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Day 1, practice and qualifying
#31 Thomas Holzer (GER) – Mirco Schultis (GER) –
Luca Moro (ITA)
Free Practice
#31 Position 18 (LMP2) Lap time 3:47.061 (Holzer)
Qualifying Session 1
#31 Position 16 (LMP2) Lap time 3:48.067(Holzer)
Lotus LMP2 successfully completed its first day
at the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,
the third round of the FIA World Endurance
Championship.
Thomas Holzer, Mirco Schultis and Luca Moro
added more valuable mileage, a total of 980
kilometres, on the team’s tally and fulfilled
the requirements to run a minimum of five laps
at night at the Circuit des 24 Heures.
The team was testing the different tyre
compounds in order to learn about the tyre wear.
Another target of the day was to see how the car
and tyres behave at night and to find the right
set-up for the qualifying next sessions and the
race.
Thomas Holzer, Race driver #31:
“We are pleased about today’s outcome. We
achieved what we wanted, to complete the
necessary five laps at night. It is my first
time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and didn’t run
here before apart from the test day prior to the
race. It takes some laps until you are
acquainted with the track and adapt to the
circumstances. Tomorrow, there will be two more
sessions, but qualifying is not so important
here because the race lasts 24 long hours.”
Mirco Schultis, Race driver #31:
“I got experienced to the track today step by
step. Driving at night is completely different
here, but amazing. I am very proud to be able to
race at this legendary race having fulfilled the
requirements running five laps at night. I hope
to improve tomorrow and I am looking forward to
the next sessions.”
Luca Moro, Race driver #31:
“It is my first time at Le Mans and I am happy
to be here. I completed the mandatory five laps
at night, so I am allowed to race. It is good
fun to drive at night, but also quite demanding
because it is quite dark at the track. There is
still some room for improvement and I hope that
tomorrow’s qualifying will be better.”
Day 2, Qualifying
#31 Thomas Holzer (GER) – Mirco Schultis (GER) –
Luca Moro (ITA)
Qualifying Session 2
#31 no lap time
Qualifying Session 3
#31 Position 17 (LMP2) Lap time 3:45.664 (Holzer)
Mixed fortunes for Lotus at the second day of
the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the second qualifying, Luca Moro had to stop
the car on his out lap immediately after the
start of the session because of an engine
failure. The mechanics did an incredible job and
managed to change the engine in less than 50
minutes.
The Lotus LMP2 car was ready for the third and
final qualifying and the drivers got more track
time. All in all, it was a decent qualifying
result for the team that is now looking forward
to the race and hoping to finish in a good
position.
Thomas Holzer, Race driver #31:
“It was a good third qualifying today and I was
able to improve lap by lap. It is a shame that
we were not running in second qualifying and we
lost valuable time out on track. Maybe we could
have done better, but it is just qualifying,
what counts is the race. A big thank you to the
mechanics which did an unbelievable job by
changing the engine in record time.”
Mirco Schultis, Race driver #31:
“First of all, I would like to thank the
mechanics who did a great job today. It is a
shame that we could not run in second qualifying
and we lost important track time. It will be a
long race and everything is possible, I am
looking forward to it.”
Luca Moro, Race driver #31:
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t run in the second
qualifying session due to an engine failure. But
the mechanics worked very fast and managed to
fix the car for the third qualifying. After that,
we did not take any risk and did some laps to
make sure that the car is okay.”
Race
#31 Retire
Unfortunately, Lotus will not cross the finish
line at the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le
Mans.
After about half of the race, the car had to
come back to the pits due to a gearbox failure.
The crew tried for some hours to fix the car,
but without success.
Until that time, the car was running good and
without major problems. In between, Lotus was
running 14th in LMP2 class.
The team is very disappointed about the
retirement. |
