Photo : Copyright Strakka Racing

 

Nick Leventis, Jonny Kane and Danny Watts were on the provisional entry list for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, but headrest homologation concerns pushed Strakka Racing to move the Dome S103-Nissan's debut to 2015. The final modification of the headrest will be on the car in January, and a temporary solution was used in order to conduct the test program, first in Hungary, where the team met up in October.

So as to prepare itself to the fullest, all said and done the Strakka Racing team completed three days of private test sessions at the Circuit Paul Ricard in South of France, which marks the beginning of the winter test campaign. The first day mainly allowed the driver line-up to warm up after a year of absence in competition, while Jonny Kane and Danny Watts did long stints during the second day before rolling on a wet track the third day.

Dan Walmsley, Team principal: "Strakka was really keen to get some more miles on the S103 before Christmas and Paul Ricard is an excellent test venue. It's also good to go into the closed season with a successful test fresh in your mind. The car has run really well over all three days and is now performing as we expected. The drivers are positive too; Nick has remarked that the S103 is responsive to the changes the engineers make and he is enjoying getting to grips with it, relishing the chance to race it."

The modifications Walmsley is talking about concern the rear axle, Strakka Racing having decided to change some elements of the rear suspension. The three drivers will have the opportunity to roll once again at the end of January during a new test session with the S103 - equipped with Michelin tyres as opposed to Dunlops like the majority of LM P2 competitors utilize.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: LE CASTELLET (VAR, FRANCE), CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD, THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER 2014, TEST SESSIONS.