Road Atlanta, Thursday Quotes
GTLM // John Edwards // #56 BMW Z4 GTE with BMW Team RLL // Co-Drivers: Dirk Muller, Dirk Werner
Practice 1: P8, 1:20.079
Practice 2: P4, 1:19.688
Practice 3: P9, 1:19.953
It’s always fun to drive a car with a little bit of downforce around Road Atlanta. Turn one and the esses are really quick, so that’s always a good time. Our pace wasn’t super strong at the end of the practice, but we were definitely tuning in on our race set up, since the race is going to end in the dark. We’re worrying about ourselves and our balance and making sure we have a car we can drive for ten straight hours and be ready to go at the end. Our goal is to stay on the lead lap and be ready to go in the night time. We haven’t run here in the cold, and it looks like it’ll be 10 to 20 degrees colder Saturday than it was today. The rain will also wash some rubber away tomorrow. It’s going to throw a curve ball for everyone, so it’s tough to assume what’s going to happen since it’s been warm here all week. It’ll be a little unpredictable, but we may be able to make some minor changes during pit stops. Since it’s a 10 hour race, we’ll have a chance to get back any lost positions. It may be a tuning race more than most we’ve seen so far.
GTD // Jan Heylen // #58 Porsche 911 GT America Dempsey Racing // Co-Driver Madison Snow
Practice 1: P2, 1:22.801
Practice 2: P1, 1:22.123
Practice 3: P3, 1:22.664
We had a good day. It was a good day for us, and a good day for the team. Both cars are fast. Night practice was good. We didn’t really get a clean lap in but the cars are good and we have a good lineup with me and Madison. The way the temperature is looking for Saturday, I think it’s going to work out really well. The team has done a good job prepping the car and I think we’re ready for the weekend. We need a win; that’s what we’re here for. I don’t think we’re going to be that good on the rain, to be honest. But I don’t know how much we’ll run, or if it makes a lot of sense to run a lot in it. I think we’ll be in good shape Saturday if it stays dry.
GTD // Marco Seefried // #44 Porsche 911 GT America with Magnus Racing // Co-Drivers: John Potter, Andy Lally
Practice 1: P3, 1:22.855
Practice 2: P4, 1:22.695
Practice 3: P17, 1:24.401
The sessions went fine for us today at Road Atlanta. We did long runs on used tires, and also tested the lights, which is why we were down on the list. What we were trying to find out, we found, and I think we are set for tomorrow. Two weeks ago, I had one of the worst rain races I’ve ever been in, so if it rains tomorrow, I’m prepared for it. It’s convenient when you have an endurance race that isn’t that hot. When it’s colder, sometimes the tires are better, so it looks like things may go in our direction. I’m quite positive.
GTD // Dion von Moltke // #35 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS // Co-Drivers: Seth Neiman, Allesandro Latif
Practice 1: P14, 1:24.066
Practice 2: P14, 1:24.78
Practice 3: P15, 1:24.071
Overall today, we learned a lot about the car. We unloaded and were having a little bit of an issue trying to find what we call platform in the rear, which is giving drivers security in the rear end. That’s really important at a track like Road Atlanta. It’s a place of high commitment, high speeds, and elevation changes. You really want to have confidence in the rear end to attack. The engineers of the No. 35 PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon R8 LMS were working throughout the day to fix these problems and we made good strides. We still have a lot of work to do and tomorrow looks like a wet day, so it could be completely different. We don’t really know what to expect. When we wake up in the morning, we’ll see what conditions we have and try to make the best of it. Regardless, it’s Petit Le Mans weekend. We’ll be pushing hard all weekend.
