LeMans Practice and Time Trials

 Wednesday. It was a day of solar recharge. The was out almost the entire day and that gave teams and fans the opportunity to dry everything out after a few days of cold and wet weather. It was almost the first official on track day for the AF Corse Waltrip team. All three drivers took turns behind the RK Motors Ferrari in an effort to get it up to speed. They battled some break issues as they were locking up causing flat spots on the tires during the nearly eight hours of practice that went from day, into night. This was Brians first time behind the wheel at night navigating the eight mile plus circuit. Its not easy- and Tweeted after, "This is nuts! No Track lights. Head lights suck. Driving through the woods on a street road at 170MPH while racing other cars with no spotter!" That pretty much sums it all up! In speaking with co-driver Rui Aguas, he is fascinated by the chatter that’s heard with spotters and drivers during a NASCAR race, especially when attended Daytona where it is constant discussion over the radio. It was interesting to hear the perspective from a driver who had never had a spotter and how much they know the person standing on the roof of a track help a driver navigate the line. Here at LeMans it is as much looking at whats in front of you as it is looking out the back for the much faster LMP Class cars. The closing rate is unbelievably fast and one false step could end weeks of preparation in a hurry.

The qualifying process is a bit different at LeMans as well. During the test session BV had to complete ten timed laps around the track in order to be eligible to even show up this week; which he obviously did. The process continued last night when the three drivers- Brian, Rui and Rob Kauffman had to complete the ten laps as a group. Rui did two, Rob three and Brian had to complete five. With that out of the way, the three of them will work this afternoon in practice and tonight in qualifying to get the best starting spot possible for the twice around the clock event starting Saturday at 3PM local time, 9AM Eastern. The whole event with the exception of two hours will be on the SPEED TV Network as well as SPEED.com.

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