Spa Weekend Race Report: Third time Unlucky at Spa
11.05.2008 by Joey Foster
The famous Spa circuit was the venue for the latest round of the LMES series. As well as Mario Haberfeld being absent from the team so was the usual Spa weather. For the whole weekend the circuit was bathing in glorious sunshine with not a cloud to be seen. The whole team arrived in Belgium carrying confidence for a good result after our promising display last time out at Monza. Everything we had learnt was going to put to test at the challenging track but we all felt as though we were coming on in leaps and bounds.
I found myself with a new team mate in Tom Kimber-Smith as Mario Haberfeld was unable to attend the event and my usual team mate Jonny Kane was moved over to the #45 machine to partner Warren Hughes. Tom and I have known each other since our Formula Ford days in 2002 and 2003. Those years saw us fighting it out most races for the win and this experience was sure to very different. We quickly settled into working together and we were able to use our previous experiences to get the most out of the #46.
The Friday morning sessions were steady. Tom found himself familiarising himself with the WF01 and I with the Spa Circuit. My previous experience of seven laps in a Formula Ford car seven years ago around the track weren’t proving too helpful. I found learning this track far more challenging than the other circuits we had previously visited. Some corners just require big balls where as others are extremely technical due to the camber changers and downhill sections. However, I was confident that it wouldn't take long to get down to a good time.
We worked through various setups throughout the sessions. By the end of the day we knew which would be the best direction to head. We had not quite got the setup we wanted though. We made more changes than usual and ended up making several wrong ones. Although we felt we had more of an understanding due to these changes and knew we would be in better shape for the Saturday.
Qualifying showed just that. I headed out onto the track into a qualifying session that would be my first for almost two years. It was made more difficult as on my first flying lap I was halted by red flags. A prototype had slammed into the wall after Rivage. I knew that I was going to have just one lap to get the best out of the tyres when the session restarted. I felt it was a great lap. Every corner flowed as I had anticipated and I crossed the line in a time on 2m08.042. The red flags were out again on the following lap. I knew that I had already got the best from the tyres and didn’t head back out for the rest of the session. I had qualified the car in 6th place in class and 16th overall. The #45 car wasn’t far behind on 10th in class. The race was looking good for both WF01 Embassy racing machines.
However, it wasn't meant to be. As the cars set off for the warm up lap I couldn't believe what happened next. On the way into Stavelot corner I was clouted from behind by Casper Elgaard in his LMP2 Porsche. The car spun off to the left and into the wall. I was furious. I could see the race was over before it had even begun as the rear wheel was up on top of the bodywork. Casper emitted his sincere apologies after the race but it doesn't replace the disappointment the whole team felt.
The #45 machine also had its fair share of scrapes. During the race it was nudged from behind by a closing LMP1 car. This resulted in a long pit stop dropping the car down the order. The team worked incredibly hard to get the car back out onto the track and with Jonny Kane at the wheel he was able to put in some impressive lap times. Unfortunately the car suddenly slowed on track and Jonny was unable to get back to the pits in a similar way to what happened to me in the #46 car near the end of the Monza race.
Here's hoping bad things come in threes as that means the third is out of the way. The next race is the biggest of the year. The Lemans 24 hrs is over the weekend of the 14th-15th of June and I am proud to say that I am in the Embassy line up partnering Jonny Kane and Warren Hughes. I am ever so grateful to Jonathan France for making one of my racing ambitions possible. I simply cannot wait to experience the event with such a great team.