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Jarama 2002

Lease Plan

02/06/2002

01/06/2002

Practice - Drivers Notes

GT Drivers

Mike Hezemans, Carsport Holland Chrysler Viper GTS-R:
"The left-rear wheel was loose. I could feel it going so I came in, but we don't know what is causing this. The time is good, but it does not come easy. It is far too hot in the car and I have burned my foot."

Andrea Piccini, BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello:
"I had the feeling that the car was better. We lost some grip at the front so we fitted a new rear wing, which is working very well. This is the first time that we have run the new wing. Our only problem will be during the race, as we do not have power steering. The engine is really close to our legs, so it is actually burning us. It is so hot in the car that you cannot leave your hand on the gear lever, because it gets burned!"

Kurt Mollekens, PSI Motorsport, Porsche 996 Turbo:
"This car was involved in a big accident at Spa, when one of the wishbones broke. The back came right around and went in at the front. The team has straightened the car and hopefully it is OK. The handling wasn't very good this morning there was something wrong with the set-up at the front. It will be better this afternoon; it needs to be because we are a long way off! We are hoping for a good result here. I think that it will be very hot, and some of the Viper drivers might suffer a lot and make a mistake and go off. We need that if we are going to scrape into the points"

Dominique Dupuy, Dominique Dupuy Organisation, Chrysler Viper GTS-R:
"We have come here to test because in the Spanish championship we are using Dunlop tyres, and we want more practice with them. I would like to do more races in the GT championship. For the moment, this is an extra race for our team, but I hope we can do another one later this season. Our plan is to do the whole Championship next year; I am working on getting the budget together and hope to finalise it soon."

NGT Drivers

Gian Luca Giraudi, JMB Competition, Ferrari 360 Modena:
"I have to learn this circuit as it is the first time I have been to Jarama. The car is fine, although we have some small changes to make. We now have all the new developments of the other cars. The chassis was bent in my accident at Silverstone, so we missed the Brno race, but I am very happy to be back in the Championship."

Stephane Ortelli -Freisinger Porsche 996 GT3-RS:
"I set the fastest time this morning, and then Sascha was fastest in the afternoon, so I think it's going well. Sascha was only just slower than me, which, as the session was generally slower due to the heat, means that the car must have improved as well. We are working very hard as we don't want to give the Ferrari cars an easy win like last year. I think we've made a good start, and we will work to improve further for the race. I'm very happy to be driving with Sascha, as he has a lot of experience. He raced here last year, he has tested here, we have the same feeling for the car and he is half-Spanish, so he is the perfect team-mate for this track. We raced for the same team in 1998, but in different cars. The only time we drove together was at Oschersleben in 1999. We took pole in the Porsche 911 GT2, ahead of the factory Chrysler Viper cars, but the driveshaft broke. I want to do better this time! We should drive together in Oschersleben again."

Philipp Peter, Autorlando Sport, Porsche 996 GT3RS:
"We improved the car from the morning when we were really struggling to find a nice balance in the car. On old tyres I was doing the same times as in the morning on new ones. However, we had an engine problem. I saw a lot of white smoke and heard a noise from the rear, normally the two together means that some not very good things are going on!"

Jean-Marc Gounon, Cirtek Motorsport, Porsche 996 GT3-R:
"The last time I had a full-time drive in the Championship was in 1998 with Mercedes. It is a lot different now, on every level. The car, the level, my wages…everything! I am also racing in the Lamborghini Supertrophy, so I said if I was here, I was happy to race."

Gerard Grove - System Force team manager -Porsche 996 GT3-R:
"We had big problems this morning, with understeer, oversteer and absolutely no grip. We made a lot of changes between the sessions and the car is now perfect. We have just taken the gearbox out to make some changes overnight, and then the car should be fine for tomorrow. I think it will be a very exciting qualifying session tomorrow morning, with a lot of fast cars going for the Superpole."

Antonio Garcia - RWS Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-R:
"The problems we had this morning with the gearbox have now been solved, and the car is running well. Hans went out with old tyres to get the feel of the car, and then I took. I had new tyres and did the second-best time of 1:36.982. But what I am really pleased about is that after 15 laps I was still lapping in 1:37.3, which looks good both for the car and for me. Tomorrow we can put new tyres on and I think I can go faster still. It's nice to be back in the Porsche. It took a while to get used to it again, but I think it is going well, and I know I can go even faster!"