Van Uitert completes first laps with RTN

Current ELMS LMP2 points leader Job van Uitert turned his first laps as a member of Racing Team Nederland today at Barcelona. He completed nine tours of he circuit, and set a best time of 1:33.942.

The Dutchman, who is set to race with RTN at Silverstone and Shanghai when Nyck de Vries and Frits van Eerd (respectively) will be absent from the team due to other commitments, said the chance to step up into the WEC is a “dream come true”.

“It’s been great to be here with my Dutch friends. It’s important to make a step up, it’s good for me as a Dutchman to be part of this effort. It’s also good to drive a TDS-run car again, it’s basically the same people working with me at G-Drive, at RTN, with some extra faces.

“I have a good connection with the other three drivers. Giedo is really Giedo ‘banter’ Garde, he’s a funny guy. It’s the same with Frits, he’s from the south of Holland and has the same sense of humour as me.”

Van Uitert sampled the 2019-spec Michelin tyres with the team today, following its decision to stick with the French constructor after a back-to-back test with Goodyear Tuesday.

Ginetta impresses across the board

Team LNT’s Ginetta G60-LT-P1s had another productive day of running today (with the assistance of Algarve Pro Racing) in Spain. After scrutineering issues on Tuesday delayed the team from heading out early on in Session 1, the cars ran almost completely trouble-free.

They’ve been fast too. With the new AER P60Cs installed, their times gradually improved today, the best tour coming as the temperature dropped trackside this evening, a 1:29.697 from F2 ace Luca Ghiotto to end the Prologue 0.556 off the best time set by Toyota.

Ginetta CEO Lawrence Tomlinson told said that he has been encouraged by this week’s testing after Day 2.

“I’m delighted with the test, and that we have been able to publicly display what we have known very clearly all along: that the car is capable of competing with and beating the very best in the business.

“Now we need to go back to base, look at what we have learned and plan for Silverstone.

“We’ll make our plans clear in due course as regards both the driving squads and what to expect from this effort for the season. Expect some surprises, and expect too that this will not be presented to the public as any other LMP1 team has previously, we intend to reward the fans’ passion.

“I’d like to personally thank Sam and Stuart Cox and their excellent Algarve Pro Racing team for supporting Team LNT at the Prologue – assisting the transition to a two-car LMP1 effort for the first time.”

When speaking to DSC, Tomlinson also hinted that a three-car entry at Le Mans may well be a possibility should Team LNT’s two cars see out the season.

“There’s a lot of time to come from the Ginetta,” he said. “And because we’ve got two LMP1 entries there is a potential for a third car at Le Mans, another team could do Le Mans with quick drivers, three is better than two and we have another chassis sat at the workshop at home.”

Kenta Yamashita impresses High Class

He’s only been a member of the team for a handful of days, but already Kenta Yamashita has impressed Danish team High Class Racing with his work ethic and speed.

The 23-year-old driver, who is a Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC ‘challenge driver’ and currently leads the Super GT Championship standings, said after the test that he’s enjoyed his first experience driving an LMP2 car and at a new circuit.

“It’s been really good to get to know the team and try out the ORECA for the first time,” he said. “I race a variety of cars in Japan, so it hasn’t taken me long to get up to speed with the 07 Gibson package.

“The Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya is new to me, but it’s been fun and a good track to help get used to the characteristics of the car. I now look forward to making my race debut next month.”

His best time after the two days was a 1:33.534, 1.8 seconds off the best time of the Prologue in LMP2 set by Nyck de Vries. When DSC sat down with team manager Peter Utoft, he gave Yamashita high praise for his performance on and off track, citing his willingness to learn English as “extremely impressive”.

Yamashita-san began learning English about two months ago and is already able to hold a conversation, DSC’s deputy editor was also incredibly impressed after sitting down with him for the first time.

Choosing Goodyear “not a tough decision” for Jota

The Jota Sport and Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECAs will be racing with Goodyear this season, and team principal (for both efforts) Sam Hignett said that was never really in doubt.

Jota has a long-standing relationship with Dunlop, which has been replaced by its parent company Goodyear for the upcoming season in LMP2, and “has had many strong results and successes over the years” with the constructors dedicated LMP division.

Therefore, Hignett told DSC, “it wasn’t a tough decision.”

New 911 RSR runs like clockwork

Porsche’s new 911 RSR 19 GTE racked up some serious mileage over the two days of running in Spain.

The German marque managed to complete a total of 362 laps with its new chassis and 1685 km during the two days.

“Although the break after Le Mans was short, we were all excited to meet our rivals in the 2019/20 season,” said Pascal Zurlinden, the head of the programme.

“Our whole team quickly got used to the new Porsche 911 RSR. We worked on the finer points of the setup here in Barcelona and we feel ready for the first race at Silverstone.”

Kevin Estre set Porsche’s best time, a 1:43.651 to put the #92 second fastest in the combined rankings.

