OLIVER GAVIN ON THE 2007 LE MANS 24 HOURS TEST DAY

 

 

Despite all the planning and preparation the Corvette Racing team has been doing, going into the test day we were a little worried about how quick the competition would be. Is this the biggest GT1 field ever? Certainly there's more strength in depth than ever before and there's potentially 8-10 cars which could win.

 

So, to come away from the test day 1^st and 3^rd in class was extremely pleasing. I don't think we have ever come away from a test day feeling that we have accomplished so much. We had no major problems at all and never once thought, `how are we going to overcome this or that?'.

 

We have managed to get ourselves to the front and in a very good position so far. As usual the team had a very detailed plan of what they wanted to do during the test and we systematically worked out way through that. The red flag interruptions threw us for a bit and we then had to re-focus on our priorities which were mainly testing dampers, suspension settings and tyre evaluation. The work we did on the dampers gave us a good base line on the tyres.

 

For myself I was very pleased with the way it all went. I knew straight away where to go on the track and what to do - it felt like we'd never been away and everything slotted back into place without a hitch. The first couple of laps weren't quite so daunting as they had been in the past and I didn't seem to notice the speed differentials between the different classes as much. The changes at the Tertre Rouge corner were a big improvement - the tarmac there has a lot of grip and it's quite quick now. Last year it was a third-gear corner, and now it's a fourth-gear corner that lets you really shoot down the Mulsanne straight. They've also made a change on the exit of Arnage and there's a little more room to work with on the exit of the corner.

 

Max Papis did a great job during the test and did a good couple of double-stint runs to give him more time in the car and to see how the tyres stood up. The lap times were exactly where we feel the race pace is going to be - 3m 53s or 54s.

 

There are three main positives to take from the test day. The engine guys have worked extremely hard, the new, re-profiled track configuration suits our car more, and we have been working closely with Michelin and that seems to be paying off as the tyres now work very well with the Corvette C6.R.

 

I am reasonably optimistic for the race but don't want to get complacent or carried away. There's still much more to do when we next take to the track on Wednesday, 13^th June.

 

 

OG/fm 4.6.07