Oscar Piastri - IAME World Finals, Day 3


  17 October 2014
 

OSCAR PIASTRI - X30 JUNIOR CATEGORY
IDEAL KARTING TEAM - KOSMIC KART - IAME X30 ENGINE
Report for Thursday, 16th October 2014

  • Previous updates on the Remo Racing website HERE

Le Mans France - DAY 3

Today was the second day of practice with 4 sessions and then qualifying scheduled for 8pm under lights.

PRACTICE

The first practice was on a drying track from overnight rain, we went out on slicks but the track was still quite slippery. I managed 11th fastest which I was happy with.


Above: Oscar and his mechanic Alex Batten at the technical Inspections

The second session was dry and this would be my first full dry session with engines run-in and ready to go.

Unfortunately, the session did not go to plan, with the engine misfiring on the straights and also losing power at lower RPM (obviously water gremlins from the previous sessions). Hopefully, with a carby and engine change these problems would be fixed and the next session would be a good one.

Practice 3 was a little better but the engine still felt down on power on the exit of corners. We found that the brakes were not releasing properly and was dragging the engine down.

So Practice 4 was my last chance to put down some good laps and thankfully things finally started to work.  I was 8th fastest, putting me overall ranked 11th for all of practice. 


Above: Qualifying at Le Mans - wet and under lights

QUALIFYING

The rain came for qualifying and I was in the second group.

At first I thought this would be an advantage but it was clear that the rain was getting heavier and heavier so maybe being second wasn't so good.  Anyway, we hit the track and wow it was wet.

Qualifying at night in the wet on an unfamiliar track was crazy! Also, my data logger battery went flat on lap 2, this was going to be interesting.

The session was going okay but I had caught a group of three drivers with about 3 minutes to go. I backed off to make a gap and went for it knowing I would only have time for 2 or 3 more laps.

I thought I put in a good lap and was really increasing my pace, but near the end I again caught the slower guys so didn't quite get the perfect lap.

The result was 6th in my group and 15th overall.

I was pretty happy, knowing I will start my heats from the 3rd or 4th row on the grid. It could have been a lot worse, there are 57 drivers behind me so that is a good thing!

The weather forecast is sunshine for the rest of the weekend, I'm looking forward to some racing.


Above: Oscar with very soggy feet!

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