Magny Cours VdeV
The Weather Claims Its Victims In Magny Cours
October 2010
Magny Cours highlighted just how far cars at the front had moved on with development and even though Ryan & Derrick went quicker than last year in qualifying, we went back 4 places on the grid to 12th.
20 minutes Ryan’s planned 2 hour10 minute stint, the rain started to fall and Ryan decided to stay out as long as possible on slicks to see what the weather was going to do. The team were confident about the car’s ability in the tricky conditions and this confidence was repaid with Ryan moving up to 7th before the rain got too heavy and time came to finally pit for wets.
Then 20 minutes before the end of Ryan’s stint there was a problem with the exhaust and performance dropped rapidly. The team decided to bring the car in at this point and do the driver change at the same time. Despite the speedy reactions of the team, they lost 5 laps whilst work was carried out.
Derrick headed out for his first stint and the conditions remained treacherous and trying. The heavy water meant a quick trip to the ‘kitty litter’ for Derrick, but thankfully he was able to be towed out and carry on for another 30 minutes before the exhaust problem reared its head once more.
Despite all these dramas and being 12 laps down at the 3 hour mark of the 6 hour race, the team battled on only for it to be game over when Derrick was collected by the spinning car of a fellow competitor suffering their share of woe in a race of attrition.
There is one final round of the VdeV at Estoril in Portugal on 19-21 November which will also be a 6 hour race. Hopefully the team will have a change of luck and finish on a high ready for an attack again next year, either in the same car but with big development upgrades, or in another car. Watch this space!