Mar 02 2010
Pre Season Testing at Sebring (February 22nd-25th)
Last week, there was a pre season test session at Sebring in order to prepare for the first race of the ALMS season, the Sebring 12h. The test session was held on February 22nd-23rd. The JaguarRSR team was also present of course. They were testing with the second built XKR GT2.
On the first day, the car was shaken down by Paul Gentilozzi and Scott Pruett. The car being very new, the team suffered a couple of small issues, but the day was ended without any major problems. That meant that after day one, the team could shift a gear and start with the actual setup program, the tyre testing program and more detailed driver rotation on the second testday.
On day two, Scott Pruett continued the test plan in the morning. Afterwards Marc took over and also Ryan Dalziel, the recently added pilot to the driver line-up, and Tomy Drissi got some seat time. Marc and his teammates continued to roll out the Jaguar XKR GT2 for the 2010 season. “As could be expected with a new car, there still were some more small issues during the day. Although we could address the case at any given tome, we took time and used common sense to avoid bigger damage“, says Marc. “Therefore we maybe didn’t do the number of laps we wanted, but we were better prepared for the third testing day. The team took the opportunity to prolong the Sebring official test with two private test days.“
For the third day which was no longer a part of the official ALMS winter testing, the JaguarRSR team got away with a few raindrops during the day instead of the predicted thunderstorms. “That was good new for us, because this way we could continue to put some valuable miles on the new car“, Marc adds. “We were able again to gather the necessary data which we can study and compare prior to the 12h race in Sebring.“
On Thursday, there was the fourth and final day of testing before the team returned to the workshop to prepare the Jaguar for the Sebring 12h. “This last day of running was a very productive one and we were able to gather a good amount of data. Although we still have a lot of work to do both for speed and durability, the JaguarRSR team has some direction now in which to work as a preparation for race 1, the Sebring 12h“, Marc concludes.
Meanwhile Marc travelled back to North Carolina and onto Belgium.
