6H Portimao: Saturday Paddock Notes

Prema fined for pit infringement, keeps pole

The #63 LMP2 Prema Racing ORECA has kept its pole position following a post-qualifying investigation into the work carried out on the car in the pit lane when the session went green.

TV coverage of LMP2 qualifying showed Prema mechanics running to the assitance of the #63 car, which was in a row of cars awaiting release at the end of pit lane at the start of the session. The mechanics briefly attempted to remove the rear clip of the car, before then deciding to move the car backwards, out of the fast lane, to a position close to pit exit, where they removed both the rear clip and engine cover. The car was sent out of the pits, turning after the single lap for further attention in the team’s own working area.

Also responding to the incident were WRT mechanics, who ran down to assist one of its cars to clear the Prema car that was impeeding its exit to join the session. DSC believes that both United, and WRT, who were behind the #63 in the queue protested that they were impeeded on their entry to the session.

The team has been handed a €1000 fine for the infraction.

Hartley expects closer fight tomorrow

Toyota’s pole-winning driver Brendon Hartley says he expects the Ferrari AF Corse 499Ps, Porsche 963s and the Cadillac to be contenders in tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Portimao, and that the difference in qualifying pace between Toyota and the rest of the field won’t neccesarily transfer to the race.

“My feeling is that Ferrari had issues with their race performance in Sebring, and honestly through practice they were very quick,” he said after Toyota’s 20th front-row lockout in the FIA WEC. “I didn’t expect there to be such a gap, but there may be different tyre compounds in play, we have different options here and it’s hard to know what everyone did.

“It hasn’t been straightforward for us, we have felt on the backfoot. In long run pace it really did feel like Ferrari has the edge on us. We’ve made good steps over the sessions, we have a good feeling going into the race. I expect it to be very close, particularly with Feerrari but actually Cadillac and Porsche look there on long run pace. I think we are in for an enjoyable race tomorrow.”

Keating surprised by Corvette Racing and Iron Dames Qualifying pace

Corvette Racing driver Ben Keating, who stormed to pole in today’s GTE Am Qualifying session after a shootout with Sarah Bovy’s Iron Dames Porsche, says it was surprised that the Ferrari teams weren’t closer to or quicker than his C8.R in the session.

“I expected the Ferraris to be up front,” he admitted in the post Qualifying conference. “In all the practice sessions they were the quickest car, and we weren’t quite sure what we were going to be able to do. I have to give so much credit to the Corvette team.

“The C8.R has never been to Portimão, and neither has the team. This is not a place where you show up and do well from the beginning. We’ve been making unbelievable, big improvements in the car every time we go out. I couldn’t believe how well the car was set up for qualifying.

“Before the session, Martin (Haven, WEC TV) we talked about if it was going to be another battle between Sarah and myself. I said “no way and that Ferrari was going to be up there”, and neither Sarah nor I would be up there. I got to the end of qualifying and saw we were P1 and P2; my first thought was that Martin was going to call me a liar!”

The fastest of the Ferraris in the session was the #21 AF Corse example, that will start third in class tomorrow after Diego Alessi’s effort, three tenths off the pole time.

Holland impressed by Vector Sport’s progress

Vector Sport’s ORECA will start from the front row in LMP2 after a head-turning performance from Gabriel Aubry in Qualifying. Aubry missed out on pole by the slimmest margin ever in an LMP2 Qualifying session, just one thousandth of a second. Still, this pace was good enough to score the British team its best ever Qualifying performance in the FIA WEC, and gives the team a real confidence boost for tomorrow.

“I’m extremely pleased for the whole Vector Sport team who have worked so hard for this, even if it’s tinged with some frustration at the moment,” said team principal Gary Holland after the session.

“It shows what we are capable of, in only our eighth ever race, but we all know that tomorrow is when it really counts. Gabi’s speed and talent has definitely been on display here in Portimão, plus Ryan (Cullen) and Matthias (Kaiser) have both been right on the pace in practice. We’re confident that we’ve got a car that will perform well so now it’s eyes forward for tomorrow’s race.”

Hanson handed grid penalty

Phil Hanson on the other hand has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeeding the #9 Prema ORECA during the session.

“Car 22 slowed significantly after the finish line and unneccessarily impeded car 9, which was on a fast lap, at the appex of Turn 2” the stewards decision read.

As a result, the #22 United Autosports ORECA has dropped from third to sixth on the grid, promoting the #48 HERTZ Team JOTA ORECA into the top three.

The decision can not be appealed by United Autosports.

The final grid for tomorrow’s race can be found HERE >>>

New TV graphics for tomorrow’s race

The TV graphics have been updated for tomorrow’s include a real time the graphic representation of the virtual energy tank for the Hypercar category cars.

The virtual energy tank graphic (below) will show in real time the state of the combined energy of the combustion engine and the hybrid system, which is allocated to each Hypercar for each stint.

Lotterer finding 963 tough to drive

Penske Porsche driver Andre Lotterer says he finds the 963 tricky to drive. When asked to compare the experience of driving the 919 Hybrid to the 963, he told DSC that the newer car is not as enjoyable of an experience behind the wheel, and was critical of the performance gap bewteen the cars in Hypercar and LMP2, which around a circuit like Portimao is only a couple of seconds.

“The LMP1 was an animal, it was 6-10 seconds a lap quicker per lap, had much more downforce, was lighter, had four-wheel drive and more power,” he said. “It was a lot more natural and intuitive to drive. These cars are quite a handful, heavy and with less downforce. It’s quite stressful. It’s much less enjoyable than an LMP1 car. It’s a shame the rules are like this with weight and downforce because we struggle in traffic, LMP2s are faster than us through corners.

“You can get stuck behind someone for a while in the race, for me the gap isn’t enough. You’re almost racing them, so there is a risk of touching someone.”

The two Penske Porsches will start tomorrow’s race fifth and seventh on the grid.

Images courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography

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