By Speed Factory completed a positive qualifying session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, which hosts the second round of the European Le Mans Series. Briton Jackson qualified 12th in another extremely competitive qualifying battle in LMP3 class. Tomorrow, the trio of Jackson, Fontes and Fuster will set sights high: maximum championship points.
By Speed Factory is contesting the second round of the European Le Mans Series at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari near the town of Imola. The Italian circuit, one of the most loved in all of motorsports has hosted two 90 minute free practice sessions. The trio of drivers, Great Britain´s Tom Jackson and Spaniards Jesús Fuster and Álvaro Fontes made progress ahead qualifying. Unlike Fuster, who already stepped onto the podium with by Speed Factory last year, both Jackson and Fontes are discovering this iconic motorsport venue. After 40 laps in FP1 on Friday afternoon, the Valencia-based team set a quickest time of 1:42.817. In the morning, by Speed Factory turned 36 valuable laps in final practice session with a personal best of 1:42.880.
Later, in qualifying, Jackson produced a lap of 1:40.821 behind the wheel of the yellow/red Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3, which was 12th-fastest in class but only a few tenths of a second separated the team from a better start position. By Speed Factory still showed competitive pace on long runs, which will be the key factor on Sunday. The 4-hour race will take place at 13.57 on Sunday.
Dalius Steponavicius (Team manager of by Speed Factory): “It was another exciting qualifying session at Imola, such a tight track where traffic is a major issue. Tom did a great job at the wheel of our Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3. A few tenths quicker or slower and you gain or lose several positions. It was a challenging task to find a clean lap and, on his fastest time at the end of the session, Tom wasn´t able to improve his second sector. Putting all the sectors together, we would have moved up to 8th place. But anyway endurance is all about solid race pace and trouble free run. If we stay away from incidents and our strategy and pit stops work, I think our trio of drivers will have a shoot for a top-5 finish in LMP3 class.”
Established by Lithuanian rally driver, Dalius Steponavicius, in 2008, by Speed Factory was most successful team in Radical Masters series with wins of driver´s title in 2008, 2009 and 2012 and on its debut in the European Le Mans Series last year ranked 3rd in LMP3 class.