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.

Sean was qualifying as usual, but a problem with the from aero splitter only allowed him one lap at reduced speed which resulted in a poor qualifying slot. All the other drivers did their mandatory three lap runs to be eligible for the race.

With the race starting on Friday, everything was set for the long haul ahead. With team owner Miro Knopka starting the car, it was underway to a safe start. Oliver Morley took over for the second stint, putting in a great effort to get the car from 22nd to 8th place by the time he pitted! It had taken it’s tole on him, as he almost collapsed from heat exhaustion when he got out of the car, with cockpit temperatures reaching upto 65c! Richard was third in the car and started off at a decent pace and started to find his rhythm. All of a sudden there was a code 60 yellow and Ricard came on the radio saying the rear right was broken! About ten minutes later the car was recovered by a truck and delivered to the pitlane. Disaster had struck, only three hours into the 24 hour race, with a right rear suspension failure. There was so much damage done to the rear of the car, the race was over, with not enough spare parts to fix it.

“I am gutted, we were progressing really well and I was looking forward to my first stint in the car during the early evening. It’s really bad luck, but that’s racing, so there is nothing we can do.” said a disappointed Sean Edwards shortly after the announced retirement.

Sean is now working hard to secure a full time ride in both the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup for the 2010 season.

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.

“Because I was caught up in traffic we decided to pit early for our second stint. Unfortunately it started raining somewhat too soon and we weren’t able to take full advantage of our strategy. But we kept to a tight pace, and thanks to Sean’s brilliant work in the wet, we climbed up into second place!”, Holzer recounts the race. “We finished second and I have moved up to third in the drivers’ championship and in addition we have helped the team to consolidate their first place in the team championship, especially after the early retirement of Manu and Richard.”

“It was a difficult start to the weekend in GT2 for me, as we had technical problems in FP1, so I didn’t get any running and the few laps I did in FP2 were all in the wet/damp!” Commented Edwards. “The  race was great, but unfortunately we made the wrong decision on strategy early on, so we had to do one extra pit stop comparing to the rest and that cost us the win really. We are delighted though with second place and we got good points for the team’s championship which is why I was here. ProSpeed gave us a great car and although there was so much standing water around, we managed to keep the car pointing in the right direction, for the most part anyway! It was a big disappointment for Manu and Richard, but I am sure they will be focusing on the next race already. The infamous Spa 24 hours is next, where I hope we can be one step higher.

Manu Collard was pretty clear about the incident shortly after the start. “What the guy in the Ferrari did was highly unprofessional. He first touched my rear wheel in a place where you can’t overtake, resulting in me losing the car’s balance after which he rammed me fully in the flank. Unbelievable…”

The FIA GT will now be taking a breather for a few weeks up until the 24 Hours of Spa, at the end of July. ProSpeed Competition will not only be defending their leaders positions, the Liege based team are also looking to add their first victory to their record of achievements in Spa, following their second place in this race last season.

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.”

The first race and David made a tremendous start, going from 22nd to 16th!  He then battled hard and held off the other two Porsche’s to bring the car to Edwards in a very solid 15th place. The Muhlner Porsche was let out of the pits early and jumped Trackpeed, braking at the end of the pit lane to avoid getting a penalty for being under 70 seconds, nearly taking out the hot pursuing Trackspeed car in the process… Edwards set his sights on Marc Basseng and reeled him in over the coming laps, they were both pushing as hard as they could and carved their way up to 8th and 9th places, but in the final laps the pressure got to Basseng and he spun allowing Edwards to take 8th overall and 1st in the Porsche class!

The second race was less fortunate, after a good start Sean was up to 6th place, but a loose radiator half way round the first lap, followed by an off track exertion on the coolant put an early end to their race.

Trackspeed now looks forwards to the Spa 24 hours where they will be concentrating on GT2 only and have high hopes of a good result after the bad luck in GT2 at Oschersleben.

ProSpeed Competition defending a double leadership position in FIA GT
GRÂCE-HOLLOGNE, 17/06/2009. Following Prospeed Competition’s victory in the second race of the FIA GT in Adria, the Oschersleben circuit is now the following venue on the FIA GT and FIA GT3 calendar. In Germany ProSpeed Competition will be defending Manu Collard and Richard Westbrook leaders’ position with the drivers and on top of that also that of the team in the battle for the team title. On the GT3 front the team are looking to clinch a first podium place. ProSpeed Competition will be welcoming two new faces in Oschersleben, namely the Brit Sean Edwards in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR teamed up with Marco Holzer (GT2) and the Greek Dimitris Deverikos in the Porsche 911 Cup S, which he shares with Niki Lanik (GT3).

