Scottish racing driver Gregor Fisken brought a new meaning to the phrase ‘hot laps’ during Wednesday’s qualifying session for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Fisken, at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBR9 of French team Larbre Competition, found temperatures soaring inside the car after the air conditioning system had accidentally been turned off by the team during a pit-stop.
“We had an interesting situation inside the car, ” Fisken observed at the end of the session. “One of the mechanics had turned off the new air conditioning system by mistake and the temperature inside the cockpit was beginning to rocket! I was sat there thinking ‘the new air con isn’t very good’ and because the car is completely sealed I was just getting hotter and hotter. In the end the officials from the A. C.O noticed the temperature was soaring and called me into the pits. So I managed three hot-laps, and when I say hot I mean hot because I was absolutely boiling! ”
Fisken had a limited number of laps on Wednesday as the team primarily used team-mate Patrick Bornhauser for set-up work, and admitted conditions on-track had been far from ideal.
“I didn’t run at all in the first session. The team assigned Patrick to do the set-up work and although I was due to run near the end, the red flag put an end to that. In the second session I went out and my job was to do my three flying laps and not put it off the track. We went out on slicks, and although the track was drying out, it was still very wet off-line.
“It was nice to get out in the car at Le Mans, but it wasn’t ideal because it was wet, dark and I had no air conditioning so I was pretty cautious! Hopefully I will drive more laps today. ”
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