SRT Motorsports - 24 Hours of Le Mans - In-Race Quotes 1

June 21, 2013 , LE MANS, France -  Gary Johnson – SRT Motorsports Racing Manager
“We’ve been trying to predict the weather and it’s been difficult to do to say the least. We actually had the 93 car going with intermediate rains (tires) and that wasn’t the right choice so they came in and switched out. Right now it’s raining in Turns 1 and 2, so a lot of cars are going off there. But overall I think the cars have done really well. The 53 car showed that it could get past some of the other competitors. We are playing a little bit of a safe game here, not stretching the range more than we should; just want to get the laps in and whittling away on the other competitors.”

THE CHOICE OF TIRES WHEN SOME OF THE TRACK IS DRY AND OTHER PARTS ARE WET IS A VERY DIFFCULT DECISION. “It is and the drivers give us some feedback but they are not really aware of what’s coming with the next half-hour or hour of weather is going to be. Everybody takes a good guess and sometimes you make it and sometimes you don’t.”

OVERALL ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE START OF THE RACE? “I am. The cars have shown good durability. We are right where we need to be on range and the drivers are doing a fantastic job so I’m real happy.”

Marc Goossens – No. 53 SRT Viper GTS-R
YOU WERE PASSING CARS FOR POSITION WHEN HALF THE TRACK WAS WET AND THE OTHER HALF WAS DRY. “I had a good run. That’s why I asked over the radio what are my lap times compared to somebody else because it feels like it’s that slow and they told me it was way faster than any GT car. But it’s good to have that communication because then you know you can pace yourself at the speed that you’re doing but man the conditions are changing so quickly. It rains a little bit over there and dry over there. I didn’t feel like I was taking any risks. I just got into a good flow, into a good rhythm. The car is pretty decent. We just have to look after our tires because we try to triple-stint them right now and you know we have to be cautious. If we get a triple-stint that’s completely dry and no safety car, we may not make it on one set of tires for three stints. It’s something else we’ll probably learn later on in the race because we didn’t have a chance to do that. These guys prepped the car so well it’s running right now like a Swiss clock. It’s not moving at all. Mechanically everything feels fine. So far I’m confident.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO MAKE THAT DECISION TO CHANGE TIRES UNDER THESE CONDITIONS? “Well there are a lot of things that come into play. I mean, I could see other
people struggle as well. I didn’t feel like I was struggling as much at the time so our car seems to like that maybe a little better than the others but it’s so tough to make a decision. I guess experience comes into play at that point but I felt pretty comfortable on those slicks all the time.”

DO THE CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS EQUALIZE EVERYTHING AMONG THE COMPETITORS? “I think a lot of it is to do with the setup that you run. We know we’re a little slower down the straightaways because of the drag that we have but then we make up elsewhere. Hopefully we can keep making the right decisions during the race and throughout the race and just take it from there.”

Kuno Wittmer – No. 93 Pennzoil Ultra SRT Viper GTS-R
“The car was working really well in the dry, it was really, really good. I think we nailed the good 24-hour setup on this and from here on we just got to keep pacing ourselves. You know a lot of guys are running pretty quick and I don’t think it’s necessary at this point right now to knock off any under four-minute laps. It’s important to keep the wheels straight and the alignment well and you know all the corner weights on it and everything will be good. That’s basically what I did in the first session was not to take unnecessary risks, stay off the curbing and give the car off to Jonathan (Bomarito).”

WHEN SOME OF THE PAVEMENT IS DAMP AND OTHER PARTS ARE DRY, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT AS A DRIVER TO MAKE THE CALL ON WHICH TYPE OF TIRE TO RUN? “As a driver you’re always trying to go faster, right? (smiles). It’s tough. Those are really tricky conditions. It was dry going into corner 1, all the way to four or five and then wet in the two chicanes and dry again then wet again with a big downpour in Arnage. So it was very tricky to adapt but the car came off to Jonathan in a clean fashion.”

IT SEEMED LIKE THE START OF THE RACE MIRRORED THE PRACTICE SESSIONS WITH A LOT OF CARS SPINNING OFF THE COURSE. WERE YOU CLOSE TO ANY OF THOSE INCIDENTS? “I was behind one of the Ferraris and he seemed to be running a pretty good pace with me and I was catching him a lot in the corners but down the straightaways we were pretty good together. It actually helped the motor and fuel consumption; I was able to draft him pretty good so I think we maybe gained some gallons there in drafting. As soon as the rain come he went off, the guy in front of him went off, and another car went off. It was kind of tricky to see everybody go off but again they were the first ones through the rain.”