Difficult second race weekend for Racing Experience at Monza
Saturday 11th May 2019, Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
The Racing Experience team had a mixed weekend at Monza as their LMP3 car suffered a mechanical failure just after the mid-way pit stops.
Having finished in fourth position in the season opener at Paul Ricard, the team were optimistic of another strong performance in the second race of their debut Michelin Le Mans Cup campaign.
After a difficult qualifying session, where bronze driver Charlie Martin suffered a spin, the pressure was on for the team to gain as much ground as they could in the race.
Starting from P25, Charlie Martin took the wheel for the first stint gained four positions in her first two laps and overtook two further drivers by the end of lap six. By the end of her race stint, Martin had raced her way to P14 and pitted for refuelling and driver change.
After handing the car over to partner David Hauser, the no 11 Racing Experience car rejoined the action, but a mechanical failure forced Hauser to park the car at the side of the track, ending the team’s second outing in the Michelin Le Mans Cup championship.
Christian Hauser, Racing Experience Team Principal said: “While it is always difficult to accept a DNF, there is much to be pleased about in what is only our second race in this championship. We had a tricky weekend, but our team recovered very well. It just wasn’t our weekend. “Charlie did a great job to get the car back into a good position in the first stint some very clean and competitive racing. Unfortunately, David did not have much chance to race as we had a mechanical failure on his out lap. We are still investigating the reason for this.”
David Hauser, Racing Experience driver said: “To sum it up, we would have all wished and even surely deserved a different end of this weekend than a DNF. A broken wheel nut prevented me from doing my stint in the race and I had to stop the car at the exit of Lesmo 2. Sad that I could not do more than 12 timed laps over the the three race days. I was eager to learn the track to which I had never been before and to improve but didn’t get the chance this time.
A huge thanks to Racing Experience for their hard work of rebuilding and re-setting up the car more than once this weekend, even in the two hours between the qualifying and the race. Many thanks as well to Norma Automotive for their support with the spare-parts!
It was a weekend full of efforts, starting the first night with only 3 hours of sleep before the scrutineering, but together we made it and I couldn’t be more proud of you all Mélanie Marcon, Jennifer Marcon, Gary Hauser, Charles Molinier, Christian Hauser, Karin Hauser, Lea Mauer, Francoise Dagand, Patrice, Albert, Moro !
Congratulations Charlie Martin for your great race stint, starting P25 and handing me the car over on P14. I promise I would have wished to continue on that drive!
Forget the worst, keep the best. Looking forward to round 3 at Le Mans supporting the @24hoflemans. Many thanks for your true support. Of course today I’m very disappointed to have been forced to end the race early, but we can be very positive about our overall pace and look ahead to race three. As a team, we worked very hard and our attitude remains positive as we now switch our focus to Le Mans. ”
Charlie Martin, Racing Experience driver said: “After a messy start to the week, it was so important to me to focus on a clean race and give the team the best possible start. I’d like to thank the team for working so hard to repair the car in time to race. I’m pleased with my race stint and that’s what I’ll take with me to the next race. While a race retirement is a difficult pill to swallow, we have a great team and we’re motivated for Le Mans.”
The next event of the season will be the Road to Le Mans on June 15. The two-race event will be the support race for the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. The full season Michelin Le Mans Cup entry will be joined by other LMP3 and GT3 cars from around the world to make it the largest grid on the 2019 MLMC calendar.
