17.03.2003 SHORT SEBRING DEBUT FOR CARSPORTS AMERICA'S NEW PAGANI ZONDA GR
| Tom Weickardt's Carsport
America delivered new excitement to the GTS class at this year's Mobil
1 12 Hours of Sebring. The bolstered squad brought added flavor to the
class with the debut of their stunning (and according to Radio Le Mans
-- a quick fan-favorite) Pagani Zonda GR. The team also scored last hour
race action attention from the fans -- and the deadline media in the press
room -- in a dramatic twelfth-hour bid for a GTS podium with their Viper
GTS-R.
The team took on the incredible challenge of debuting the Pagani Zonda GR at the first, and one of the most important, sports car races of the season. The car arrived at Sebring from Italy on March 4, giving the crew a mere 11 days to prepare the car for the start of the big race on the 15th. The No17 Pagani Zonda GR turned respectful trouble-free times during the pre-race test sessions, as well as through the official practice and qualifying sessions -- albeit with the standard road car engine. Drivers Anthony Kumpen and Mike Hezemans were quick to compliment the car's first performances. After qualifying on Friday, the team replaced the engine with their newly arrived race engine -- just in time for Saturday's start. With high hopes for their new car the team proudly rolled it out for the pre-race ceremonies. Hezemans took the first seat for the start. Although those in racing will readily agree that a good result is not often the case for a new car's first ever race appearance -- the team was still mightily disappointed with an engine failure took them out in the first hour of the race. ANTHONY KUMPEN "The car drives really, really good. The problem is that the engine broke down, and we don't know yet exactly what happened. We did 1200 km's of driving during all the tests and practices. We changed the engine on Friday afternoon before the race, and maybe that was a mistake. This car was so new, and ran for the first time only a little over two weeks ago, we expected that we would need to work things out." MIKE HEZEMANS "It was a pretty short race for us, which is not so good, but we did have a good week. We tested a lot, we got to know the car and we have a lot of information that we can use for the rest of the season. Now we will start developing the car for Le Mans and we will see what happens. It was a shame that the rain stopped the practice on Friday night, otherwise we could have tested the new engine that we had put in that day, and we would then have discovered the problem and put in another engine for the race. It was bad luck about the bad weather, and it was bad luck about the engine." |
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