Panoz Motor Sports Donington Park Race Report

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES
ROUND ONE, DONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND
RACE REPORT

Both Panoz LMP 07 cars finished in point scoring positions after today's cold and overcast race at Donington Park in England.   However, brake and gearshift problems on the cars led to excursions into gravel traps and ultimately dropped them down the final placings.  Klaus Graf in car #51 finished 6th and Jan Magnussen in car #50 finished 8th.

David Brabham had started the race in the 50 car and climbed from 7th to as high as 4th, a position he held well for much of his time in the car.  Magnussen took over and continued to hold position until - some 30 laps before the end of the race - he radioed in to the pits to report that he had no brakes and had gone off into the gravel trap.  He was towed out by the officials and limped back to the pits for repairs.  A loose wheel was diagnosed as having caused the brake problem and the car was soon back on track.

Gualter Salles survived an early spin and a collision with the Chrysler before he handed over the driving to Klaus Graf for the second half of the race.   A troublesome gearshift throughout the race caused problems for both drivers and led to Graf's spin shortly after Magnussen's.

Jan Magnussen:  The car didn't feel bad when I took it over and I did some good times to begin with.  Then I started feeling a small vibration which I thought was related to pickup on the tires as it was only at certain places on the track.  I started to get a soft brake pedal which turned out to be caused by the loose wheel and when I went into McLeans I had no brakes and just spun it around.  It's good though that we got the car back out and finished."

David Brabham:  "Traction was very difficult today and the tires were sliding around.  My second set of tires were more consistent and the car was in pretty good shape when I got out!"

Klaus Graf:  "It was very difficult straight from the start as the paddle shift system wasn't working properly and I had to find ways of driving around it.  Four or five times a lap I missed shifts which meant the car wasn't easy to drive at all.  What happened when I went off was that it didn't select a gear on the downshift and the brakes were locking so I arrived at the corner way too fast and just spun it off.  But at least we finished and that's good for all of us on the team."

Gualter Salles:  "The gearshift system was giving us problems right from the start and I kept getting neutrals instead of gears!  I was also hit by the Chrysler during my second stint but 6th place is much better than no finish."

For further information contact Fiona Miller at Panoz Motor Sports on (+44) 07770 371332 or email to fiona@panozmotorsports.com.   Website:  www.panozmotorsports.com