25.09.2004 Their suspension problems rectified, the two Lamborghini sportscars were back on track in qualifying for the Petit Le Mans: Krohn-Barbour ALMS qualifying report from Road Atlanta
The
two Krohn-Barbour Racing Lamborghini Murcielagos will line-up for tonight's
Petit Le Mans marathon 'in the best shape they've been all season', according to
sportscar star David Brabham, who drove the team's no 5 car in the qualifying
session at Road Atlanta.
Both the Italian supercars - to be raced in Petit Le Mans by Brabham/Peter Kox/Nic
Jonsson and Scott Maxwell/Tracy Krohn/Joe Fox - showed that they have benefited
from testing at the Road Atlanta circuit last weekend.
Petit Le Mans is one the toughest tests that the Lamborghinis will face this
season, running for 1000 miles or ten hours in estimated 85-degree temperatures,
and the Krohn-Barbour team made the decision to sit out the last race in order
to get some testing and development time.
"We've really worked hard at getting a good race set-up," Brabham explained,
"Taking time away from the racing to go testing has paid off, because the car's
now the best we've had it this year.
"We're still lacking some outright speed, as you'd expect with a new car, but
we've now got a reasonable platform to work from. We've improved the car's
suspension set-up and changed the suspension geometry a little bit. Now, the car
rides the bumps better and, when you turn-in to a corner, the front and rear of
the car work together much better."
Brabham set a best lap time of 1min 20.993secs, at an average speed of
112.899mph, to claim fifth place in the GTS class, while Maxwell took sixth in
the no 6 car with a 1min 23.221secs effort. The fastest runner in GTS was, once
again, the Chevrolet Corvette of Oliver Gavin, which recorded a best lap of 1min
18.725secs.
"We weren't chasing a fast qualifying time today," Maxwell insisted, "We set out
to make the car as comfortable and driveable as possible over a long stint, and
we've achieved that."
The Maxwell/Krohn/Fox car needed an engine change after this morning's practice
session, and again the Krohn-Barbour Racing pit crew saved the day. "They did a
ten-hour job in three hours," said team manager Dick Barbour, "They worked
flat-out in the short time between practice and qualifying and got the car ready
with minutes to spare, and it ran perfectly.
"I'll be telling my drivers that it's a long race tomorrow and anything can
happen. Our aim is to run a swift but consistent pace, to stay out of trouble on
the track, and to run clean pit-stops. We'll run our own race and not jeopardise
the car."
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2004 AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES: PETIT LE MANS, ROAD ATLANTA - FINAL QUALIFYING
TIMES |