Zytek Spa Race Report

Zytek Nissan Partnership Wins Again

Fist two places in class at the 1000km of Spa

The Zytek developed and serviced 4.5-litre Nissan VK45DE again proved itself the leading engine in LMP2 with first and second place in class in Saturday’s 1000km of Spa. Pierre Thieriet, Mathias Beche and Jody Firth in the TDS Racing Oreca-Nissan and Dominik Kraihamer and Nicholas Crem in the similar car of Boutsen Energy Racing both completed 150 laps, an excellent performance in what was the second round of both the Intercontinental Le Mans Challenge and the Europe-based Le Mans Series.

Examples of Zytek’s own chassis also ran well in the early stages of the Belgian race. At the start Olivier Pla was immediately up to fourth overall, making the LMP1 Quifel-ASM 09SC that he shares with Miguel Amaral the leading petrol-engined car. Tom Kimber-Smith in the Greaves Motorsport LMP2 Zytek-Nissan Z11SN also led his class towards the end of the first hour.

#46 TDS Racing Oreca 03-Nissan: Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet, Jody Firth

Photo by: Lucien Harmegnies

In his efforts, Olivier was even reported to have been taking to the grass flat out through Blanchimont as he overtook backmarkers. However, with less than two hours to go the car was forced into retirement at Les Combes, the Frenchman’s brave efforts now in vain. The Greaves car, which Tom shared with Karim Ojjeh and Gary Chalandon also had a troubled time as the race progressed leaving the similarly powered Orecas to fight over the class and further underline Zytek’s technical expertise.

The Nissan VK45DE engine is currently unbeaten in Europe. Its next appearance on the continent will be at Le Mans in June. There the Greaves Zytek-Nissan and the Signatech Oreca-Nissan, which finished fifth at Spa having also fought for the lead, will be joined by Team Oreca-Matmut’s own Oreca-Nissan in the LMP2 class. The Quifel-ASM Zytek 09SC, which is powered by Zytek’s own V8 engine, will additionally return to compete in the LMP1 category.

-source: zytek