Following his debut at Le Mans last weekend Darryl O’Young will not be amongst them.

“That’s right”, Rudi Penders started off the conversation looking ahead to the German round of the FIA GT-championship. “Darryl is active in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and as from Spa will be back amongst us. In fact he’s being replaced by Sean Edwards here.
Sean is a young 22 year old Brit who won the first FIA GT3 title back in 2006 with Porsche and who competed in the 2007 FIA GT2 championship with a Porsche, with a third place in GT2 during the 24 Hours of Spa as his best result. In fact he will be competing for us in the 24 Hours of Spa and Oschersleben is therefore the perfect way in which to integrate him into the team and get to know some of our run of the mill procedures. In Oscherleben Marco and Sean are going flat out for a podium. It soon became apparent in Adria that our ‘second’ car had normous potential, and can definitely improve on that fourth place clinched in Adria On top of that every point scored in the battle for the team title is welcomed with open arms.”

“Who knows, we might have to give our team mates a boost”, Manu Collard laughed, having just won in Le Mans with Porsche in LMP2. “For Oschersleben we have no less than 90 kilo ballast (40 kilo as success ballast and 50 kilo ‘fixed ballast’ for the entire season as a result of the driver pairing). Tough going, especially as in the first instance these ninety kilo are an enormous handicap in qualifying, resulting in achieving a far less
favourable spot on the starting grid. The outcome is that we’ll be enjoying a catch-up race, which is not ideal in Oschersleben. This German circuit is not designed for overtaking. But last but not least trying to go into the attack with a heavy car is not obvious. A good start, a perfect strategy and a bit of luck will be of vital importance for us.”

“I received a call on Thursday afternoon from my manager Phil Hindley, to drive with Oliver Morley in the Muhlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S in the first two rounds of the FIA European GT3 championship” Sean recalled.

Last minute situations are never perfect, let alone, having never driven a 997 GT3 Cup ‘S’, but Sean relished the challenge to return to the series, that he won in 2006.

The practice sessions went well for the team, with Edwards sticking the Porsche in the P2 spot both times.  Morley was struggling with the very unfamiliar Porsche in the first session, but made significant progress in the second one and started to get his head round the rear engine machine.

Qualifying saw Edwards go out early on and stick the Porsche on provisional pole, with an amazing single flying lap of 1.49.6, 0.2 faster than his 2007 GT2 time in the 997 RSR! Unfortunately the rapid Morgan piped him with only two minutes to go from the top spot, but it was a front row start for the Porsche ace. Morley improved his practice time by a full second and ended up 33rd, but with only a few tenths more he would have gained significant places in this ultra tight field.

Race one saw Morley starting from 33rd and put in a great fight to bring the car up to 25th when he handed over to Edwards for the remainder of the race. There was no hanging around for the young Brit, overtaking three positions on his out lap alone! He was absolutely flying in the Muhlner prepared Porsche, by far the fastest man on track, fighting his way all the way up to 8th place before being handed a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags… This dropped them down to 18th place, but Edwards didn’t give up and fought his way back to 13th in the final three laps of the race, overtaking both rival Porsche’s on the last lap to secure P2 in the Porsche category.

The second race got underway with Edwards trying to attack the Morgan for the lead, but to no avail as the other cars had too much of a power advantage over the Porsche and he dropped down to 4th place on lap one. He soon set his sights on the 3rd placed Ford GT, which he passed at Luffield on lap two and then went after the 2nd place Corvette, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. The 2nd place car made a mistake around lap ten which gave Edwards a chance he didn’t pass up and grabbed P2. The Morgan had a sizeable gap now, but Edwards eroded the advantage held by the Morgan and by the time the pit stops came around, he was right on the Morgan’s bumper when he handed over to Morley. A mix up in the pits lost the team a lot of time and the car dropped back to P5, with some faster cars closing in, they finished 10th in the end, losing out on 1st place in the Porsche category with two laps to go against the sister Muhlner car.

Sean said “I am happy with how the weekend has gone, it’s really nice to see the Porsche being competitive in GT3 again, as it has not been near the front since we won back in 2006. The team did an excellent job with the setup and preparation of the car and we were quick straight out of the box. Oliver progressed a lot over this weekend with the Porsche and we worked closely together to see where he could improve in this car and he did very well.”

Oliver commented “I am used to driving a Ferrari or Lamborghini, so the Porsche was completely different and a very hard car to drive I have to say, but it was great fun and a good experience. Sean did a really fantastic job, he was flying in the car all weekend! We got a top 10 in the second race which I am happy with and I am hoping to be back in this championship again, as I loved the racing.”