- Unseasonably cold weather thwarts Anglo-American team’s glory bid
- Famous English venue proves to be a difficult track for Audi R8 LMS teams
“Flaming June” it was not at Silverstone
(England) for United Autosports’ “home” FIA GT3 European Championship races of
the year this weekend (June 4-5).
Consequently the unseasonably low ambient
temperatures which decreased as the three-day event went on, wrecked any hopes
the Anglo-American team had of scoring top finishes on “home soil”. Its Dunlop
tires, normally excelling in the latter stages of the hour-long races as opposed
to short qualifying runs, were unable to generate the necessary heat required
for optimum grip leaving the drivers powerless.
Nevertheless the #22 Draper Tools sports
car of Joe Osborne (GB) and Mark Patterson (USA) was the second-highest Audi R8
LMS in both one-hour races around the 3.67-mile “Arena” Grand Prix
track.
Upcoming . . .
The fourth round of the Avon Tyres
British GT Championship. A two-hour race staged at Brands Hatch, Kent (England)
on June 19 which Matt Bell (GB) & Mike Guasch (USA) start as championship
leaders after winning the last race at Snetterton. Fifth & sixth rounds of
the FIA GT3 European Championship at Navarra (Spain) on 2-3 July.
Race 1 (Saturday, duration
60mins)
Qualifying: 19th #22
Patterson, 2m 06.259s; 22nd #23 Brown, 2m 06.990s. Weather: Dry,
cloudy.
Race Result: 15th (#22)
+51.477s P1; 21st (#23) +70.767s. Weather: Dry, sunny,
cool.
Patterson and Brown lined up
19th and 22nd respectively on the 27-car grid – both
frustrated when cool morning conditions did not help generate heat in to the
temperature sensitive Dunlop tires during the 20-minute qualifying session. Both
dropped places during the hectic start with Patterson, who had incredulously
been hit before the green light, was back in to 19th by the fourth
lap while Brown lay 26th after a harmless spin at Becketts on lap
eight.
Mark, having set his personal best time
the previous lap, and Zak pitted from 19th and 23rd
positions respectively with 33mins to run, Osborne and Bell resuming in
23rd and 24th positions separated by less than seven
seconds.
With 10mins remaining Osborne moved up to
18th – a mysterious handling imbalance severely handicapping Bell’s
pace in 21st. Joe was the quickest car in the field on the final lap,
as his Dunlop tires came into their own, enabling him to take the checker in
15th – one position and less than five seconds behind the best placed
Audi, Osborne having set the eighth fastest lap time in the race – with Bell
21st.
Race 2 (Sunday, duration
60mins)
Qualifying: 12th #22 Osborne,
2m 04.230s; 22nd #23 Bell, 2m 5.020s. Weather: Dry, cloudy, light
rain.
Race Result: 16th (#22)
+69.334s P1; 17th (#23) +82.508s. Weather: Dry, overcast, cool,
breezy.
Osborne started from row six – the second
best-placed Audi R8 LMS – with Bell on the 12th row but optimistic
further suspension changes overnight would solve the handling issue on the #23
Audi. A multi-car accident at the first corner moments after the green light
resulted in a 10min Safety Car period – Osborne making up two places despite
being forced wide to miss the carnage with Bell, who ran over on-track debris,
19th.
Osborne was embroiled in a five-car dice
over seventh at the re-start while Bell, enjoying a more consistent balance,
impressively moved up to 15th prior to pitting at mid-distance – five
places behind Osborne.
Patterson resumed 13th but Zak
coasted to a standstill on his out-lap, a full ignition re-set getting the
American underway almost immediately but having slipped back to 21st.
Further woes afflicted the #22 Audi when Patterson was forced wide dropping to
18th – one place ahead of Brown with 16mins remaining.
At the checker, Patterson and Brown
claimed 16th – a spin on the penultimate lap costing Mark a place –
and 17th respectively – both United Autosports’ Audi sports cars
recording some impressive lap times in the closing stages culminating, once
again, with each driver setting their best laps at the finish.
#22 Draper Tools – Audi R8
LMS
Joe Osborne
(GB). Age: 22. Born: Bedford, GB. Lives:
Olney, Buckinghamshire, GB:
“I had a lot of work to do in Race One
but just got my head down. The tires came in towards the very end and I managed
to claw back some places which was encouraging. I was reasonably happy with my
qualifying performance on Saturday, claiming P12 although it could have been a
top-eight but I lost out in traffic on what was looking to be my quickest lap. I
was close to getting wiped out at the start of the second race with the first
corner accident, having to go way off onto the run off area. It’s frustrating as
we [Audi] shouldn’t be in a position whereby the R8 LMS is fighting for
positions in midfield – it would seem that the Balance of Power is not
right.”
