le mans 24hrs 2006 - race day.

Race day started with a 9am warm-up session for 45mins. The plan was one flying lap to scrub some tyres for the race. The warm-up was the first time I had chance to feel the car as it would in the race. I managed to do my fastest lap in warm-up which put the car fastest in LMP2 and 7th overall. Unfortunately we got pipped by Andy Wallace by the end, but if we were going be beaten by anyone, the Jaguar Le Mans Winner is not too bad!

The race was due to start around 5, so before that there was a drivers photo shoot on the startline and then a parade along the start and finish straight. The build up to the race was amazing, just have to be careful it doesn't take your mind off the job ahead. Joao started the race and did a great job by getting the car into the top 10 and 2nd in LMP2. Early evening struck and I was in the car chugging down the pitlane on the speed limiter about to take to the track for the first time. Definitely fair to say it took till the first chicane for me to get semi settled in. The car ran well and the only issue I had was when a Belmondo car destroyed itself right infront of me when his rear tyre blew while flatout in 6th gear.

I was out the car by 10pm and Martin in. I'd managed to halve the gap to the leading RML Lola and get up to 7th overall. Just when I was getting into bed, I saw on the TV the Radical SR9 in the garage...things didn't look good! I climbed out of bed during darkness for my night stint, we were now 35th and the engine was now running with a truck load of Radweld in it to fix the water leak which had cost us 45Mins in the pits...! My night stint went well and I climbed the car back into the top 20.

Early sunday morning I awoke to discover my hard work was again washed away. This time the clutch had failed to the extent a replacement was needed! The car was split in half and the repairs commenced. Unfortunately issues with the replacement meant that it was a lengthy stop of 3 hours.. At 10am the SR9 emerged from the garage and fired up straight away. I nursed her out the pits and I new straight away we were in business. During that stint I set my quickest race laps and slowly we started to grab back positions.

Martin and Joao then finished off the race with Joao holding onto 5th and bringing the Radical SR9 home in formation with the Audi R10's for a perfect picture.

Thats a high standard to aim for next year...

Regards