- 8,835
- Northamptonshire
- AlexGibbo27
Hello guys, basically back in 2008 through sim-racing I befriended a Brazilian LMP2 driver by the name of Fernando Rees, and I went with him to Spa this weekend for the le mans series 1000km race. Here is my quoted report from another website:
here are some more pics:
Zytek 07S with 09 spec
GT class qualifying - pit lane queue
Mazda Rotary
Pescarolo Mazda
The Lola coupe in question, which was killing the Zytek in the straights, turns out it was a p1 lol
To prove I was actually there
Wishing good luck to Fernando before the race
Hello guys, here I will post my review and thoughts on the weekend. I'm sure the guys who were also there will post something as well.
We took an early flight, arrived in brussels and rented a car. We were just about to leave when we realised we left the cases at the rental desk, LOL. Anyway we took the 1.5 hour journey to the circuit and called Nando to give us the passes, we were wondering why he didnt reply when this happened:
So that's where he is!
We spent some time at Eau Rouge on the first day
In practice 1 Fernando was leading in class when it started to rain, so that meant it was unlikely the times would be beaten. The Barazi-Epsilon car came by again, this time with Juan driving. The track dried up and in the last minute a Lola beat Fernando's time, I'd like to think he'd have been first had he been driving in the same conditions!
We didnt actually manage to meet up with Fernando, his wife Barbara and his parents until we went back the villa where we were staying. That evening we went into the old spa town for dinner, They took us out to a cozy little pizzeria, the food was so nice! We shared family stories and dicussed F1 etc.etc. It was a cool night.
The whole area of Spa and Francorchamps is beautiful. picturesque houses and building, with rolling countryside and big forests, you would never expect there to be a world famous race-track nearby. We stayed at the Villa-Des-Fagnes which was in the nice resdential area in the countryside hills, very nice place to be. Nando said that even some F1 drivers stay there.
Anyway back to the racing and on saturday we were up early and straight to the garage just before practice, this was the scene when we arrived:
Fernando, eyes closed and concentrating before exiting the pits
Practice went reasonably well, I assumed, but the track was a bit tough for tyre choice as wet/dry in areas. On to qualifying; Fernando was chosen to qualify this time and I went to watch with the engineers at the back of the garage with telemetry. In the previous session both Juan and Fernando has complained that the Lola coupe LMP2 had been so much faster down the straights, both actually asked if it was an LMP1. To gain straight line speed they removed the winglets from the front of the car by the headlights. The straight line max speed went from 267 to 287, but managed only 7th in class, to which it looked to me the drivers and team were underwhelmed. I sat in on the meeting with the engineers to see if they could find where they were losing time, they needed another 1 second... But at least they could test in warmup.
My favorite photo from the day:
The following morning, sunday, we arrived at the track to find fog and the warmup session cancelled. However they did start a GT3/ GT4 race 15 mins after in the same conditions. This meant there would be no more time in the car before the race.
The weather brightened up a lot for the race, a beautiful afternoon for racing. Before the race, there was the autograph session :] Fernando signed many many autographs, someone even bought a photo of him from Hockenheim 2004 in F3!
I also came to the decision that Juan Barazi is quite possibly the coolest person in the world, I want a pair of those sunglassesAs the race drew closer the mechanics ran engine and gearbox tests and prepared the car, Fernando got in, I wished him good luck and me and my dad made our way to the grandstand after La Source to watch the start...
Race: Fernando started the race well and got a clean turn 1, overtook a car or 2 in the opening laps and was going fine. The safety car came out and Fernando pitted for fuel which dropped him down the order, he soon made up places though. We made our way over to the garage after a while and Fernando pitted in, the front headlight was smashed and the winglet missing, there was a replacement front wheel arch and headlight sitting on the corner of the garage I expected it to be fitted, it wasnt.
After a 2 hour stint Fernando pulled into the pits and got out of the car, Didier who was team manager (I believe) told Fernando he shouldnt get out yet, but it was no use Fernando was out of the car in a flash and very unhappy about something. He shouted that the fire extinguisher was on his foot (in reailty it had a lot more F's ) I have the conversation recorded as I was filming the pit stop and it took place just in view of the camera, but will not be posting unless Rees gives me permission, it was a reasonably heated moment. Juan Barazi quickly got ready and went straight into the car.
Juan did very well and with good pace coupled with some others misfortunes he bought the team up to 4th in class, a great achievement seeing as they were almost last early in the race! I had to leave at around 5 to catch my flight back, but I guess Fernando got back in the car later on and finished the race in 4th. So we wished Fernando and his family goodbye, and his father said "You will have to be convincing, we will see you at the Algarve next race, father or not" LOL.
Anyway, took the flight back got home with a giant pizza, checked the internet to see where they finished, which was 4th, then shortly after found they were excluded for a technical non-compliance! I think it must be finishing with a smashed light?
here are some more pics:
Zytek 07S with 09 spec
GT class qualifying - pit lane queue
Mazda Rotary
Pescarolo Mazda
The Lola coupe in question, which was killing the Zytek in the straights, turns out it was a p1 lol
To prove I was actually there
Wishing good luck to Fernando before the race
