Andy Wallace got the nod to qualify the car, and
managed a best 8th spot in first qualifying, which locks in the top
35 grid positions for the race. Wallace's best time of 1:44.231 puts
the Champion Lola on Row 4 to start
the 40th Anniversary Rolex 24, which the team is happy with. We know
that our car is not one of the "speed" cars in this race, but we
feel it has the pace to be in contention for overall honors come
Sunday, given a steady pace and
minimal time in the pits. As always in endurance racing
however...time will tell...
Champion hit the first real snag of the week
during night practice. In this session, all drivers in each car must
set a time in the car, and Andy Wallace brought up the rear after
Luhr, Maassen and Haywood. Not long into Wallace's
night stint, the car experienced a catastrophic failure of the left
rear axle flange, which essentially disintegrated. This is the part
which fits into the gearbox casing, and has a "tripod" socket into
which the axle itself (specifically
its "tripod joint") plugs. When the flange failed, the car lost all
drive and came to a stop on the back straight, and had to be towed
in from the session, its day done.
This failure was quite a surprise, although the
axles were planned to be changed before the race anyway. As a result
of the failure and resulting stranding of the car on course, the
team have elected to install a "spool" in the rear end, which
effectively locks the differential so that in case of an axle
failure or loss of a wheel, the opposing rear wheel still gets
traction and so the car can be driven back to the pits for repairs.
The downside is that the spool rear end will induce understeer,
changing the handling characteristics of the car to some extent,
though not greatly. Technical Director Brad Kettler is confident
that this particular problem is now resolved.
Champion missed out the early morning practice on
Friday while repairs from the previous night were completed and
final race preparations were undertaken. As the first 35 grid spots
were locked in from First qualifying, we could not have bettered our
fourth row starting spot and so skipped Second Qualifying to
concentrate on race preparations. All four driver ran in the final
practice Friday afternoon, and pronounced the car ready to race. The
remainder of Friday was spent in last minute preparations,
installing and adjusting the onboard TV cameras, and making sure
that our differently-sized drivers would all be comfortable in the
Lola's cockpit. These are things that make for an altogether better
race, and enhance the chances of doing well.
