“Fourth place in LMP3 class for our first race is a good place to start”- so thinks the team manager Dalius Steponavicius. “For now, it’s hard to evaluate. We need to give our emotions some time to settle down and then do a precise analysis. During the race we did everything the way it was supposed to be done and we avoided penalties which is real important in this sort of racing. Here we depend on theory and mathematics and it has helped us big time. I was trying to motivate the team as the guys worked for two whole days with little rest to get the car running. In the future, we will go faster but for now it’s celebration time”.
Latvian Konstantins Calko, lithuanian Dainius Matijosaitis and J. Fuster from Spain did a total of 102 laps on the Silverstone circuit in the new Ginetta-Nissan P3. During it‘s four hour race the car drove 602 kilometers in an average speed of 150 km/h.
“It can always be better, but this is our first race. We still have to find the right setup for the car, we still have to find some speed. We are about 20 km/h slower than our opponents and that is a lot taking in to account that the Silverstone circuit features four long straights, so gaining maximum speed is crutial. I am very impressed with Dainius’ performance. He is new to prototype racing and did real well being very consecutive, fast and dependable. J. Fuster is also good, even better then I thought. We reached our main goal to finish the first race and now we will try to go faster,” says Konstantins Calko after his opening debut in the race.
Accompaning to his team mate, J. Fuster was more than happy with the team‘s work. According to him, this sort of commitment shown by the pilots, mechanics and the rest of the SVK by Speed Factory people gives enourmous potential in picking up the pace and becoming equil rivals to the leaders.
D. Matijosaitis is also happy with his first ever finish in prototype racing: „The car is real fast, but the need to improve the handling remains. Faster or sharper corners provoke rally style driving as skidding appears which is not something these cars are suppost to do. One thing is for sure – the car is far from it‘s limits and I just hope I can reach over mine. We will have to do a lot of homework if we want to feel comfortable going that fast.
After the debut in the 4 Hours of Silverstone, team members are staying for the weekend with no rushing home – a chance to see top level racing in the world class six hour FIA WEC long distance championship is more than enough to raise the motivation in reaching for future ELMS victories.