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From YourSITE.com Motorsport News Sebring, FL – With just 30 minutes to go before the checkered flag falls in the 55th Mobil 1 12-Hours of Sebring times have turned for Spyker Squadron. So far the race had been trouble-free for the Dutch team – the car had been running like a Swiss clock for 11 hours in a very competitive GT2 field.
At about a quarter to eight Peter Kox had to return to the pit box with a puncture of the right rear-tire. He quickly made his way to the pit box where the team added fuel and replaced the tires. Peter did no loose too much time and could quickly rejoin the field. Just two laps later Peter Kox called the team over the radio telling them to be ready as he would return to the pit box with another problem – the team found that the right front brake rotor was damaged and had to be replaced.
The team lost some time fixing the brake rotor but Peter was out again and now running in fifth position. Not too long after these two incidents a crack in an aluminum water line, running below the car’s air-box, stalled the cooling system and the team eventually finished in tenth position.
Peter van Erp: “Sometimes you just need a bit more luck – the team worked very hard and then it is hard to swallow when something simple fails. In particular after 11 hours whilst driving in a fourth position in this extremely competitive GT2 field – records have been broken and this years GT2 finish must have been the closest ever GT finish at Sebring with just 0.2 seconds between the leader and second position”.
Peter continues: “We have learned a lot this week; the team’s morale is very high, our pit stops were flawless and at least as good or better than the top-3 teams and both drivers performed outstanding. The team was cautious, worked carefully and therefore did not receive any penalty for violating the strict rules. There is however work to do; we need to further improve our race pace by one- to one-and-a-half seconds in order to close the gap with the top teams and to be able to compete for podium positions. If nothing had happened towards the end of the race the highest possible position for Spyker would have been a fourth place”.
The team will arrive back in the Netherlands on Tuesday whilst the car will be back in the Spyker Squadron workshop on Thursday. On Friday the team will again leave the county and head to Paul Ricard, France, to complete the two-day official Le Mans Series test together with their Spyker’s Swiss dealer team ‘Speedy Racing team’. Squadron’s first race will be the Le Mans Series 1000Km of Monza, April 15th.
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