A very wet Spa and a disappointing race red flagged

23 September 2018

On Saturday during a meeting with organisers and team managers it was decided that the start of the race was moved up to 10.45 hrs as the morning showed less chance of a lot of rain. But a lot of rain came down anyway. Just into the third hour the race was red flagged. The #13 LMP3 with Martin Hippe behind the wheel was, after a shunt, back in 12thplace. Scheuschner in the #14 had hit the tyre wall after aqua planning. It finished 15th. Half points were given as the 75% of the race time was not reached. The team is still 5thin the championship.

 

The race started behind the safety car for four laps. After the green flag Kuba Smiechowski in the #13 LMP3 moved up to 10th. Going into the second hour Smiechowski was sixth and Scheuscher in ninth position.

 

Scheuschner came in for fuel, went out and to fall back to 14th. Martin Hippe got into the #13 with just over two and a half hours to go. He dropped down to 10th. In the meantime, conditions got worse and luck ran out. The #13 LMP3 got hit by the #7 car in turn 1, spun and then got get hit by the #5 car. Scheuschner in the #14 went aqua planning at Blanchimont, left the track and hit the tyre wall. Both cars made it back to the pit box at about the same time. The #13 had less damage and could leave again with a new left rear tyre and a repaired left rear rain light. The #14 was more severly damaged. Then the race was red flagged. The #13 of Smiechowski and Hippe finished in 12thplace, the #14 of Scheuschner, Müller-Crepon and Demarchi, still in the pit box, finished in 15thplace.

 

Paul Scheuschner:“Today was an extremely tricky day but the race director took all the right decisions. At the start, I only picked up the pace when I had not too many cars in front of me as I couldn’t see anything. I was very lucky to have Moritz as my teammate this weekend as he gave me some good tips of how to drive in the rain. When I came to Blanchimont where you normally can go flat out, I aqua planed and went off. I came onto the grass and had no change to avoid hitting the tyre wall. I still enjoyed it out there on the track. I am always happy with the opportunity to race in the rain and get the chance to develop my skills. I hope for a better result in the last race. I really like the Portimao track and look forward to this.”

 

Martin Hippe:“I only had a short time in the car and got hit on my second lap. The team did a good job to repair the car and send me out after a very short time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fight my way back up the leader board because of the heavy rain and the long safety car period. Anyway, the decision to red flag the race was right as I already did aqua planing behind the safety car.”

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