Hello race fans! It's time for another update from Sebring!
Well to start, I'm still sick. After some driver-change practices and a handful of laps in the car yesterday I was really starting to feel better, or at least I thought I was. That ended when I woke up this morning and felt like all the cars on track had run over my head. So, I've been in hibernation all day again. Fortunately I wasn't slated to drive at all today since Johannes was qualifying, so while he did all the work, I've been hacking up a lung, blowing my noze, getting an IV or two at the track medical center and trying to sleep this thing off. Nothing like waiting till race week to get sick, huh? But either way, I'm ready to give it hell tomorrow. TO THE FRONT, I say!
As for the team, we hadn't been quite as quick as we were in testing just a few weeks ago, and the cars had been pretty unhappy and difficult to drive. Fortunately the brain trust at ESM stumbled across a few things and we're now back on the road to having that amazing car we had just two weeks ago. Only problem is, we're now out of time to tweak on it some more. After a bit of a clutch problem at the start of qualifying Johannes got out and threw down some quick laps to put us 7th in the EXTREMELY competitive GT class.
I'll be starting the race tomorrow, and ready to hand it off to Scott Sharp after about an hour or two with a handsome lead. Tall order? Absolutely. But I'm going to enjoy trying!!
It's a long race, folks - stay tuned, and wish us luck!
Guy
Here's a photo by John Thawley from night practice - just awesome!
;)
We've done a bunch of testing recently with ESM Racing in preparation for the 2012 season and Sebring in particular, so we opted not to test on Monday here at Sebring, but hit track yesterday for the two one-hour sessions in the afternoon. For those of you that don't know, I was moved over to the 01 Ferrari for this race in an effort to put our best foot forward for a win here at Sebring, with an all-ESM driver lineup. We want to win this race badly and what better way to do it than with all of us 'pro's' in the same car together? However, I'm sad to leave Ed Brown behind as my teammate this weekend, but he's in great hands as we've brought in Jeff Segal and Anthony Lazzaro to drive with him. Still an extremely strong driver lineup!
Yesterday we had a gearbox oil leak in the 01 car that kept us from running the first session, and the 2nd session saw us bedding brakes for the week and for the race, so losing the first session meant we really didn't get to 'run' at all. I managed to get in the car with just a few minutes remaining in session 2, which got me one full-timed lap before the checkered flag. But at least I hopped in to see what the chaos on track was like - and it was NUTS! 60-something cars from 7 different classes - crazy!
Today we're not on track at all, which worked out perfectly for me as the sickness hit me hard last night after dinner and I've basically been bed-ridden all day, despite a few media obligations this morning.
Tomorrow the event really gets underway with two official practice sessions and night practice. Be sure to follow ALMS' live timing & scoring (click my link on the left) and visit their website for all the event information, and of course check back here often to read up on my Twitter feed and for my daily updates!
Here's to vitamin C and some sleep! Use hand sanitizer out there and cover your mouth when you sneeze & cough, kids! :)
Guy
We're almost there! About 5 hours remaining, and we're still running! Granted, we're down a bunch of laps, but we're still in it. And for our first 24 as a team, that's not too shabby! The #03 Patron Ferrari was VERY quick last night in the cool conditions, but starting to become a bit more of a handful as the sun came up and the track gets warmer. I did a double stint this morning, and although I wanted to stay in for a triple, my stomach is absolutely killing me and it was best I got out. Resting and recovering now, likely try to eat something and then take a little nap. Scheduled to be back in somewhere around 2 pm, and might wind up finishing the race - which is always cool.
Keep you posted via the Twitter feed above!
Good morning everyone! Well, 16 hours or so into the 24... We've had some troubles with the car here and there, with fuel warning problems and some electrical gremlins which resulted in us crawling around the track in 'limp mode', at very low speeds. We've also had some air jack failures and ultimately went to the garage to take care of a number of these issues.
The car has been getting faster and faster though, really responding to the cooler conditions, along with the crew making mild adjustments during pit stops. Unfortunately we're 16 laps down right now, but hey - you never know. A win is certainly unlikely but a top ten could be possible.
I'm off to pit lane for my next triple stint. Will report more when I'm back! Thanks for following!
Guy
Howdy! It's Friday at Daytona, and although this is the FRIDAY update, let's start with a little info about yesterday. Thursday is always the 2nd longest day of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. We had team meetings, driver meetings, two practice sessions, qualifying, then night practice. We were at it all day! The car ran well despite a tiny gearbox oil leak in the first session that cost us most of our track time in that session, but it was an easy fix and the car ran flawlessly for the rest of the day. Johannes van Overbeek qualified our #03 Patron Ferrari, but not as well as he would have hoped. We were a bit off on the setup and he battled understeer during the qualifying session, ultimately finishing in the 12th spot - in an amazingly competitive GT field of 40-something cars. However, we've got a very solid car that we know will be fast for 24 hours, so we're not too worried about the starting position.
After that, I did finally get behind the wheel during night practice and had a good, short run - and that was it! Driving time is pretty minimal at an event like this, especially when you're sharing the car with three other drivers!
Today? It's been a pretty easy day for us! Slept in a bit, watched Johannes turn a few laps in one of the practice sessions this morning, then had a little team meeting and spent some solid time doing driver change practice - and that's about it! Hanging around and relaxing, updating all my social media :), and about to sit down with the engineers and my teammates for our race strategy meeting. Then we're done until all the pre-race ceremonies tomorrow, for the big day!
I'll update a bit more tonight. Thanks for reading!
We call him "Yoyo", and this is the calm before the storm! About to Qualify!