Orbit and partner BAM! - Le Mans test

fast return

Orbit Racing, in partnership with BAM! (British American Motorsport) overcame 
an early setback to post the second-fastest GT time in testing for the 24 
Heures du Mans, scheduled for June 12 and 13 in France. Marc Lieb was quickest of 
the team in the No. 87 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, with a lap of four 
minutes 7.315 seconds on the 13.65-km circuit.

Mike Rockenfeller drove first, completing the 10 laps required for Le Mans 
rookies, followed by Leo Hindery and Lieb. Partway through Lieb's first fast 
lap, he went off course, hitting the guardrail in the Tertre Rouge section of the 
track. The contact broke the car's steering rack, requiring a 2.5-hour stop 
to replace it. The team was back on track for the afternoon session.

Leo Hindery

"I don't think the car came back as well as it might have from the crash, so 
we have some work to do. The car is running well, it's just the setup is a 
little screwy from the crash. But we all had fun and Mike did well - it's clear 
he can pick this up real fast. We'd like to start in the top two or three [for 
the race] and see what happens from there. We certainly have the team and the 
car for it, so we'll get the setup back where we want it and we'll be fine."

Marc Lieb

"After the problems we had this morning with my mistake, throwing the car 
into the wall, the crew did a fantastic job fixing the car - it was unbelievably 
quick and we didn't lose much time. Mike did a really good job setting up the 
car. It's still not perfect and we're struggling a bit, but we made a big 
improvement from this morning. Thanks to the crew, I think we're not so far away."

Mike Rockenfeller

"It's Le Mans! It's a great track, a historical track. On the first lap, it's 
unbelievable how long these straights are! I think, 'I can brake here', then 
I brake and then, oh no! The corner is far away and I go on the throttle 
again. It's hard to learn the track; I needed more laps than I expected. 
Unfortunately, I didn't get enough, but we have more time during the race week, so it 
should be okay for the race."

morning incident report

No. 87 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
driver Marc Lieb
off-track and contact with the track guardrail at 12:07 pm
damage to left-side bodywork front and rear
broken steering rack, estimated repair time two hours

"I was on my first flying lap, driving through Tertre Rouge. The Corvette was 
passing me so I was backing off, I was really driving easy through the turn. 
Then I must have hit a bump or something on the exit, I was already under 
power and I just lost the car. I don't exactly know what happened. If I had been 
pushing it, I would understand it, but I wasn't pushing it at all. It's a bit 
goofy; I want to have a look at the data. I'm really sorry for the guys because 
it's a lot of work to do now."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945