Hungaroring: Nicolas De Crem race report

Fourth place for Nicolas De Crem in Le Mans Series - Hungary

BUDAPEST 23rd AUGUST 2010. For the fourth round of the Le Mans Series the competitors headed off down to Budapest in Hungary this last weekend. Thierry Boutsen Energy Racing once again appeared at the start with the Formula Le Mans for Nicolas De Crem, Bernard Delhez and the young Austrian Dominik Kraihamer. In the Portuguese Algarve the team had scored a second consecutive podium, after their excellent second place in Spa at the beginning of May, and were hoping for a sequel in Budapest. Unfortunately two accidents by GT2s made the race extremely difficult and the team was unable to grab a podium place. Thierry Boutsen Energy Racing continues to play up front in the championship and wants to finish off the Le Mans Series with a resounding result, in just over three weeks in Silverstone and definitely safeguard their third place in the championship.

"In all honesty it was a pretty difficult weekend and I'm delighted that we were still able to score some points", Nicolas De Crem commented just after the race. "It all started during the qualifying sessions, when our engine started losing power and misfiring, whereby we weren't able to finish up top in the rankings. We ended up in sixth place which is not our usual position. During the race my first stint went smoothly, but unfortunately Bernard Delhez experienced two collisions with GT2s coming up from behind, which resulted in a fair amount of lost laps. The team was able to get the car back on track twice and we finally still managed to secure a fourth place in our class, which means that we have now climbed up into third place in the championship. A podium in the final round of the Le Mans Series in our first year would be truly fabulous. I therefore hope that the race in Silverstone will be trouble free and perhaps we should be really ambitious and aim at clinching our first victory."

The fifth race of the Le Mans Series / Formula Le Mans will be held on 11th and 12th September in Silverstone. (end)

-source: Nicolas De Crem