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WEC Lone Star Le Mans: First impressions
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3 Mins
Hear the Porsche Penske Motorsport team’s first impressions of the Circuit of the Americas ahead of Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans
The FIA World Endurance Championship returns to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the Lone Star Le Mans this weekend.
Part of the track was resurfaced ahead of last month’s testing, before further resurfacing work was undertaken in the interim period.
Porsche has previously taken three top-class victories at the circuit in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and hopes to repeat that success on Sunday. The team leads both championships with two rounds remaining after Austin, and is fiercely chasing title glory.
With hot temperatures to compete with, fresh asphalt and a track which the series hasn’t visited since 2020, what were the Porsche Penske Motorsport drivers’ first impressions?
Matt Campbell, #5 driver:
“We ended up P1 with our lap time at the end [of FP1]. The track is relatively different to what we experienced about a month ago with our test, with the new resurfacing, but I feel like everyone was struggling a bit. It’s a little bit challenging at the moment with the track condition and also the temperature, but nevertheless we’ve got some ideas to improve the car and hopefully get a little bit better next session.
“I raced here last time WEC was here in 2020. The track is a lot bumpier in some places, but obviously we have the new surface in other areas. The track is still the same, still nice and warm, but it’s very challenging, especially in a car like the 963, with the high speed and the bumps, you’ve really got to be on your toes.
“Temperature was better than expected in the car, but it’s quite hot outside with the humidity. Some possible storms and rain coming, so that will mix things up as well with the new surface. It’s not as bad as we expected with the tyre degradation.”
André Lotterer, #6 driver:
This weekend marks a special milestone for Lotterer - his 70th WEC race:
“I didn’t know - thanks for the stats, I didn’t count! I was very happy when I saw that. It’s been a long journey since the introduction of the WEC in 2012, winning the title in the first year and still being here. So it’s a nice benchmark. I hope I can make it to 100!”
He also has an 80 per cent podium rate at the Circuit of the Americas:
“Obviously something I’m proud of, but that’s the past, so it’s completely different times. It’ll be a bit more difficult here, the competition looks strong, but it means I did something right back then so hopefully I can repeat it.”
It was quite hot. The conditions are quite different from the test when we were here a month ago - they changed the asphalt a bit, but still a few other things that are different. We’re going in the right direction. Kevin didn’t get clear laps for his qualifying sim, so we’re down the order, but after his quali sim we focus on the race and hopefully we will be up there tomorrow.
Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director, Porsche Penske Motorsport:
“Yesterday was a very productive day. It was obviously very warm - the drivers, cars and mechanics were all quite hot - but we got through a lot of tyre work. Both cars were able to get a qualifying simulation but caught some traffic and did some race work too. So I think we’re very confident in our long run pace and getting closer on where the car needs to be.
“The degradation was quite good, which is something we found during the test in July as well, that we seemed to be okay on the tyres, which I think will be a positive for us for the race weekend and allow us to run both the tyre compound options.
I think we’ll definitely be in the game in qualifying. I think there are some manufacturers which are quite quick but Matt and Kevin were comfortable in the car and I expect them both to make it to Hyperpole and be fighting for the pole.
“Obviously Texas is a great place and this is an amazing facility, so it’s always good to come to Circuit of the Americas. It’s our home race but obviously it’s still 15 hours from our home base in Mooresville, so it’s still quite far away! But really excited to be here and really excited to have the WEC back in America.”