Le Mans Series

Second and fourth row places for Creation

© Planetlemans

It wasn’t a great day for Creation but it wasn’t a bad one either. There was disappointment about the eventual qualifying positions of 4th (Jamie Campbell-Walter with a time of 1:20.992) and 7th (Nicolas Minassian with a time of 1:21.555) but there was also a great sense of achievement in fielding two of the CA06/H ‘Blue Rockets’. The new nr. 10 car turned its first lap as the flag went green at 9.00 am this morning, and it became apparent after the three hours of practice that there was a small difference between the two cars which was affecting the new racing machine’s lap times.

Team Principal Ian Bickerton explains further. “It’s been a bit of a strange day really. So much for being Donington experts! The nr.9 car went very well in qualifying. We had a bit of a late decision on our tyre marking this morning and they didn’t go into the oven until the last ten minutes before qualifying so Jamie’s tyres weren’t up to proper temperature. If we’d done that I think we could have got him the pole. He did a great job apart from that and showed his worth today.

“Nic and Kevin have always been up against it today. We changed the differential on their car and it’s something we can’t change back at a circuit as it’s quite a specialised bit of kit. Unfortunately it was the wrong way to go, and we’ve got to live with it now. We tried to alter the set up of the car to suit it, but we can’t go much further with it and we haven’t given them the race car they deserve.”

Jamie Campbell-Walter was bubbling with enthusiasm about very his first prototype qualifying session. “I’m a little bit disappointed with 4th but, for a first go in a prototype at qualifying I shouldn’t be too unhappy because it’s really close. At Nurburgring the Courages were quick there as well, and we did okay in the end. We’re very close to the Pescarolo which is the benchmark car really. I did my best [in qualifying] and really enjoyed it but I made a little mistake at the chicane on my fastest lap and I locked up the front left. I tried to do another couple of laps but the tyres were past their best. It was fun though!”

The first to congratulate him on his performance was his friend and 2005 LMES team mate, Nic Minassian. “Obviously I am disappointed because as much as we come to race, we love our qualifying. We’ve always loved it. But, on the other hand, it’s a new car and it’s already been a big job to get it out onto the track. Kevin has done a great job and his times are quick and consistent. I still think we’ll be right up there in the race, but it will be a big battle all the way. It would be nice to have a bit of everything as far as the weather is concerned, as the car is really good in the wet. We’ll be fighting all the way, at least for a podium.”