• Categories
    • Car Racing
    • Featured Articles
    • Motor Shows & Car Events
    • History of Cars
    • Automotive Photography
    • Behind the Scenes
    • #MiniSeries
    • Travel
    • Review Books
    • Review Cars
    • Review Products
  • Porsche Only
    • Engine downsizing at Porsche racing
    • PORSCHE 911 RSR – MARCH OF PROGRESS
    • Porsche 919 Hybrid – Technological Advantage
    • Déjà Vu of Porsche 911 2.4 S – Part 2
  • Book Shop
    • AC-Shelby Cobra
    • Ferrari 250 GTO: Owners’ Workshop Manual
    • Ferrari Design: The Definitive Study
    • Jaguar E-type: Portrait of a Design Icon
    • Porsche 956 962: A Photographic History
    • Porsche 911 Carrera RS interactive eBook
    • Porsche 911 Scrapbook: The Air-Cooled Cars
    • Porsche 917: The Complete Photographic History
    • Porsche 924/928/944/968
    • Porsche at Le Mans
    • Porsche: The Carrera Dynasty
  • About
  • Contributors
    • Alisdair Cusick
    • Annie Proffit
    • Elke Smale
    • Glen Smale
    • John Mountney
    • Pim van der Veer
    • Roland Harrison
    • Zoltan Papp
  • Contact

Virtual Motorpix

Blog site for Virtual Motorpix with interesting articles on racing, motor sports and cars

Silverstone WE Championships – before the big race

August 24, 2012 by: Glen Smale | Leave a Comment

Corvettes await scrutineering

Silverstone…Thursday afternoon – Eventually got connected to the wi-fi system so we’re cooking! Have got a photographer’s sign-on shortly, then it is off to get some pix around the paddock area, because that is the only place where there is any action today apart from scrutineering.

Krohn Racing – Ferrari 458 Italia – minor adjustments after first lap of practice

Free practice starts on Friday, 24 August 2012, at 11h30, 16h00 and Saturday at 11h00 with the GTE qualifying (both Pro & Am) from 14h50-15h10 and the prototype qualifying from 15h20-15h40. At this stage the weather forecast says that we should be dry (-ish) on Friday, wet on Saturday and dry again for the main race on Sunday which begins at 12h00 sharp.

Lined up and ready to go

Just had an interesting chat with the chaps from Toyota, and they say that their car is ready for Sunday’s race. The mechanical problem that put the #7 Toyota out of the race at Le Mans in the early hours of the morning has been fixed and they should be going home with some silverware because a podium place is what they are aiming for. TMG saw 2012 as a development year for the team and they had originally planned to do just Spa, Le Mans and maybe one other race, but the plans are now to do not only Silverstone but also the four remaining races after that. If nothing else, that tells you that they are confident of challenging for the top spot, otherwise you can be sure that they wouldn’t be out there just for the fun.

The Rebellion Crew preparing their car and having fun

In the GTE camp, Krohn Racing have been testing their 458 Italia at Snetterton on the quiet because they have switched from Dunlop rubber to Michelin. A team source said that they were ‘pleased’ with the test results although they had been hoping for some wet weather to get more data in Britain’s notorious wet weather, but this time they only got sunshine…never mind, you can’t win them all. Although the team are a bit short on testing time with the new Michelin boots, they expect to do well on Sunday.

Mechanic attending to Aston Martin door

The other big GTE player is the crowd from Stuttgart who have quite a lot to prove. After a fairly disappointing year so far, by their standards anyway, Porsche have come to Silverstone with a few tweaks to the aero package of the GT3 RSR that should see it’s performance improved by quite some measure. With just a second place at Le Mans (GTE Am), the most important race on the WEC calendar, the GT3 showed that it had not kept pace with its main opposition, that being the Ferrari 458 Italia. Competition will be very tight in this class, so watch this space over the weekend.

Porsche 911 GT3 RSR prior to first practice on Friday

With the lights now ablaze in Silverstone’s new Wing pit complex (21h00 Thursday evening), all is eerily quiet around the circuit. However, the skies are heavy and dark here at Silverstone, and all the teams are doing their last minute preparations for the first free practice session on Friday, and with the weather being so unpredictable, the action is going to be very difficult to predict. With this being the fourth round of the WEC, barring some catastrophic failure by the Audis, the result is fairly certain even at this point. No matter what the outcome, the atmosphere up and down the paddock is buoyant and optimistic, so the action should be dynamic.

It’s 06h30 Friday morning at the circuit and already the security guards are out in force stopping all and sundry from going about their work. I was approached by a fellow journalist who asked, “Where are the crown jewels, where are the crown jewels?” He had just arrived and was complaining that he had been stopped and asked for his media pass (which was apparently not adequate according to that guard) and was told that he could not go any further – the media passes are all issued by the same media office. When the guard saw his parking permit he was allowed through – the mind boggles at the level of security necessary at these events.

Tom Kristensen chats to a journalist

Anyway, back to the racing – good weather greeted the new day on Friday but as we know this could change in an instant as the Met Office do forecast light rain today and a max temperature of 18°C. First free practice is about to start, so it’s off to see the action.

Save article as PDF
Share this:

Categories: Car Racing Tags: Corvette, Ferrari, Krohn, Porsche, Silverstone, Toyota, WEC

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Top quality commentary and photography on cars, motoring and motorsport across the ages.

Advertisement

Connect with us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

E-mail Subscription

Please complete the form below if you would like to receive e-mail updates of new posts from Virtual Motorpix Blog.

Recent Articles

  • Toyota Gazoo Racing – 2017 WEC Plans
  • FCA (Fiat Chrysler Alfa) Driving Event Cardiff
  • Fiat 124 Sport Spider
  • Fiat 500
  • Jaguar E-type Restoration – Part 2
  • Cobra-Ferrari Wars 1963-1965
All Tags ››

Archives

Our other websites

Join us on Facebook

Please share our website

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Virtual Motorpix Blog

Contact us

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Please click here to contact us.

Connect with us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 Virtual Motorpix. All Rights Reserved.

 

Loading Comments...