Defeat Snatched From The Jaws Of Victory!

[Inspire]

Defeat Snatched From The Jaws Of Victory!

 

 

“If one does not fail at times, then one has not challenged himself.”

Ferdinand Porsche

 

After all the pre-season hype the time had come for the Unixx –  team to take its rightful place in the Supercar Class of The Thailand Super Series.

 

The new Porsche 911 (997) Generation 1 arrived in the Kingdom at the end of March and was quickly transferred to Bangkok to have all the modifications installed by the ever efficient B-Quik Racing mechanics and engineers. Our first glimpse of the car in its new Unixx – TR Motorsport livery wasn’t until the Wednesday before the first Race weekend of the season. The Danish Dynamo Thomas Raldorf had just three practice sessions to get used to the car and setup before qualifying on Friday afternoon.

 

Rounds 1 & 2 of the 2017 Thailand Super Series were held at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram 27th – 30th April.

 

Free Practice

 

These three sessions were the first time Thomas had been in the new Porsche and it showed as he tentatively eased the 911 around the Buriram circuit to get a feel for the car and the massive increase in power compared to the old Blue Blur Honda City. Thomas became more confident and pushed harder with each lap that passed. Thomas was now putting in some good times but still wasn’t sure how the car should feel, luckily we had Porsche Academy driver Will Bamber on hand! Will jumped at the opportunity to give the 911 a test run and provide some vital feedback to the team. After only just one lap Will came straight back into the pits to report on several issues with the car, Sven Thummel Chief Mechanic of TR-Motorsport listened intently as Will went through the issues, Sven made detailed notes about these issues which would be worked on later after the session had finished. After the quick debrief Will completed a few more laps for the team clocking a fastest time of 1.45.314. As day one of practice finished the B-Quik mechanics got to work on all the issues mentioned while our mechanics were in close attendance assisting, watching and learning as much as possible about the new Porsche.

 

The following day Thomas took to the track again and immediately reported back that the car was feeling a lot better and everything seemed to be working as it should, after a couple of warm-up laps Thomas quickly got up to race speed. Now was the time to find the limits, Thomas pushed and pushed to see how much he could squeeze out of the car, during the previous days testing Will Bamber had gone into turn four 16kmh faster than Thomas and this is where he had to improve if he wanted to post a competitive qualifying time. And improve he did by taking turn four just 1km slower than Pro-Driver Will. As the final practice session came to a close Thomas found himself in second place on the timing sheets with a very impressive time of 1.46.623, an outstanding achievement taking into consideration the amount of track time the team had, next up was qualifying.

 

Qualifying

 

Before the week began the team discussed expectations for the first races in the Porsche, it was agreed that a top 5 finishing position in both races was more than and achievable and anything above that would most definitely be a bonus. The car was meticulously checked over by both sets of mechanics and prepped for qualifying, a new set of Yokohama Slick Tires were bolted on and the car was good to go. Qualifying began at a very humid 5 pm with the average temperature still around 34 degrees Celsius. The opening laps saw only a few cars on track with Thomas going fastest early on, as the session counted down the more seasoned drivers entered the fray setting even faster times with the lead times changing position many times throughout. The team on pit wall and in the pits could see the live timings and on lap four Thomas was faster over the first two sectors only for a slight mistake to cost him Pole Position, when the chequered flag eventually came out Thomas and his Porsche 911 had qualified third on the grid with a time of 1.45.033 just 0.186 off the Pole Position time.

 

Full story: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/pattaya/defeat-snatched-jaws-victory/

 

 

-- © Copyright Inspire Pattaya 2017-06-18

[Xobtsiwt]

“If one does not fail at times, then one has not challenged himself.”

 

Old Ferdie may have been a hand at designing German sports cars, but his English left something to be desired.