The atmosphere and morale of the 11 drivers from Team France in 2013 are very good but not everything is simple in terms of performance at Nola. After free practice and qualifying that took place in sunshine, but in fine cold weather, they all agreed about the difficulty of the American track that had a lot of bumps and some risky parts, as well as the quality of the Nola Motorsports Park site.
Michael Dauphin had the best result of the day with nothing less than second in qualifying in DD2 Master which was running on Praga. Always modest, he says he did not have the clear lap he hoped for and didn’t dwell on his performance, however, it commanded respect, as everyone agreed. Christopher Adams was also going very well this year with his 11th position. As for the Berteaux brothers, they faced problems and hadn’t really got the chassis set up. 20th place for Guillaume and 24th for Marc mean they will start behind one another in all the heats. Morgan Hipp posted the 32nd lap, but admitted he had gone in the wrong direction with the set-up on Wednesday morning, while free practice was far more encouraging. His situation should improve in the heats.
In DD2, it is not joyful at the moment. Eighth in his session, Alexander Finkelstein was 30th overall. A lot of work has been done by his mechanic since the beginning of the meeting to make the engine breathe better, successfully, but development of the chassis has been delayed. The set-up selected for qualifying wasn’t really going in the right direction, making the machine a little unsettled in the fast and exposed parts of the circuit: not ideal to go for the limit. Alex is confident, however, that he will return to the front. This was not the case for Maxime Gravouille, who did not hide his disappointment about the effectiveness of his CRG: “I knew this chassis as I used it two years ago at the World Finals, but then could not make it work. We’ve tried everything, from one extreme to the other and nothing happens. It does not react to different settings and still understeers. I don’t know how I’ll come back from my 45th place in these conditions … “
Lucas Joly didn’t have the same problems. He admitted that his physique was not quite up to the challenge: “It’s still a little harder than the Senior National … After a few laps, I reach my limits. In qualifying, I did my best time on the 4th lap. But hey, this is the first time I’ve driven in DD2 and also my first international race: it’s great to be here!”
Jules Cousin had a great lap late in the Senior session, everything was going perfectly until a red flag broke his momentum. “I just managed to get a clear lap before the end, and then the session was interrupted!” 13th in his group, he was 36th overall, but didn’t give up either. The question remains for Xavier Pozzoli, hampered from the beginning by an asthmatic engine. Several visits to the Rotax center eventually detected a carburetion problem which is on the mend, but he is still missing something to fight as shown by his 42nd position. “It hasn’t started as well as last time”, he says, a little disappointed. “I was pretty much left in qualifying, but I was not able to improve in traffic. We’ll race in the heats hoping that the engine runs better.”
The youngest of the group is not having the most difficulties! Bastien Leguay set the fourth fastest time in his session , which puts him 14th overall and 2.7 tenths from pole: “I’m surprised to find myself as well placed! And yet, I was embarrassed, I could have done better if I had got used to the track, and my mechanic worked well (thank you Dad!). I am delighted and hopeful!”
The long phase of heats is next, with same goal for everyone, to qualify well for the finals.
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