With victory in the GT3 class of the Vallelunga 6 hours, Tolimit Arabia drivers Sean Edwards, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Sascha Maassen sucessfully completed their shakedown for the Dubai 24 hours in January. They fought hard throughout the race, starting only in 10th place, Sean clawed his way upto 4th place overall by the first pitstop. Khaled did a great stint and handed over to Sascha who again drove without fault. The last stint was again Khaled and he bought the car home in once piece, winning the GT3 class and coming 5th overall, just ahead of the AF Corsa car of Giancarlo Fisichella!
The race went really smoothly and everyone did a good job, we can now build on this result and improve on the areas we are weak in. This was Tolimit’s first endurance race, so there is a lot to learn, but they did a very good job for the first event.” Commented Sean after the race. “We had some issues with the gearbox near the end, but we know what it is and hopefully this will not happen in Dubai.”
Sean was out in Abu Dhabi coaching the drivers from Alex Renner Motors when he was called in at the last minute to race alongside Khaled. He was happy to oblige and his first laps of the circuit were in qualifying, sticking the car in 3rd place on the grid behind the Porsche 997 Cup S of Rene Rast and the Covette GT3 of Karim Al Azhari!
Khaled took the start of the race and the power of the following Dodge Viper meant he lost a place, but settled into a nice rhythm in 4th place. A late call on the safety car created a panic in the pits, as everyone came in at once, with Khaled handing over to Sean. He came right out behind the 3rd place Viper, but the leading Cup S and second place Corvette were behind, it seemed as though the safety car had made a mistake and the first two cars had managed to lap the whole field in the confusion.
The 5th edition of the Dubai 24 hours again took place in January, during the UAE’s so called winter of 30c. Sean Edwards, along with fellow countryman Oliver Morley had set their sights on a podium finish. Rule changes for 2010 had meant that the 997 RSR’s were heavily restricted with extra weight and power reductions, so the race was not going to be easy. But, a 24 hour race is the ultimate endurance test for any driver, team and car. To finish, let alone finish well, so many thing have to go right, with the possibility of so many things to go wrong, it’s the toughest challenge around.
Practice was difficult, with the track being very “green” and the team using the new Dunlop tyre, there was a lot of setup work to be done. By the end of the test session, Sean and the team had worked hard and got the car to where they wanted it for the race. “There was so much oversteer in high speed corners, it was almost undrivable, especially for a long distance race, but I am glad we have resolved the issues now.” commented Sean after the second test session.
GT2 Report: It was pretty clear beforehand that for Richard Westbrook and Manu Collard the journey down to the technical German circuit at Oschersleben would not be an enjoyable one. “Carrying 90 kilogram of ballast on board of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR meant that the qualifying would be a real nightmare”, Manu Collard commented on Saturday evening. “On top of that we experienced a gearbox problem resulting in not achieving anything better than a tenth place.”
On the other hand it was smiling faces in Edwards/Holzer camp. These young ProSpeed Competition drivers clinched a well deserved third spot on the grid and started the race with great ambitions. Marco Holzer had a difficult start, with all the GT1 cars going off ahead, but slotted into the highly competitive GT2 field well. Continue reading…
GT3 Report: A late change in Tim Sugden’s plans meant that Trackspeed were after another quick driver to pair alongside the team owner David Ashburn, so a few days before the FIA GT event in Oschersleben Sean got a call from team manager Riki to ask if he could drive the GT2 and GT3 car. Prospeed having already signed the young Brit for GT2 meant only GT3 would be possible.
“It was a last minute call and it did mean a busy schedule between two teams, but I was up for it.” Sean explained… “We had some technical issued in both practice sessions, which was unfortunate as this put us on the back foot regarding the setup for qualifying. So David had to enter it blind, with a setup based on Adria and qualified in a very respectable 22nd place. We made a few modifications to the car in between the sessions and I just went for it, matching the pole position time in sector one and two, but as I exited the last corner I saw the red flags, a Viper had crashed heavily and this meant my lap was over! I went out afterwards, but the tyres had gone past their best and I could only manage 9th.”
