05 Nov 2010 Friday: Report from Zhuhai

 

It was damp today in both of Friday's free practice sessions. Light but persistent rain, shook up competitors set-up programmes. We'll have to get used to this weather as it is not expected to improve tomorrow for qualifying.

The city of Zhuhai is located in Guangdong province and is subject to a subtropical climate. It was expected that the atmosphere would be refreshed by occasional showers. But at this point, the competitors (who mostly arrived on Wednesday) have not yet seen the colour of the sun! Worse still, since yesterday the fog has gradually invaded the circuit. "The fog can be embarrassing," said Franck Montagny (driver of Peugeot # 2) after the two practice sessions of the day, “however rain could bring a little excitement in the race. Normally the circuit is not very difficult but things get complicated with moisture." He was smiling, the two 908 HDi FAP showed to their advantage during the free practice sessions yesterday. First and fourth, the French prototypes frame the two Audi R15 TDI. The fight promises to be fierce between the two protagonists of ILMC. But whatever happens tomorrow, uncertainty will remain high because, according to forecasts, competitors will not have the opportunity to drive on a dry track before Sunday!

In GT2, it was Porsche who took the lead but the gap to the fastest Ferrari is a tiny 32 thousanths of a second. Best performers of the day, Richard Lieb and Richard Lietz and decided not to let up. After the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Le Mans Series, the duo is determined to conquer ILMC. We might expect the 997 GT3 RSR in the first position, but no one expected to see its hybrid version just as fast. The energy recovery system seems to be particularly effective in the tight Chinese circuit, and even though this car is racing outside the classification, it could be involved in the struggle between Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Jaguar and Lamborghini.

These tricky conditions show the talent of drivers and two of them have been particularly noted with their Audi R8 LMS: Alex Yoong, a former member of the Minardi team in Formula 1, and Danny Watts who won the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans in LM P2, mingled with the GT2 field. "I like the track at Zhuhai," said the Briton. “It is narrow and bumpy in places but composed of a wide variety of corners. The settings of the car are a compromise, we must consider the long straight and several tight curves. We will therefore focus on braking stability and traction. "

Tomorrow, the tension goes up a notch with the first 'moment of truth', in the form of two qualifying sessions of 20 minutes each. The first will be reserved for GT, the second prototypes. Audi had the pole position at the first race at Silverstone and Peugeot in the second at Road Atlanta. Who will be the fastest this time? Although qualification is not decisive in endurance races, they are still important to the media. The two rivals want to lead at the start of the 1000 kilometers of Zhuhai, that will transmitted by some thirty television channels. Finally, remember that the finale of the ILMC presents the final clash of the fabulous Peugeot 908 and Audi R15 in their official colours!

Prototypes times
1 1 - Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - Sébastien Bourdais/Simon Pagenaud - 1:28.751
2 7 - Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R15 TDI - Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish - 1:29.389
3 8 - Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R15 TDI - Rinaldo Capello/Romain Dumas - 1:30.041
4 2 - Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - Stéphane Sarrazin/Franck Montagny - 1:31.093
5 35 - OAK Racing - Pescarolo Judd - Jacques Nicolet/Frédéric Da Rocha/Patrice Lafargue - 1:43.422

GT2 times
1 77 - Team Felbermayr-Proton - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Marc Lieab/Richard Lietz - 1:43.313
2 90 - CRS Racing - Ferrari F430 GT - Pierre Ehret - Phil Quaife/Andrew Kirkaldy - 1:43.345
3 95 - AF Corse - Ferrari F430 GT - Gianmaria Bruni/Toni Vilander/Jaime Melo - 1:43.621
4 88 - Team Felbermayr-Proton - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Gianluca Roda/Christian Ried/Martin Ragginger
5 78 - BMW Team Schnitzer - BMW E92 M3 - Jörg Müller/Dirk Werner - 1:45.455

The start of the 1 000 km of Zhuhai will on Sunday at 12:00 noon (04:00am UK).

Photo : ZHUHAI (PRC), 1 000 KM of ZHUHAI, 5th NOV 2010. Peugeot lead Audi in first free practice.

Julien Hergault