It looked more like the Nordschleife than Estoril this morning as a thin mist and light drizzle enveloped the track. The teams were making final preparations for the first free practice session with plenty of new faces frequenting the pit lane.
New incumbents at Greaves Motorports – James Fletcher and Miguel Faisca – were limbering up for their prototype debuts this weekend. Both will be driving an LMP2 for the first time in FP1.
“Actually it will be my first time driving at Estoril,” said the Portuguese GT Academy winner, Faisca. “I am not from a racing family in the traditional sense and we didn’t go to races when I was a kid but it feels fantastic to be given this great opportunity and race for Nissan and NISMO this weekend. I am sure the crowd will give both me and Filipe (Albuquerque) a big lift this weekend.”
James Fletcher has raced in the British GT Championship this season sharing a GT4 with Stefan Hodgetts. This though is a huge step for the 20-year old, who plans to carve a career in top-line endurance racing.
“It will be like a competitive test for me this weekend but of course in a racing environment you have to race,” he said. “The deal really came through contacts my manager,Chris Harfield, has. It is a fantastic chance to show what I can do but the watchword will be ‘learning’. I plan to soak everything up about the car, the downforce levels and also how a top professional LMP2 team operates.”
Down at Murphy Prototypes Tony Wells and James Littlejohn were fully ensconced in the warm ambiance of the popular Irish team, practicing driver changes. ‘The Gaffer’– Greg Murphy looked on and was, as ever, in relaxed and chatty form.
“James really impressed me at Silverstone and I like the way they operate together, “said Murphy. “In ‘Pipo’ we have a real gem. He was terrific at Paul Ricard and he is super intelligent and super quick. A great combination for a driver and a rare one in my experience!
“We are looking ahead to next year and I am hoping ‘Pipo’ will be part of the team of course. I am also talking closely with a good current FIA Formula Three driver too. We will be in very good shape next season and are planning on pretty much a similar programme to this year.”
GP3 race winner Jimmy Eriksson was settling in at Sebastien Loeb Racing. The Swede is sharing with Vincenet Capillaire this weekend and keeping his options open on his future career.
“This is a nice change for me and will be interesting to see what I learn from it from a team work point of view. It is in many ways a different discipline but ultimately it is a race and you have to go quickly, so in many cases nothing changes.”
There are now 35 cars on the entry list with the #81 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Matteo Cressoni/Thomas Kemenater missing the final round.
The forecast is for it to clear up later this afternoon but it looks as if we will have our first wet session of the year later on this morning.
And a very quick thanks to Martyn Pass, Jota Sport, ELMS and Filipe Albuquerque for giving this correspondent a couple of laps in an Audi RS5 this morning. The rapid Portuguese is now familiar with high pitched screams from a fully grown man, as well as phrases such as; ‘Stop….stop you crazy b******* and ‘Oh my f******* life….noooo!’
It was, as they say, a reminder that these guys are no mere mortals like us and their reflexes are from another planet entirely.
Sam Smith
