The halfway point of the European Le Mans Series had several challenges in store for SVK by Speed Factory. After two incidents on the track, the Spanish team was forced to pull out of the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring before reaching the finish line. This ruined the team’s plans to establish themselves among the fastest in the third stage of the ELMS.
Konstantins Calko, the first to drive, was forced to return to the pits just barely after the race reached the half-hour mark when the car ran wide on one of the turns, causing damage to its back side.
“We’re ready for the unexpected and every time we do what we do best. We demonstrated that obstacles like this will not stop us on our way. Even though we received an incomplete set of spare parts from the manufacturer, our engineers dealt with the situation quickly. However, this did mean that the work took twice as long to complete, but our car did make it back onto the track eventually”, explained SVK by Speed Factory team manager Dalius Steponavicius.
Next up was the Lithuanian driver Dainius Matijosaitis, later substituted by Spaniard Jesus Fuster. The team steadily regained its footing and advanced to third place in its class. However, as the third hour of the race came to a close, Jesus Fuster also experienced a similar incident. Things were complicated by the fact that the Ginetta company, the manufacturer of the car, had not prepared more spare parts, which meant that SVK by Speed Factory had to pull out.
“Five or six minutes was all we would have needed to deal with the damage and continue in the race, but this turned out to be impossible because we were not provided with certain bodywork parts. According to our contract, the manufacturer is responsible for supplying all the teams driving Ginetta P3 cars with all necessary spare parts. But thus far things have not been going the way we would like them to go,” revealed Steponavicius.
“The drivers and the entire team did their work very well. I can only praise them. All we need is the manufacturer to step up as well. I believe that Ginetta should rethink its LMP3 programme and make certain adjustments. For now the quality of the car and the constantly emerging structural problems are raising doubts. In the thick of the season, our racing has become fast and aggressive, but several hours in and certain suspension components start to fall apart. This simply shouldn’t be happening in a car of this calibre,” added SVK by Speed Factory team manager.
The team does not intend to give up any time soon and continues to approach the future with determination. Immediately after their sojourn at the Red Bull Ring, SVK by Speed Factory will be getting ready for the next round in 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The race will take place in France on 5-6 September.