G-Drive Racing crew of Roman Rusinov, Mike Conway and John Martin was first again in LMP2 prototype category at the 6 Hours of Shanghai which was held on November 9 in China. For the third time the team under the Russian flag stands on the highest step of the podium in the current World Endurance Championship.
It was not an easy victory this time. Gearbox problems came out during the training sessions but the engineers and mechanics managed to fix everything quite fast and our team scored the best time in their category during qualifying. Another pole position (third one this season) was put to good use.
After the start the team not only managed to hold the first position in their category but also to stretch their lead. But later when lapping one of the competitors our team’s car got tapped resulting in rear spoiler and diffuser damage. It was not easy to solve this problem. The parts were attached with the help of a scotch tape and it was constantly coming off at high speed, so extra time was spent to fix it during each pit stop.
Luckily, the tactics applied during the race allowed going to pits one time less than the rest of the teams. The pilots were saving on fuel and rubber and thanks to that were able to secure the victory. By the end of the race the time shortage was so big that “we had to take lapping risks and each time I was entering the pits with an almost empty fuel tank”, said Roman Rusinov.
Right now G-Drive Racing is fourth overall in LMP-2 category but thanks to the victory in Shanghai only 2 points separate them from the third place and 9.5 points from the second place. So our team stands a good chance to step on the podium following the results of this season or maybe even claim something bigger. If that disqualification story hadn’t happened, due to which our team lost their honest third place at the 24 hours of Le Mans, there would have been a lot more chances for them to win. Let me remind that our team was disqualified due to allegedly increased fuel tank. The situation was complicated and not very correct but apparently it played into somebody’s hands as the number of points awarded at Le Mans is doubled.
According to Roman, they continue using the same fuel tank but it does not attract any criticism anymore. But now the mechanics watch closely the expansion processes taking place in the tank checking it several times during the week-end.
“The race in Shanghai was decisive for the Russian team. Thanks to scoring the victory here G-Drive Racing stands a good chance not only to make a worthy end to the season but also to win World Endurance Championship title”, was noted by Alexander Krylov, the head of G-Drive Racing team.
