Club Arnage - 2001 Le Mans 24 hours

Quotes...

Opening Shots June 14th.
By Stella-Maria Thomas

Jordi Gene (No. 38, ROC Auto Reynard LMP675): "I'm happy. The car is running well and I'm enjoying being here. It's too soon to tell how well we'll go. The extra power is really nice too after being in GTSs."

Jonny Kane (No. 34, MG Sport Racing Ltd LMP675) who is not happy about MG team kit: "The first time I came home wearing this, Lesley Ann asked me if I'd got a job at Kwikfit! Look at these trousers… the zip off bit is right in the middle of the knee and if the mechanics have to kneel it hurts!"

Marc Goossens (No. 5, DAMS Cadillac LMP900): "If they don't change the rules soon the Audi will be so far ahead it'll need to be in a separate class unless they're cheating but no one has found out if they are. If you hear anything, please tell me! Don't tell me they think it can go faster, please! At the moment it's just one race at a time for us and I seem to be spending all my time in meetings and answering this phone…"

Jonathan Cochet (No. 57, Equipe de France FFSA Chrysler, GTS): "I'm a little sick, and I have to wait. Something in the garage has made me feel ill. My first lap was quite good in the car but most of our time was to qualify the three drivers. I made my two laps in the day and in the night. I made only three laps and that's enough. But no, the circuit is really good and the Viper is good but in the slow corners it's not so good and now we change the engine for the second qualifying but it is not to make a good time, it is only to change the engine and we have made a qualifying time yesterday and because it was David who was quick, he had the tyres that are soft - very soft - for qualifying for one lap and now we work on the set up for the race. I am not being paid for this, it's for the glory!"

Guy Smith (No. 7, Team Bentley, LM GTP) wearing green sunglasses made for him especially by a friend in the USA to match the Bentley livery: "It's going pretty good. I mean, when Martin qualified the car we were - I think - 6th fastest yesterday. We hope to do a bit better today but we had a problem yesterday in qualifying. We had one of the fire extinguishers go off and then we had a puncture. We picked up a nail on the track and got a puncture, which caused quite a bit of damage to the bodywork. By the time that got fixed a lot of time had gone by. The car wasn't quite as good as it was at the test day so we're just trying to improve it. Le Mans last year was just fantastic and to be part of the Bentley team is another step further and I'm really enjoying it. Stephan's a great guy and Martin's great to work with. It's really good fun. It's good; I'm really enjoying it. I love the nighttime too. If it rains I'm not too keen though; it's not very good in the rain because the windscreen steams up!"

Pedro Lamy (No. 15, Team Playstation Chrysler, LMP900): "We are in 6th position at the moment and Olivier did the time. The car was happy and I drove some laps in the dark. I was I think in a good place. In the dark there are no problems. Traffic makes it difficult sometimes in the dark but I think this is normal. I am optimistic but we will wait and see!"

Ben Collins (No. 20, Team Ascari, LMP900): "The engine blew and we had to replace it. That was the main thing. It wasn't the race spec engine so that means we should be all right for the race. I just need more laps. I only did two when it was clear weather. I did some of the night laps as well so I've done enough to qualify. But I was out there with no lights so that was interesting… I didn't turn them on properly. There's two switches and I switched them on but not the main beam so I couldn't see. It was 10.30 and it was difficult to see that they weren't working properly. Tonight we're only doing one lap because it's the race engine. Otherwise the car is working well and the team is really good."

Harri Toivonen (No. 20, Team Ascari, LMP900): "I'm here because I love it! I've been here 5 times before, and I've finished once. I'd like to do that again. I'm looking forward to the night driving. I really enjoy that."

Jamie Davies (No. 11, Panoz Motorsports, LMP900): "It was a bit of a nightmare really and I've not really done anything. The car was out for two laps and then in and out again. I liked it here last year but I'd like to be in something faster this time!"

David Brabham (No. 12, Panoz Motorsports, LMP900): "Come back and find me once I've driven it when I might have something to say! I don't think it'll last the twenty-four hours anyway; the longest it's ever run is 2 hours and 45 minutes. If it's going to go out though, I'd rather it happened earlier."