comics, Le Mans – At the dawn of a tough and intense week of competition, Glickenhaus validated the first part of the work on Sunday during the Test Day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Admittedly, we had to deal with some overheating problems on one of the 007 LMHs, as well as with the absence for part of the day of half of the pilots, who had been held the day before in the United States in IMSA. And yet, by completing 156 laps with the two cars, the set-up went well.
“We really did what we wanted to do, we had a plan to change the setup”Explain Frank Mailleuxwho shares the wheel of the 709 with Ryan Briscoe et Richard Westbrook. “It was just the two of us with Ryan until Richard came from the States, so there weren’t too many problems and it’s always interesting to do what you want to do. .”
With a first participation last year, Glickenhaus this time presented itself with more certainty when it came time to hit the track. What to review a number of validations to now focus more on the search for performance.
“We saw some interesting things to go a little bit faster, to make the car comfortable”continues Franck Mailleux. “It’s important to have this very comfortable car, especially in the Porsche esses, in the Tertre Rouge at the entrance, a car that allows you not to make mistakes, to place it where you want in traffic. That’s really what we focused on that day. We’re pretty happy with that first day.”
“Already, there are no surprises, that is to say that last year, we were waiting to understand the car a little on the really fast phases with the aero. There, we know that, when we push it a little more, it generates aero in these fast curves. We were looking to secure the rear axle, which we managed to do already there, and now we are going to get a little performance by keeping the comfort of the car.”
The fastest of the two Glickenhaus turned Sunday in 3’30″104 at the hands of Romain Dumas, only two-tenths of the benchmark set by Toyota. Lap times “already at the right level” according to Franck Mailleux.
“Of course, we worked on long stints, especially personally, to see because that will necessarily be a key to the race”underlines the tricolor driver. “You also have to understand the number of laps you can do per stint, so there is also the energy saving that you have to do, so we try to find the right settings for the race. Now it’s is the Test Day, we know very well that between the Test Day, where the circuit is not yet erased, and Wednesday or Thursday, already there between the start of the day and the end of the day it was nothing to see, so I think the lap times are already at the right level.”
