Zytek Paul Ricard test summary

Zytek begins LMS season in impressive style.

Strakka Racing and Quifel-ASM show promising pace in first Official Test.

Quifel-ASM topped the LMP2 timesheets with its Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2 at the first Le Mans Series test of 2009, proving to be nearly a second faster than the next in class. The Portuguese team completed 1,500 kilometres of the Paul Ricard High Technology Test Track, whilst also performing a scheduled engine change on the first day.

Frenchman Olivier Pla set the fastest time for ASM and was thrilled with the performance of the new Ginetta-Zytek commenting "Obviously we had a very productive test, every time we went on the track we made progress and by the end the car was fantastically well balanced, we ran on normal tyres throughout the weekend, and didn't use any qualifiers as has been reported, so we can be very happy with our pace, everyone at Zytek and ASM did a fantastic job."

Strakka Racing also posted impressive times in the LMP1 category. With an unusual mix of 2008 and 2009 specification cars present, the timing sheets provided a limited indication of true 2009 form; however Strakka showed promising pace throughout the two days of testing. Team driver Danny Watts said, "we completed some useful testing for Le Mans, the long straight at Paul Ricard enabled us to run a Le Mans set up and obviously the package is looking strong".

A vibration issue restricted the British teams running on the second day; however the GZ09S/1 still completed 1000 kilometres. Peter Hardman commented "On the first day our pace was good, although we lost a bit of time readjusting the seat, the second day was disappointing as we lost a lot of time investigating a vibration, however overall it was a worthwhile test, our package looks strong and we are very pleased with the product and support we receive from both Michelin and Zytek."

John Manchester, Zytek Engineering's Operations Director said "We are extremely pleased with the performance of both our LMP1 and LMP2 cars and were impressed with the excellent work from both teams. The overall speed of both cars was very encouraging,"

Zytek's attention will now turn to the opening Le Mans Series race in Barcelona on the April 3, 4 and 5.

-credit: zytek