Asian Motor Sports

(Press Release via Erin McCowatt - Media Liaison) - Sydney’s Mark Vicuna just missed out on a top five result in the Lotus 500 endurance race at Goulburn’s on Saturday due to a broken battery mount.

Vicuna’s #21 Lotus Elise was consistently in the top five and often leading their class throughout the entire 500km endurance race but the battery mount broke just 15 laps from the end of the race, causing the battery to dislodge and the car to lose all power, resulting in the team not finishing the race.

Vicuna was originally only sharing the driving duties with ‘Chance of a Lifetime’ winner Evan Daley but at the last minute they included another driver, Daniel Sihvola, as a three-way partnership in the #21 Lotus Elise.

Despite the DNF result, Vicuna remains extremely positive about the whole experience.

“It was just awesome driving in the falling light, with the sun going down. I was really in the groove through my stint, although hustling the other cars in the dark took some getting used to!” said Vicuna.

“We changed our fuel strategy before the first pitstop. We had originally planned on a 5-stop strategy based on our fuel consumption in practice and qualifying, but after the first stint we were making such good fuel economy that we were able to pull it back to a 3-stop strategy.”

“After my 70-minute stint, we were leading our class by over one minute and were running third outright.”

“The racing was very clean throughout the entire race and I had some great battles with other competitors- one of which being a 3-way braking duel into the last corner!”

“I didn’t feel so bad about our DNF because the guys who were leading the race DNF’d on the last corner of the last lap, so it can happen to anyone!” said Vicuna.

Vicuna is hoping that his results will impress any potential sponsors to enable him to compete in a full season this year in either the Lotus Trophy or the Aussie Racing Car Series.

Practice

The drivers steadily improved through the three practice sessions held on the Friday, moving from 8th in the first session up to 3rd position in the third session. During practice the battery mount broke for the first time but the issue was rectified before qualifying.

Qualifying

Daley qualified outright 4th (2nd in class) which put the team in the Top 5 Shootout Per Class on Saturday.

Daley then drove a fantastic lap, qualifying the team 2nd outright, and on pole position for Class B, which enabled the team to start the race from grid position 3.

Lotus 500 Race

Daley started the race and consistently ran in the top 5 for the initial stint of the race before their first pitstop on lap 57. Vicuna got into the car and then steadily worked his way up to 3rd position, which put them in good stead for their second fuel stop on lap 116.

They pitted again just one lap later to complete their mandatory driver change and Sihvola took the reins of the Lotus Elise. Over the next 40 laps, he steadily worked his way through the field from 10th after the pitstop to be running in 3rd position outright, and 1st in Class B, before their next pitstop on lap 167, where they refuelled the car and Daley jumped back into the drivers seat.

Again, they made steady progress through the field to be running in 6th when the battery mount broke on lap 184, and Daley had to park the car on the side of the track to sit out the remainder of the race.

Daley was one of six drivers that broke the race lap record during the 500km enduro.

Race Results – Outright – Lotus 500 2006

1. #10 G.Dann/ S. Walter Lotus Elise Class B 199 laps

2. #17 I.Kegg/ D.Seldon/ A.Zerefos Lotus Elise Class B 199 laps

3. #16 A.Graham/ A.Torti/M.Wall Lotus Elise Class B 198 laps

4. #44 T.Clearahan/ T.Ballard/ J.Lustri Lotus Elise Class B 196 laps

5. #5 C.Sieders/ D.Smith Lotus Elise Class B 196 laps

6. #11 J.Church/ J.Wade/ R.Dillion Lotus Exige Class A 193 laps

DNF. #21 E.Daley/ M.Vicuna/ D.Sihvola Lotus Elise Class B 183 laps