Racing for Holland test news 2005-05-21

Racing for Holland an Overnight Sensation at Magny Cours Test

An overnight test this week at the Circuit de Nevers Magny Cours in central France saw the Racing for Holland team complete its preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours official test day on 5 June and serve notice that its race pace will be competitive with its less-penalised LMP1 rivals in the endurance classic on 18-19 June.

After being nearly two seconds slower than the factory Dome-Mugen at the Dunlop tyre test at Circuit Paul Ricard a month ago, the lap times of the Dutch team's older Dome-Judd model were significantly closer to the Japanese entry throughout the 15-hour session at Magny Cours. Racing for Holland's fastest time, set on race tyres, was within one second of the Dome-Mugen's best lap on qualifying rubber. On race pace, the Dutch chassis was even closer to both the Dome-Mugen and the Zytek of Team Jota.

"For Le Mans our feet are firmly on the ground, as the Mulsanne Straight will make our weight and power penalities more apparent, but it was still satisfying to see how smoothly everything ran and the genuine progress we have made," said team principal Jan Lammers.

American Elton Julian again comfortably matched the lap times of co-drivers Lammers and John Bosch in a test focussed on refining the the car's race set-up and reacclimating its drivers to nighttime running. Working with chief engineer Davy Lemmens, Julian was kept busy evaluating various suspension settings and several Dunlop tyre compounds.

"The team ran an incredibly productive test," said the 30-year-old Californian. "We just ignored the qualifying tyres and concentrated on our race set-up. The car feels really well-balanced and consistent across a pretty wide range of conditions, and I did one series of 15 laps in a row all within three of four tenths of each other. Running at night was no problem, either I set my best time at three in the morning on medium tyres which were coming to the end of a long stint."

With Lammers leaving Magny Cours early to catch a flight to Canada where he co-drove the winning car at this weekend's Grand-Am six-hour event at Mosport John Bosch was able to make up for his absence from last month's Paul Ricard test with some extra track time. Rejoining Racing for Holland for the first time since his FIA Sportscar Championship-winning season in 2003, the 41-year-old Dutch ace quickly found his old groove.

"The car ran without any trouble and I was impressed by our lap times compared to the works Dome and the Zytek. We did a lot of running and the team did a great job. Elton is very quick and doesn't make any mistakes, and we all know how good Jan is, so as a team we should be in good shape for Le Mans."

-rfh-