Morning at Spa
May 8th, 2011

Hi race fans,

It’s the big day, and we’re all knackered. It’s been a tiring week, never getting back to the hotel before midnight. One thing that surprises everyone, when they first come to Spa, is how steep Eau Rouge is. That is typical of everywhere, we are forever walking either up hill or down hill. We are making a lot of trips to MIK’s garage, as it’s their first race with us. We are also eating with MIK Corsa this week. We are based at the highest point of the paddock, whilst MIK are based at the lowest point; we have a group of Sherpas to aid us, every time we make the trip.
My plan for today (blog wise) is to tag a quick report on morning warm-up onto the end of this. The race starts at 1pm UK time, and I will try to give hourly updates. If there are any panics for the Zytek teams, the blogs could become less frequent. As usual, the most important one – the last one – will probably end a bit abruptly. The race will finish at 8pm Belgium time, and we have a big packing up job to do. The MIK garage is full of Zytek equipment that needs to be retrieved.

So now to morning warm-up.

Our teams were treating it as the warm-up that it is, but  the Peugeots were looking particularly racy, including a scary moment when two of them ganged up on a GT Ferrari. They’re obviously getting in the mood for a hectic race.
It’s fair to say that the Zytek cars didn’t make the usual impact. ASM and Greaves had a smooth run, although I did spot Miguel having a harmless spin. Not quite so straightforward for MIK. Cortes was having a good run, but a few long sector times were indicative of a niggling gearbox issue. The problem has been quickly identified, and should be fixed for the race.
The HPD engined cars are showing a bit more pace, but Ayari managed to pop in the quickest P2 time. The Nissan engine still performing well.

The team managers and starting drivers of the leading players, have been called to see the race director. I suspect it’s in light of the big accidents that we have had this week, so far. With the Peugeots starting down the field, it could get a bit messy.

Paddock is getting crowded. The race is coming soon.