1,000km of Catalunya – Zytek : Radiator damage halts podium challenge

Michael Vergers’ valiant battle for a podium place at the 1,000km of Catalunya came to nought just under two hours into the race, when right hand side radiator damage, following an accident, caused the engine of his Zytek 07S to loose water. Less than half an hour earlier the Barazi-Epsilon team’s lead driver had been running as high as third in the highly competitive LMP2 class.

Dutchman, Michael had been swapping places throughout the early stages of the races with one of the Lolas and had been 13th overall and fourth in class at the end of the first hour. Half an hour later Michael moved up further into a short lived third. He was again running fourth when he was hit by a high flying Peugeot, the French LMP1 having been punted a metre into the sky by another car before landing against the side of the Zytek.

The subsequent radiator damaged caused a total loss of engine coolant. By the time the privately entered Zytek had returned to the pits the ZG348 engine had seriously overheated. Ironically, the Peugeot survived…and won the race.

The Barazi-Epsilon car had been fastest of the five Zytek-engined cars at the opening round of this year’s Le Mans Series. For three of these, the Embassy WF01s and the WR, the early laps of the race had really been in the nature of a test session.

The WF01s had been circulating in ninth and tenth places, the Barcelona track being the first on which they had been driven through high-speed corners. However, in the second hour, Joey Foster experienced steering column failure in the car he was sharing with Jonny Kane.

As a safety precaution the Warren Hughes/Mario Haberfeld sister car was withdrawn from the race.

The new teams will now take forward what they have learnt from the Barcelona race to the next round of the Le Mans Series at Monza on April 27.

Karen Brittan ,Ian Wagstaff also photo

photos will be on automobilsport.com under pHOTOS - LE MANS SERIES