YOKOHAMA LE MANS: SIX HOURS GONE


Media information: 16 June 2007


Six hours into the race, and Yokohama ADVAN's 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 entry is in the garage, working hard to fix a mechanical problem and rejoin the historic race.

Horst Felbermayr Jr had been driving the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR when the engine lost power whilst running in 10th place in GT2 at 20:30 CET.

"We're not quite sure what it is at the moment, but looks like an oiling issue," said one of Seikel's three drivers, Philip Collin. "It seemed like it was only on two cylinders at the end of the stint.

"My colleague tells me it was going down Mulsanne flat-out and then just fell right off. The team is very busy working on it now, on the engine, and if it can go out it will."

The team had been running in eighth place until a flash shower convinced them to swap from slick tyres to the Yokohama ADVAN wets.

"It's a very difficult weather," said Yokohama Europe Marketing Manager Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi. "We have had to change from slicks to rain tyres, then cut slick tyres and back to slicks again, because some parts of the track will be practically flooded after a heavy shower, whilst others will be bone dry.

"Clear skies tonight mean that the temperatures will drop to six degrees and the rain seems to have passed for now so things should get easier once we get back on track."

Yokohama engineers have travelled from Japan to support Seikel's race effort but, with the unpredictable conditions, there has been a big element of luck involved.

"I went out on a slick tyre to start with," said Collin, who is from Chicago, USA. "We had a down pour around the Porsche Curves so I changed to a wet tyre. The circuit was only wet for about 5% though, which made it very tricky everywhere else! Sometimes you just don't enjoy being in the car and that was maybe one."

The 50 remaining race cars will now compete through the night in a bid to rack up the most miles in 24 hours and win the coveted title.