A quick Wednesday afternoon report from Paul Ricard
This afternoons three-hour session saw Tristan Gommedy take the overall quickest time with a 1m49.770s in the Thiriet by TDS Morgan-Nissan. Gommendy has been sharing the car this week with Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet.
Behind the Morgan-Nissan came the Murphy Prototype Oreca-Nissan driven by Rodolfo Gonzalez who set the time of 1m50.571s deep in to the final hour of running. Third fastest was the Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan which continued its upward trajectory during the test. Felipe Albuquerque set the time of 1m50.844 during final twenty minutes of the session.
Two red flags flew during the three hour session, the most significant of which was for the #82 Crubile Porsche 997 GT3 RSR which hit the guardrail at T12 just before the final hour of running. Driver – Francois Perrado was fine but the car suffered floor and front bodywork damage.
One rather unusual reason mooted by more than one of the drivers here at Paul Ricard for the slower conditions, was that a combination of a strengthening headwind and the subsequent distribution of pollen on to the surface made track conditions less favourable.
LMGTE saw the #56 AT Racing Ferrari 458 Italia set the pace, achieving a best time of 1m57.268s closely followed by the #58 SOFREV-ASP Ferrari in the hands of Soheil Ayari on 1m57.340s. Gulf Racing was 3rd fastest with Adam Carroll/Ryan Cullen/Mike Wainwright and Ben Barker (see below) sharing seat time.
In the GTC class the timesheets were headed by the #64 AF Corse Ferrari with Alessandro Pier Giudi setting the time, as he assisted Ukrainian pair Andriy Kruglyk and Sergii Chukanov to get familiar in their new environment.
Daniel Zampieri continued to get miles aboard the JMW Ferrari 458 Italia and is a potential Gold driver for the team at Silverstone, although a deal is far from being done. The former Kessel Racing driver is well known to Daniel McKenzie who raced against him in World Series by Renault in 2011,so don’t be surprised if there are a pair of Daniel’s in the newly Michelin shod JMW Ferrari this Easter weekend.
Matthew McMurry was still soaking up everything at the Greaves Motorsport pit and was still belying his 16 years.
“It seems crazy to be here but over the last two years I have done somewhere in the region of 60 races,” he said. “I have been training a lot off the track too to be ready. I have been working with a trainer but do a lot of stuff with my Dad too so it is actually quite good fun.
“I work with Gerardo Bonilla closely and he is a great influence about how to approach things on the track. The team have been fantastic and the whole experience has made me just want more and more.”
Gulf Racing tried out the highly-rated Ben Barker this afternoon in their Porsche 911 GT3R. Barker has made a name for himself in both the Porsche Carrera Cup and Porsche Super Cup. The BRDC (British Racing Driver’s Club) Rising Star and BRDC Superstar awarded driver is in contention for a drive with the Milton Keynes based squad for the season ahead. There will be much more from Gulf Racing on the run up to Silverstone as they finalise their driver squad.
Roald Goethe was unable to attend the test this week and the #85 Aston Martin’s action was curtailed earlier today after a gearbox leak was found.
Further Driver Quotes from Wednesday
Christian Klien, Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan-Judd
“Dunlop didn’t bring the soft tyres here and we ran on the mediums which are different to last year. These tyres seem to be better and they were good for two stints but you have to be a bit careful as Paul Ricard is a unique track and you cannot take everything at the real value.
“I did my lap this morning on light tanks but yesterday was on a heavier fuel load. We are in good shape and there are lots of positive things from these two days.”
Harry Tincknell, Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan
“All going well so far. I have been closer to the pace today and I am confident that we will be right there at the sharp end. I ran new tyres in my stint today and we are going in the right direction and trying various set-up changes that are responding well on the car.
“I haven’t done a complete race stint yet but we did two days in Aragon and Estoril and I did a double stint at the former. It all felt good for me which is good because I am used to F3 races where we have 25-30mins races, so it is all good preparation.”
Kevin Korjus, ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C
“It was a good two days and I enjoyed working with the team again. I did some running before this test and like the McLaren. It is a big difference for me because I have done three seasons of World Series by Renault, but I like it and am looking forward to more soon.”
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