Round 4 saw a return to the streets of Houston for Ben, having raced the VDS Lola B2K40 there in 2006. On a familiar track the team where hopeful of closing the gap still further on the front running LMP2 cars. With 2 one hour test sessions the driving was split between Ben and Jamie, both searching for the ideal line between the unforgiving concrete walls and the many bumps.
Whilst the organisers had worked hard to grind away many of the bumps and undulations, Houston is undoubtedly still the bumpiest track the ALMS series will visit. It therefore presents the biggest challenge for the team and drivers to achieve an optimum set-up. Kumho have been working flat out to improve the performance of their racing tires but unfortunately the streets of Houston did not allow the team the opportunity to take advantage of the different new compounds available. (However, their first ever test session on the 3rd MAY at Mid-Ohio should give everyone involved a long awaited opportunity to gather some meaningful data) The B-K Mazda was lying 10th overall after the 2 test sessions and Ben was hopeful of getting in amongst the pack during qualifying. Ben had the job of qualifying and although he was quite obviously on the limit, he was disappointed not to be quicker. A combination of wrong tire choice and a continuing gear selection problem meant the No 8 car ended the 20 minute session 8th in class and 2 sec's off the pole. However he was only a few tenths off the pace of the Dyson Porsches, so under the circumstances not a bad performance.
It was Jamie's turn to start this race and for the first time the team had not experienced any major mechanical problems and everyone was therefore hopeful of a good finish. With a good clean start everybody was still running at the end of lap one and Jamie was holding his own amongst the LMP1 and LMP2 cars. On a street course like houston, it was hoped there might have been one or more cars drop out in the opening laps but everyone was still running strong so the best the team could hope for was a trouble free run to the finish. Ben took over driving duties just after the hour mark and was running competitively with the cars around him, but by this stage the team where 5 laps down on the leaders. The car did run well to the finish, and Houston, became the first trouble free race for the B-K Mazdaspeed Lola, finishing 9th overall.
At last the team has a chance to catch it's breath and take the car back to the workshop for the first time since it was built in February. They now have an opportunity to do some serious testing (see above) and Kumho, AER and Lola can develop, adjust and modify where necessary.
Looking at the qualifying and race times at Houston it seems the car is still about 2 sec's of the pace of the fastest cars so it will be interesting to see the improvement gained after their very first test session.
Incidentally when the car was taken from the track back in Wisconsin it was noticed that the heads of the bolts holding on the rear wing had been ground away (against the walls of the Houston track) a testament to just how hard he had been pushing!!
The next race is the 19th May at Salt lake, Utah |
