Spa WEC Qualifying

Will it work? Was it exciting? The jury is still out, certainly amongst one of two of the drivers that were interviewed. Compared with Round One at Silverstone the good news was that at least it all worked. The timing screens are mighty complicated as those of you watching ‘Live Timing’ will perhaps agree. If you take the live timing screens and the main TV timing screens here in the media centre you have either twelve or fourteen columns to try and keep up with. It was refreshing that Kamui Kobayashi freely admitted that really didn't have a clue what was going on and what was needed from him!

So how did LM GTE pan out ? Aston took pole in Pro with the #98 car, between them Bruno Senna and Frederic Makowiecki always looked promising and they saw off the two AF Corse Ferraris, #51 and #71. The Porsches again didn't shine. In ‘Am’ it was Aston Martin #95 that took pole ahead of the #81 Ferrari and the second of the Aston Martin Racing machines.

The final results can be seen on http://live.fiawec.com/

With no time to take breath the LM P1 & LM P2 cars are already out. Except initially the #28 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola Nissan which is back in its garage with what might be a starter problems.

#41 has gone off at turn 9 with Dyson driving … there is a red flag so the clock has stopped and no doubt some team managers are having to think mighty fast and re-plan their strategy. When lights went green there was an ugly rush to get out…whether it was all legal is questionable.

The top speeds are soaring and are now over 300 kph which is round 190 mph. Degrassi in the #3 Audi has set a high benchmark and was running with just about enough fuel to get the job done. At this stage the Toyotas still seem down on speed. It is perhaps a bit  disappointed that the new #7 Toyota isn’t significantly quicker than the ‘old’ car but it may be running in a ‘Le Mans’ specification aero pack. Once again the Rebellion Lolas with their Toyota petrol powered have done astoundingly well against the might of Audi and Toyota.

The #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan came back to pits on the back of a lorry so it will start from the back of grid since it didn’t do anywhere near enough laps.

Qualifying is not utterly crucial in a six hour endurance race but it certainly gives us some indication of what might happen tomorrow.