Alex Davison To Tackle 24 Hours Of Le Mans
Jun 03, 2008
Mitchell Media
Australian Alex Davison turned his first laps of the famous Le Mans circuit in France on Sunday, in the official test day for next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Davison will tackle the sportscar classic on 15-16 June, becoming just the 31st Australian to do so.
The 75th running of the event kicked off with Sunday’s test at the famed 13.629km circuit for teams and drivers competing in the race.
Wet weather dominated the day, adding another element to Davison’s first Le Mans experience.
“Doing my first-ever laps of Le Mans in heavy rain was pretty interesting, “ the Melbournian said.
“It was a challenge, but I really enjoyed it.”
“It’s an awesome circuit and you have to build up to it slowly, especially in these conditions, while at the same time being aware of the faster cars coming up behind you. “
Dry tracktime was limited to early in the morning session, with team owner Horst Felbermayr Sr kicking off Team Felbermayr-Proton’s campaign.
By the time Davison and team-mate Wolf Henzler got behind the wheel of the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, the rain had set in, with the track only drying slightly late in the day.
Davison shone in the wet conditions, setting the #77 entry’s fastest-time of the day at 4:12.879, the fourth-fastest LM GT2 class time of the afternoon.
With the majority of the quick laptimes set in dry conditions earlier in the day, Davison’s lap put him seventh overall in LM GT2.
“The weather played a massive role in the test, “ Davison, 27, said.
“There was some relatively dry tracktime early on, but then the rain arrived and it was wet for most of the day.
“We had good pace in the rain and our dry laptimes aren’t indicative of what we are capable of, so it’s looking promising. “
Davison returns to the track next Wednesday, 11 June, for the first of two qualifying sessions for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans which takes place on 15-16 June.
“The rain didn’t help our program, but the laps we did could be very beneficial if it rains during the race, “ he said.
“Even with the rain, we learnt quite a bit and didn’t have any major problems, so it was a solid day.
“We’re looking forward to qualifying, making further improvements and showing what we can do. “
