Catalunya: Speedy Racing Team Sebah race report

The 2009 Le Mans Series season opening 1000 km of Catalunya race on the Barcelona circuit saw both LMP1 and LMP2 Lola coupes of SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH taking the chequered flag, but after a frustrating race.

The #13 LMP1 Lola Aston Martin had a brilliant start with Andrea Belicchi at the wheel, jumping from fifth place on the grid to second place at the first corner.

After 1h30 of the race the team showed their strategy skills during the two safety car periods bringing the car into the leading position. With only 90 minutes remaining in the race, all the hopes of the team were shattered with an alarm on the engine water temperature. Two long stops were necessary to fix the failure that ruined their race result.

The team managed to get the car to finish the race in seventh place with two points in the championship as a small reward for the work they put in over the weekend.

Andrea Belicchi " I had a really good start and then I was able to fight in front of the race, the car was good and consistent during the stints. We have the right car to lead race, so now we want to win them !"

Nicolas Prost "The traffic is sometimes not easy to handle, but I became more and more confident. Without the technical problem we would have finished on the podium, we passed Bruno Senna and just after that we had the water temp alarm. I hope that Aston Martin will find the origin of the failure we had to prevent any other water cooling system problem."

Marcel Fassler "When we had the alarm with the water temperature, I thought the race was over when the car was pushed back into the garage and my engineer ask me to get out, but the team did not want to give up so easily. We lost a lot of time, they fixed the problem and we went back on to the track to take the chequered flag and score two points.

In LMP2, the team's race was nearly ended when #33 Lola - Judd driver Jonny Kane came for his first pit stop. Suddenly the car lost all electrical power and a quick change of battery did not solve the problem. After a long time in the garage to replace the master switch, the car was sent back to the track for a nearly impossible recovery. Xavier Pompidou and Jonny Kane both put in really strong stints and recovered position after position to catch the seventh place at the finish line.

Jonny Kane: " we showed a very good pace during the race, we had all we needed to win the race but a little luck. That's the way motorsport goes and it's not always fair. We salvaged two points, they could make the difference at the end of the season."

Xavier Pompidou : " a very frustrating race, all started well then this problem came without any notice. After the electrical fault was fixed we were the fastest LMP2 on the track, which is good for the next races. Nothing is final for the championship, were are ready to fight for a full recovery in the classification."

-credit: speedy-sebah