Silverstone ELMS and WEC – Friday Practice

Welcome to Silverstone, we are here for the ELMS and WEC sportscar extravaganza. Both the Gibson 015S cars will be in the ELMS 4 hours race on Saturday, but there will be plenty of  Gibson-Nissan engines represented in both races (the WEC is a 6 hours race on Sunday).

The Gibson chassis division are looking forward to comparing the pace of the LMP2 cars across the two championships. This will set the tone for the season, as long as we see the true pace of all the cars.

A good start for the new Gibson 015S – after 15mins in the first test session, we are first and second. Harry Tincknell is 1.6secs quicker than Jon Lancaster, who is 0.6secs quicker than the next best.

Fifteen minutes to go, and it’s still Gibson first and second. Lancaster’s time was gazumped by Ladygin A, but he managed to get the Greaves Gibson back into second with a 0.5 second advantage. Jota still lead the way, by one second.

A full course yellow, as one of the Ibanez Orecas is stopped by trackside. The yellows are finally withdrawn, but there’s only four minutes remaining.

And that is it. No improvement in lap times.

So – a perfect start to the Gibson make. Let’s hope it continues this way.

WEC cars are on track shortly, and ELMS are out again at 2.10pm.

WEC cars have had their ninety minutes session, and I’m pleased to say they could not better Harry Tincknell’s time from the ELMS. I’m also pleased to say that the Gibson built Nissan engines power the two Ligiers that head the WEC timesheets. Disappointing to see the Strakka Dome three seconds slower than Jota, but hopefully it’ll all come together for them soon.

We had a few drops of rain during that session, but I would expect a dry track when the ELMS cars return to action, in thirty minutes time. More updates after that session.

We’re thirty minutes into the ninety minutes session. I thought my update would say that the Gibsons are lying third and fifth, but Albuquerque put in a quickie, to go top. This is quickly followed by a red flag, to retrieve a Ferrari from the gravel.

One hour complete, and Jota are still in control. Simon Dolan has been doing most of the laps, with times that are consistent with most other cars at that time. There’s been lots of yellow flags, making it difficult to string decent laps together.

Jon Lancaster sets all purple sectors, to set the fastest LMP2 time of the day. The Greaves car sits on a 1.49.419.

It turns out the Gibsons were untouchable. With tyre limitations, no one seemed to be committed to qualifying simulation. So it’s qualifying for real, next for the ELMS 11.30am Saturday for the LMP2 cars.

The last sportscar action of the day has just finished. The WEC cars have upped their pace from this morning, with Derani quickest LMP2 at 1.48.676. The second Ligier is 0.7secs behind. Both these cars are using our engines, as is the Dome in fourth place.

The Audis lead the way in LMP1, followed by Porsches and then Toyotas.

There’s another hour session for the WEC cars tomorrow morning, followed by a qualifying bonanza. ELMS prototypes at 11.30am, followed by WEC prototypes at 12.30pm. Can’t wait.

 

 

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