AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES NEWS - SEBRING 12-HOUR 15 MARCH 2008 |
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Drayson-Barwell started its first ever American Le Mans Series race on Saturday, at the famous Sebring track in Florida. The British team thus created ALMS history by becoming the first ever GT car to contest a race using E85 Bio-Ethanol fuel. The JCB-sponsored team contested the first round of the championship with its GT3-specification Aston Martin DBRS9 (in the IMSA GT2S division), whilst it waits for the first ever Vantage GT2 car to be built by Aston Martin Racing. The classic Sebring 12 Hour event is therefore an opportunity for the Drayson-Barwell team and drivers, Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker, to learn about the ALMS before taking on the cream of the world’s GT2 teams from round three (Long Beach) onwards. The E85 Bio-Ethanol fuelled DBRS9 is homologated to FIA GT3 specification, which sits just underneath the GT2 class in terms of car development and performance. The FIA GT3 cars are on average three to six seconds per lap slower than the GT2 pace, depending on the length of the circuit. Paul Drayson had the honour of starting the car in what is the second biggest Sportscar race in the world after Le Mans. The mission for the Dunlop-tyred Drayson-Barwell DBRS9 was to try and get to the finish, a major challenge considering the GT3 car is only designed to compete in two-hour ‘sprint’ GT races. Paul, Jonny, and the team’s third driver for Sebring, Tim Sugden, all put in great opening stints to move up to 10th out of the 16 GT2 entrants. During the opening hour there was a caution period and the team made a good call to make sure that Paul got a ‘wave by’ from the Safety Car, and thus gain a lap. Paul then took over for his second stint just before the third hour mark, but went into the high speed Turn One a little too ‘hot’ on his third lap and the Aston Martin went into a big slide. He wrestled with the big V12 DBRS9 and caught the ‘moment’ but the car had drifted wide off the racing line and onto the rubber ‘marbles’ that collect on the edge of the track. This spun the car round and dragged it into the barriers, causing extensive damage to the rear end. Although he made it back to the pits and the team pulled the car ‘behind the wall’ to work on it in the Drayson-Barwell paddock base, the damage to the gearbox was too severe to repair. This was a real shame as a top six GT2 finish was a definite possibility, but the team’s debut in the ALMS has been an incredible experience and we now can’t wait for round two on the streets of St.Petersburg in three weeks’ time. Paul Drayson: "I made a mistake and, as I was told at the beginning of the week, ‘make a mistake at Sebring and the circuit bites back’. Nevertheless – it’s been an excellent week. I am really pleased how well the Team and the car have performed - running faultlessly on E85 bio-ethanol fuel. Everyone at Sebring has been very friendly and the ALMS family has made us feel very much at home. This really is world class racing - very difficult but very rewarding when you get it right." - end - |
