking promising." Davison returns to the track next Wednesday, 11 June, for the first of two qualifying sessions for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans which takes place on 15-16 June. "The rain didn't help our program, but the laps we did could be very beneficial if it rains during the race," he said.
"Even with the rain, we learnt quite a bit and didn't have any major problems, so it was a solid day. "We're looking forward to qualifying, making further improvements and showing what we can do." 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans TimetableWednesday 11 June - Qualifying 1Thursday 12 June - Qualifying 23:00pm (11:00pm AEST) Saturday 15 June - Race commences3:00pm (11:00pm AEST) Sunday 16 June - Race concludes
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| Who is Alex Davison?Alex Davison is part of one of Australia's most-famous racing families. His late-grandfather Lex won the Australian Driver's Championship and was a four-time Australian Grand Prix winner, in addition to international racing forays including the Le Mans 24 Hour. Alex's father Richard raced extensively between the late 1970s and early 1990s, while his brother Will is a rising star in V8 Supercars and his cousin James races in the American Indy Lights Series. After success in karting, Alex stepped up to the Australian Formula Ford Championship, finishing second in 1999. At the end of 1999, Alex was selected by Porsche to move to Europe on a junior driver scholarship, racing internationally with the manufacturer until 2003. In that time, he competed in the German Carrera Cup and Porsche Michelin Supercup, scoring wins at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hockenheim and Sachsenring circuits, and visited the podium at Monza, Nurburgring and Hungaroring. Davison's efforts were recognised by the British Racing Drivers Club in 2002, when he was awarded the Bruce McLaren Trophy as the Commonwealth driver with the most-meritorious international racing achievements. Alex returned home in 2004, winning Australian Carrera Cup Championship, and raced in the V8 Supercar Championship in 2005. In addition to finishing second in the 2006 and 2007 Carrera Cup championships, Davison has impressed in V8 Supercar endurance races, scoring Top 10 finishes at Bathurst in the last two years partnered with rookie drivers. Alex moved to Germany in early 2008 and is employed as a Porsche-supported driver, contesting the European Le Mans Series. |
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