Strakka confident about Bahrain's night race
The forthcoming 6 Hours of Bahrain will be the third time this season that the competitors in the FIA World Endurance Championship will have raced into or through the night, but Strakka Racing considers it will be well-placed amongst its rivals next weekend in coping with the darkness.
The Silverstone-based team’s performance through the night during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, together with an outright victory at the day-night 1000Km of the Hungaroring in 2010, demonstrates that racing in the dark presents no issues for the LMP1 driver line-up of Nick Leventis-Danny Watts-Jonny Kane. The all-British line up will be continuing in its challenge for the Privateers’ title after finishing second behind Rebellion Racing, and fifth overall in the 6 Hours of São Paulo.
With only limited previous experience of the 3.36 mile (5.412km) Sakhir circuit’s layout, Strakka Racing has been working hard in the simulator to get its drivers familiarised with the track as well as establishing a baseline technical set-up for its Honda Performance Development ARX-03a.
Nick Leventis, Strakka Racing No.21 HPD ARX 03a: “There is a fantastic team spirit coming off the back of two great results at Silverstone and São Paulo, and huge enthusiasm to continue our battle for the Privateers’ title with Rebellion and JRM. We’re very excited about going to Bahrain, because it’s another new challenge for Strakka Racing and it’s an important race in terms of points. The majority of the race will be held at night, but the in-car temperatures will still be very high. Before returning to Britain I was lucky enough to have a few days training in Rio; even though it’s winter over there, it was still thirty-eight degrees on Copacabana, so perfect physical training for the forthcoming race in Bahrain.”
Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing’s Team Manager: “Bahrain presents an interesting challenge for the team due to the permanently evolving track conditions, with regards to track temperature, grip level and sand contamination of the surface. From my experience of racing there with GP2, I know we need a car that is adaptable to the conditions, to give the drivers confidence to push at all times during the race. It’s an important race for the team, where we need a Privateer victory to maintain our championship challenge.”
Fiona Miller (quotes from team press release)
Photo: AUTODROMO JOSE CARLOS PACE (INTERLAGOS, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL) 6 HOURS OF SAO PAULO, SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2012, RACE. The No.21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a.