Adria Day One

Sascha Bert (#36 Zakspeed Racing Viper Competition Coupe)
“It was a good session, I only did two laps because I need to help Wido get on the pace and we’re giving him as much lap time as possible.  I had a problem when we wanted to use the new tyres, a car flew off and there were yellow flags and under yellow you can’t do your best lap.  So I had three laps that were very slow, then the yellows were withdrawn and I did the two times.  This is not a track for the Viper, it is a go kart track.  Adria is a track for Audi or for Morgan because you have to change direction, you have to brake very hard; you don’t have a long straight and you don’t have fast corners.  So this is not a special track for the car.  But also the car is good here, it isn’t a problem, but it isn’t a special track for this car.  The key tomorrow in qualifying will be to have a clear lap, but I don’t think that is possible.  I think you have to overtake a minimum of two cars on a fast lap.  It will be very hard.  I like racing at night, I drive at night during 24-hours races – I like that.  I hope the second free practice session will be better and I’ll be in front.”

Nicolas Armindo (#32 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS)
“I think we have to wait to see how we go in free practice because the track is very narrow here and there are many, many cars.  The first point is to finish the race, not to do any damage to the car and to collect the maximum number of points.  Silverstone was very good and we are second in the championship, but that is already behind us. I’m starting this weekend with a blank page and we’ll see what happens.  I will do every race like this as it is too early to think about the championship.  I’ve done one night race before this weekend; it is always nice to compete in a night race.  I have special glasses and we’ll see if they work or not!”

Gael Lesoudier (#101 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero Super Sport)
“I discovered I don’t know this circuit, but it wasn’t too bad.  The corners are very short and there are a lot of drivers on the track, so it was very hard to overtake; I had to look in my mirrors all the time.  But it’s not too bad we have to improve the rear of the car.  I think we can improve a lot in the second session because the gap between the top drivers is not so big.”

Tim Sugden (#22 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S)
 “It was good actually; I was quite pleased. The car seemed good straight away; much better than at Silverstone.  We’ve changed the set up and it is ‘night-and-day’ better than it had been at Silverstone.  I know other people will go quick later on but I know we are respectable here, where at Silverstone we were miles off.  Adria is tight and twisty but it is equal for everybody and that is the point with all tracks.  So it is just a case of getting on with it.  It’s certainly going to be important to qualify as well as we can but that’s always the case.  It would be nice to be near the front to stay out of trouble; if you’re in the middle there is a good chance of getting involved in some trouble.”

Claudia Hürtgen (#24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3)
“It was quite OK, we drove 30 laps and we had no problems on the car, so we can continue in the Free Practice and work for the qualifying.  I think here it will also be tough in qualifying because there are a lot of cars within 1 and 1.5 seconds. It is really tough to find one or two tenths because it can be three or four places upwards or backwards.  I’m quite happy; we found little things and I’ll try to improve these things in the next Free Practice and we’ll see whether we are there.”

 Klaas Hummel (#55 CRS Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia)
“This is the first time in FIA GT3 for me and it is very exciting. We have a small track; we have lots of cars and maybe we have rain, so this is probably the best time to start.  The team only received the car just before the races at Silverstone so they couldn’t do much on the setting up of the car, so Silverstone was just testing.  I think the car is now very nice and they have done a lot of work and it is up to me to prove that they can be in the front.  But for me as a new driver the plan is to do a good job and try to finish the race.  The night race should be very interesting.  I’m a little worried as I’ve never driven in the evening and I’m curious to see how it goes.  But it also very exciting.”

Julien Rodrigues (#3 Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9)
“We had two very good races at Silverstone and I hope in Adria it will be the same. We did some tests in Adria during the winter and the car is very good here. It is going to be very difficult to do a good lap because there will be lots of drivers on the track during qualification.  I think there are just 70 metres per driver, it is very difficult.  I think we’ll just have one lap to do a good time.  If we have a good qualification we will do well in the race.  Adria is going to very different for the Aston Martin as the car prefers longer corners while here there are short corners.  It’s not the best track for the Aston Martin but I’m sure we will have a good race.”

Dimitris Deverikos (#19 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S)
“I think Porsche has a lot of potential here in Adria and I will try to do the best job I can to get a good result.  This is the first time I’ve driven with Jamomir Jirik but I’m sure we’ll do well together.  Sean Edwards had a good result at Silverstone, setting the fastest lap and it makes me optimistic for this weekend. This will be the first time I’ve taken part in a night race and it will be a good experience for me.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to take part in the next two rounds in Germany and Portugal and if I’m in front then I will make a decision.” 

Christoffer Nygaard (#28 Fischer Racing Ford GT)
“After the Silverstone result, which was my first FIA GT3 race, was very good and I’m proud of my performance there.  I’m looking forward to racing here at Adria, which will also be my first night race.  The track looks a little difficult and with the weather it could be a little hazardous – we’ll see.  The pace in Silverstone was very good, Florian and I did a good job together.  I hope we can do the same here.”

Gilles Vannelet (#35 MP Racing BMW Alpina B6 GT3)
“It’s difficult for us because the track is very small and is all engine and brakes, engine and brakes and is really for school cars.  It is nice to race so near to Venice but I would prefer to race at Spa, Monza or Barcelona, which would suit our car a lot better.  The car is good and Alpina have some developments coming that will improve the performance.”

Subscribe: