Zoom Ups and downs but on the podium nonetheless!

Even though bad luck and lots of disappointments dominated the Le Mans Series weekend at Spa-Francorchamps for Team Essex, the ending was bright and positive with yet another podium finish: 3rd place. This was the third podium finish for Casper Elgaard and John Nielsen in just as many possible for the season.

"After one hour of race, a podium place seemed unobtainable, but we did not give in. We kept fighting, because the race was long and a lot of things could happen. And later that approach seemed to be the right one," stated team chief John Nielsen.

"Given all the problems, we are actually quite surprised over our achievement today (Sunday). But the car handled magnificent and the mechanics made case-books-pit stops. So when some of our competitors ran into trouble, late in the race, we stood in a position where we could use that to our advantage," he reported.

"The bad luck and disappointments started already during training and qualification, and continued to right before the race started," Casper Elgaard explained. "On the warm-up round, me and one of the others LPM2 cars got a bit to close to each other and that resulted in a wrecked nose of the car, so I had to drive into the pit. The crew worked their magic and changed it, but I was not let back on track in a rightful manner. We where almost a lap behind from the beginning. "

And it did not get any better when the race officials ruled that Team Essex was to blame for the collision and gave them a three-minute stop-and-go penalty, which sat them another one-and-a-half laps back. A flat tyre came as frosting on the cake, and with three hours of the race remaining, the team found themselves as 8th in the LMP2 class.

"Compared to our competitors, we had speed in the car so slowly we moved up in the field," said Elgaard.

After four hours Team Essex was to be found at sixth place, and with five quarters left the team managed to pass three of their competitors, which gave Team Essex the last spot on the podium just after Van Merksteijn Racing and Horag Racing.

"We had of course hoped to replicate the 2005 win, but in spite of the circumstances, third place is very fulfilling," John Nielsen declared.

"Next up is Le Mans and it is with a high level of confidence that we are travelling to France next month. The car is functioning quite well: no technical issues whatsoever and our pit crew have once again shown that they are able to change the tyres and refuel the car at a fast pace," he concluded.

© CAPSIS International