“We managed to tick off all the tasks on our to-do list,” Estre added.

“The conditions were extreme and the track surface was very hot. It was tough on the tyres. I’m not sure if we’ll encounter such temperatures in the WEC but we’re always gaining new experiences and that’s how we improve.

“Almost everything on our 911 RSR has changed compared to the predecessor. So it was great to have the whole team working on the new car and learning all about it.”

Success ballast “will be an interesting development in Am”

TF Sport driver Jonny Adam spoke with DSC on Tuesday and let us know his thoughts on the introduction of success ballast to the FIA WEC’s GTE Am class for the upcoming season.

Adam is impressed by the size of the field as well as its depth of quality, telling DSC he feels it could well be the most exciting category in the championship during 2019/20.

“The only championship I have raced in that has had success ballast as a rule in the past is British Touring Cars,” he reflected.

“They’ve put this in place, and we’ve seen that in ELMS (this season) it seems to level the field out a bit. It will be an interesting development. In any championship, consistency on results is a key thing.

“As a result TF will look to find other ways to improve to make up for it, things like making pit stops cleaner, because the cars are so balanced on performance.”

Watson and Bastian competing for the third seat at Gulf

DSC understands that Nico Bastian and Andrew Watson, who tested with Gulf Racing this week in Spain, are both in contention for a full-season drive in the team’s third seat alongside Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright.

A source within the team told DSC that the British-flagged outfit has impressed by the performance of the two drivers, who are both new to the WEC, and feels it will be really tough to decide who will get the nod for the upcoming campaign.

“They’ve been in the same level speed-wise, but this is a chance to see what they’re like as members of the team outside the car, and that will be a factor in the decision,” they said.

Ben Barker also spoke to DSC and explained hat Gulf Racing has relished the time spent this week evaluating the 2019-spec Michelins. Overall, Barker said that the team has been impressed with the new tyres’ performance in the scorching conditions.

Senna talks EoT

Rebellion Racing driver Bruno Senna says he will need to wait until the season gets going before lauding the new EoT process that will govern the LMP1 class this season as a success.

While he welcomes the changes, and both Toyota and the organisers’ drive to make changes, he feels there’s plenty to consider in how the “success handicap” system will be applied.

“It’s hard to tell (whether we can be confident at his stage), Toyota has an updated package with its car, it is going to be faster, they won’t be standing still,” he said to DSC.

“It’s really difficult to predict EoT, we know for sure that at some tracks Toyota has a huge advantage like at Sebring, and no EoT will make enough of a difference unless you cripple the cars. At some tracks, we might be closer, but at other, we might be still far away.

“There’s a point where this (success handicap) could also become a little dangerous. If you add too much weight to the cars, for instance, you might cook the brakes and force the car to go beyond its capabilities. But if that’s their intention and if Toyota is willing to play fair, with fewer advantages in the pit stops to make the racing closer, maybe it will be ok.”

DSC also spoke to ACO sporting director Vincent Beaumesnil, at length, about EoT after Monday’s announcement. You can read that HERE >>>

Tyre development crucial for AMR

Aston Martin Racing GTE Pro driver Alex Lynn feels that the development of the 2019 Michelin tyres will be key to the team’s success next season.

He told DSC that last year the team struggled at times because the car wasn’t entirely suited to the Vantage AMR in certain conditions.

“(AMR had enough sets of 2019 rubber in Spain) to get a back-to-back feeling, with the older rubber,” he explained.

“We’ve been working extremely hard with Michelin to develop tires this year. We had to make a quick decision last year with what construction and compound we wanted.

“Unfortunately, the decision to switch to Michelin (from Dunlop) was quite late, so we did have to rush the process of developing a tire. We paid the price for it in quite a few races, particularly the hotter ones.

“But it’s made us hungrier to get it right this time.”

United already up to speed with the ORECA?

United Autosports finished up the Prologue second quickest in LMP2, after a successful first test with its brand new ORECA 07 Gibson.

The team covered a total of 242 laps over the two days testing at Barcelona, held three days after the ELMS race at the Spanish circuit. The team took delivery of their Oreca 07 last Monday after it arrived from the USA, applied the livery and hit the track for the first time as a full-season WEC entrant.

“It has been a successful couple of days here in Barcelona,” team boss Richard Dean said. “We have learnt a lot with the new car and we have worked through a lot of different setups. The engineers have had a chance to have a good look round it, the drivers got to drive it and the mechanics got to work on it. We are still figuring it out a little bit.

“It was pretty close by the end of the first day and we are still making progress. I’m glad we could get our hands on the car and get these two days under our belt because it will make us all the more ready for Silverstone.”

United’s best time came from Paul Di Resta, who reeled off a 1:31.716 to get within a tenth of the pace-setting RTN ORECA.

Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson also set quick times for the team, the pair 0.521 and 1.031 off the ultimate pace respectively.