Dindo Capello: “I tried hard and found I could push hard so I ran like hell and got a great lap”
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Bowmanville, On
Nov 12, 2007
TDI
Lap records fell in bunches at Mosport International Raceway in 2007. In all, 17 new records were established at Mosport’s famed 4 km road course, 15 of which occurred during the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Among the many records that were reset during that event was the outright mark which had stood for five years. The old standard fell when American Le Mans Series driver Dindo Capello took to the track to qualify for the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport last August and rewrote the Mosport record book.
During the Saturday afternoon qualifying session Capello posted the fastest lap in Mosport’s rich 46-year history, a sparkling time of 1:05.829 behind the wheel of an Audi R10 TDI prototype for his fourth LMP1 pole position of the 2007 season and first overall pole since 2001. He edged out Penske Motorsports’ Romain Dumas by 0.09 seconds in the No. 7 Porsche RS Spyder, the LMP2 pole-winner, shattering the previous mark of 1:07.169 which was set by Frank Biela behind the wheel of an Audi R8 in August 2002. Although Dumas wasn’t quite as fast as Capello, his time of 1:05.919 was good enough to reset the LMP2 qualifying record.
“I was surprised how good the grip was in the first two runs, “ Capello said. “I didn’t push so much these practices because I never got to try new tires. And during the first run I found the grip was very good. I made a good decision to come in and ask the engineers if I could swap the rear tires because I was having trouble in the really slow corners. Then when I went back out I tried hard and found I could push hard so I ran like hell and got a great lap. “
Markham, Ontario’s Daniel Morad, one of Canada’s young open-wheel stars, also etched his name in the Mosport record books after he turned the fastest USA race lap en route to clinching his first Series championship.
