Lechner & Groskamp TQ first qualifier
After a rather incident packed opening round of qualifying at the Bumod Grand Prix it is Sabrina Lechner and Jilles Groskamp who have laid down the benchmark times. First up were the 1:10 runners with Groskamp surprising even himself with a very fast run of 31 laps in 10:19.181. Having set the pace in practice yesterday, the World class driver from the Netherlands went even quicker this morning knocking 4/10th off his best lap time. Running a two stop strategy over the 10 minute heat with his Max powered prototype Serpent he believes faster times can come but in the final round today when conditions should be at their coolest.
Second fastest for the round was a rather bemused Dirk Wischnewski. The Xray team driver said, ‘My car felt good but time is too slow. I only made one stop, Jilles made two. I really have to push much harder’. His Orcan powered NT1 set a time of 30 laps in 10:04.510.
Also managing a 30 lap run, Surikarn C. said his run was fine. Using a Max engine in the rear of his Xray, the Thai driver will try his OS for the second round of qualifying as he continues to back to back the two engines. Dirk Stammler completed the top 4 for the round despite coming in too early for his pit stop which cost him some time. Driving an OS powered Serpent 720 the German will try a different bodyshell next time out to try and reduce understeer.
Sabrina Lechner, who managed to fit in a quick TV interview with Turkish television just before the run, was happy to TQ the opening 1:8 round in Turkey laughing at the fact she did it having done three pit stops. Her Serpent 966 ran well in the hot conditions but after the first fuel stop her engine went off tune something she feels is being caused by the different fuel she is running here this weekend. The time of 30 laps in 10:02.648 was slower than that of Groskamp’s 1:10 and Lechner is fully aware that will tumble in the next round. Making it a Serpent 1-2 for the round Austrian Michael Meisinger at the controls of a Picco powered 960 said he drove a safe run. Completing the Top 3 was local driver Alparslan Ozanturk using a Mugen/JP combination.
He was the clear pace setter in practice yesterday but this morning got off to a bad start for factory Mugen driver Robert Pietsch. Just as the cars were called to the pitlane following their warm up he ran off the track rolling his car in the process. A chunked rear tyre meant he would miss the start of the heat leaving him to sit out the round. Afterwards he commented ‘It was a frequency problem in the brain’. Michael Salven was another to hit trouble before the start of his heat. Having lost his way with set-up yesterday he had his 966 back working again but in the warm-up he collected a car sitting on its roof in the middle of track resulting in a broken front wishbone on the former European Champion’s car.
Managing to make the start of the heat, Shepherd front man Patrick Schaefer was looking good but as he came into the pits for his first fuel stop he made contact with another car which broke the servo saver on his Velox. American ace DJ Apolaro had a morning to forget. In 1:8 he fell foul of the big difference in the level of drivers running in the heats. Three laps in he had an off on the main straight trying to avoid a slower car. No damage was done to his 966 but he opted to come in. Race organisers have, after discussions with the drivers, now decided to do a reseed after the second round of today’s five qualifiers – the addition of a fifth round being announced late last night. In 1:10 Apolaro lost a plug on the start line. Getting going again to record 29 laps he said afterwards the engine is done.
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