FIA GT Championship

Lister back in form

Following the disappointment of the last three FIA GT races, the Lister team was back on form this weekend at Brno with a seventh position.

Most significantly we showed that the race pace of the car and drivers is excellent and consistent; however, at the moment, the qualifying times are not reflecting the true speed of the car. The Dunlop tyres were as good at the beginning of the hour as at the end as were the drivers and car !

Free Practice: a lot to learn for both Justin and Liz as neither of them has driven at Brno before but, after a few changes to the set-up of the Storm, Justin went 7th fastest in the second free practice ; in fact, when he got out of the car to hand over to Liz he was 4th fastest.

Qualifying: it was certain that the fastest times would be set in the morning session; Justin would drive in the first qualifying practice, Liz the second. He qualified 11th; however, this was changed to 12th after his fastest two times were taken away when Liz missed a red light for scrutineering checks while she was in the car.

Warm-up: following overnight thunderstorms, the conditions were very slippery. On track it was clear that Justin was now getting more comfortable with both the car and the circuit; he set a time which put him 3rd fastest.

The race: The weather for Sunday was changeable, rain and dry; all types of tyres were taken to the grid slicks, intermediates and dry the race started dry but it was just a matter of time before the rain arrived. Justin started, from 12th and avoided a first corner incident which took out three cars. He then had an excellent stint racing the Corvette and catching the 575 Ferrari when the rain arrived after 50 minutes; at which time he was 6th.

The timing of the rain was good Liz could get into the car at the same time as we changed to wets time was lost during that pit stop as the Storm had to be pushed back in order to get around a Saleen parked in front of the next door garage; so Liz was on track in 7th. There followed an impressive 1 hour 10 minute stint for Liz during which time, in the wet conditions, she was setting times which made her 4th fastest on track for several laps. This was also the longest time she has spent in the car this year and she found it “no problem”. In order to make just one more pit stop she had to stay in the car until the end of the second hour by which time the circuit was drying and she had to drive offline to find the wet parts of the track to look after her wet tyres.

Justin took over for the final hour with slick tyres back on the Storm a problem free hour for him in 7th. He was also setting times faster than many of the cars in front of him; including Maserati and Corvette. The Storm finished the race 7th overall with no problems.

The next FIA GT race is the Spa 24 Hours 30/31 July.

Meanwhile in the French GT Championship at Val de Vienne, in the Saturday morning session, a major trip to the gravel put the RED Racing Storm out of the race. Unfortunately, it was driven for a couple of laps after this without making a pit stop to clear out the gravel - the engine failed, probably due to stones being caught in the drive belts.

© 2005 Planetlemans.com.