Mark Patterson
(USA). Age: 59. Born: Port Elizabeth, SA.
Lives: Bronxville, New York State, USA:
“I qualified P19 for Saturday’s race
which was the best I could manage. Amazingly I was hit three corners before the
race had even started which caused me to be slow away at the green light and
then I had to be a little careful until I knew if the car had been damaged. It
wasn’t a particularly rewarding stint which gave Joe a lot to do when he took
over. Having driven the Audi on full tanks on Saturday, I enjoyed Sunday’s race
far better. Joe handed me over a nice racecar. Unfortunately I had a spin near
the end.”
#23 Legends of Motorsport – Audi R8
LMS
Matt Bell
(GB). Age: 21. Born: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, GB.
Lives: Barningham, North Yorks, GB:
“We tested at Snetterton before we came
here and the Audi R8 LMS was excellent but here, the handling has not been good.
We’d made an overnight change to the suspension set-up on Friday resulting in
the back end being too loose for me in qualifying on Saturday so we reverted
back to the previous set-up for Race One but the handling was still not to my
liking. Further changes were made for Sunday’s race and it was more consistent
but not perfect. I made a good start but then had to stand on the brakes to
avoid the opening corner accident. With the cool conditions, the opposition’s
Michelins didn’t drop off in terms of grip as much as normal while our Dunlop
tires, didn’t give us a second half of the race advantage that they normally
give us.”
Zak Brown
(USA). Age: 39. Born: Los Angeles,
California, USA. Lives: Carmel, Indiana, USA:
“Frustrated – no other word sums up how
Matt & I feel, and the entire team for that matter, feel after this weekend.
With United Autosports coming off recording its first outright win [British GT
Championship] combined with us racing here at Silverstone for a second time, we
expected to be very competitive this weekend. The set-up clearly didn’t suit the
conditions we’ve had over the past three days. Our Dunlop tires excel as a race
progresses but they need the ambient temperature to be warm. At Silverstone, it
got colder each day so we couldn’t enjoy the advantage that we normally enjoy as
a race progresses. We therefore qualified poorly and I’m afraid that continued
in to both races when we had one of those days in the office that is best
forgotten. We all have bad weekends, this was ours, and all we do now is look
ahead to the next races and hopefully some hotter weather!”
Richard Dean
(GB), Managing Director & Co-Owner of
United Autosports:
“Although the weekend was a huge
disappointment to everyone in the United Autosports team, we will learn from the
experience for future races. The cold ambient temperature in both races negated
the advantage our Audi R8 LMS has of being easy on its tires as well as the
actual performance of our Dunlop tires from the mid-race stage. We now look
forward to an upturn in fortune in Spain next month and replicate the success we
are enjoying in the British GT Championship.”
United Autosports
Created in 2009, United Autosports is
co-owned by American Zak Brown and Briton Richard Dean, both successful
entrepreneurs and international race car drivers. The unique Anglo-American
racing team fields GT3 class Audi R8 LMS sports cars from its United Kingdom
headquarters in Leeds. It also races a fleet of “Legends of Motorsports”
historic racing cars from its US facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2011, the
team competes in full seasons of FIA GT3 European Championship, Avon Tyres
British GT Championship and the “Legends of Motorsports” series. It will
additionally contest selected GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series events, the 24
Hours of Spa (Belgium) and Macau GT Cup race (China).
Audi R8 LMS
V10 5.2-liter engine, 4 valves per
cylinder, petrol direct injection, 365-412 kW (496-560 PS), emission control by
two racing catalytic converters, rear-wheel-drive, traction control (ASR),
sequential pneumatic activated 6-speed sport gearbox with shift-paddles, Audi
Space Frame (ASF) made of aluminum with bolted steel roll-cage, carbon-fiber
composite/aluminum bodywork, Dunlop radial tires. Start weight 1,300kg.
Limitation at 8500rpm for every gear. Developed by Audi Sport with cooperation
from quattro GmbH. Won seven championships across Europe in 2009-2010 plus Spa
24 Hours class victory in début 2009 season and Nürburgring 24 Hours class
victories in 2009-2010 and scoring a total 64 victories.
* Bell, Brown, Osborne & Patterson biographies plus team & car profiles are available on the United Autosports website http://www.unitedautosports.com/
A comprehensive library of Editorial Copyright Free photographs can be downloaded at www.flickr.com/unitedautosports/sets
For further information, please contact:
Martyn Pass
Audi UK Sport Press
T +44 1564 824600
M +44 7801 859502
Skype martyn.pass
www.audi-press.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment