Major Changes Occurring In This Year’s Race:

Not at all deterred by the bad weather, the campsite begins to fill with the cars and tents of the spectators from a week before the race.

The Lexus ISF of the World Car Award team, prepped to go for the qualifying session. A large spoiler has been added under the front bumper.

The drivers of the World Car Award team. From the left are Hideshi Matsuda, Kazunori Yamauchi, Peter Lyon, and Owen Mildenhall who flew in from the UK to take part.

Normally the month of May at the Nürburgring is a beautiful season when the Lavender flowers are in full bloom. However this year, a winter-like cold spell lingered, dropping icy cold rain from the low hanging clouds.

But as the start of the 24 hour race neared, you could feel the heat building up around the circuit, pushing aside the dreary weather. On the Monday of the race week, the camp site started to fill with the camping cars of the spectators. And coming straight off the street on to the circuit, from the home base of Porsche in Weissach; was the street spec 911GT3 RS (Car number 11) that would participate in the race in its full stock form. The festival in which over 200 thousand spectators goes wild over a race around this 25km loop, was about to begin.

“Gran Turismo” has been supporting this great race since 2006, and though this dedication is unchanging, there was one major change this year; and that was the participation of Gran Turismo series producer, Kazunori Yamauchi as a race driver.

Kazunori is a member of the World Car Award racing team, and last year they achieved first place in their class in a 4 hour endurance race held here. They are team established by the organization of international automotive critics which votes on a world car of the year, in praise of ever-evolving automotive technology and design innovations from around the globe. The drivers are all members of this judging panel, and in addition to Kazunori Yamauchi was racing driver Hideshi Matsuda, Journalist Peter Lyon, and UK “Autoexpress” magazine test driver and racing driver, Owen Mildenhall. These four were the comrades that would fight together in this 24 hour race.

The machine was the same Lexus IS F they ran in last years 4 hour race, but through many races thereafter, its performance has been greatly improved. With enlarged rear fenders they were able to fit large diameter slick tires, and with a revised cooling system, the powertrain is more stable in performance. The front spoiler was also enlarged to reduce understeer, and this led to improving the car’s average laptime by a full 30 seconds from that of last summer.

Tough Qualifying Session Under Bad Weather

On Thursday, May 13, preparations were complete and Nürburgring was once again turned into a giant “Racing Town”. The first qualifying laps were started from 7:30pm in the evening; however the rainy weather conditions persisted and the teams struggled to produce good laptimes, with cold tires and difficult road surface conditions against them. The best time recorded was by the Ferrari F430 (car number 43) which had been doing well since the free run sessions, but their time was still only 9 minutes 20.552 seconds, far from satisfactory.

The World Car Awards team also only managed to produce mediocre results in this qualifying session. Immediately after the driving session ending at 11:30pm, the team gathered for a late night meeting, to identify the problems. Issues with the setting of the VDIM which controls vehicle stability, suspension settings for wet conditions, visibility of the meter panel, the lighting, and the communication range of the radio were raised, and the crew set out immediately to resolve them.

The following day on Friday, the second qualifying runs started from just past noon. The rain stopped and the record-setting racing lines on the track began to dry. The reigning king of the Nürburgring, Manthey Porsche (car number 1) immediately took to the course and marked an 8 minute 30.323 second lap, wiping away their frustrations of the previous day. However, the Nürburgring this year was full of powerful contenders. The seven R8 LMS introduced by Audi repeatedly reset the best laptimes, dominating the top 4 positions. Pole position was achieved by the R8 of team ABT (car number 100 / 8 minutes, 24.753 seconds), and Manthey Porsche ended up at an unexpected 7th in the qualifying.

The World Car Award team also went to improve their laptime in this qualifying session, but a problem arose with the fuel pump immediately before the start. Though repairs were completed and Owen entered the track, the condition re-occurred and the car was forced to slow down. The machine was returned to the pit by the mechanics.

Next Page: Nürburgring 24 Hour Race 2010 Race Report (2/3)

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