European Le Mans

Nurburgring: Spyker Squadron qualifying report

Nuerburgring - In sunny weather conditions SNORAS Spyker Squadron qualified seventh and ninth for tomorrows Nuerburgring 1000 km race. Peter Dumbreck qualified the ...

Published: Aug 17, 2008, 11:54 AM

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Nuerburgring - In sunny weather conditions SNORAS Spyker Squadron qualified seventh and ninth for tomorrows Nuerburgring 1000 km race. Peter Dumbreck qualified the #85 SNORAS Spyker Squadron car and set a quickest time of 1:59.613, 1.7 seconds behind the GT2 pole position. Benjamin Leuenberger set a best of 2:00.132 in the #94 Speedy Racing Team Spyker.

Both cars run an updated version of the V8 engine in the fourth Le Mans Series round. The typical American V8-sound is no more and has been replaced by a screaming V8-race sound as both the fire order- and crankshaft configurations have been changed. There was also new rubber for the Dutch team; Michelin brought new softer front tires to Germany. The tires do what they were designed for: more grip on the front axle. The team tried them on the #85 car but found that they could not get the car in balance with the rear.

"The times we did this morning with the softer tires were a bit slower than in qualifying so I think we made the right decision to qualify and race with the mediums on the front" said Peter Dumbreck afterwards. "I had a clear lap to qualify and was on the limit with the car. All in all at the best we maybe could have done one position better on the grid. We are less than two seconds off on a two minute lap which is not a bad result at all".

Benjamin Leuenberger: "Qualifying went quite well. We made a few changes after the third practice to have a bit more oversteer and it certainly was a step in the right direction. The car actually feels pretty good. I tried to push as hard as possible but would have loved to break to two-minute barrier. In the last races we finished twice in a row on the podium and I would be very happy if we could repeat that tomorrow".

Peter van Erp, managing director Spyker Squadron: "I am very pleased with our results and progress so far. Our times in all the free practice sessions are closer to the competition than at previous races and the engine modification are working quite well and give a good perspective for future races". He continues: "If we can produce competitive times in the race tomorrow and if we stay out of trouble I think we can compete for a third position."

The 1000 km or six-hour race will start at 12:05 tomorrow and can be seen on Eurosport throughout Europe. Radiolemans.com also be on-air whilst live-timing can be found on the Le Mans Series website.

-credit: spykersquadron.com

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