First pole in qualifying, but a radio misunderstanding in the race: Glickenhaus mourns a missed chance at the podium after the Spa 6h
For James Glickenhaus’ team, the second race weekend of the 2022 WEC season held highs and lows. Qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa initially saw highs as the Glickenhaus 007 LMH, entered in cooperation with Joest, was driven to pole for the first time.
It was Olivier Pla who secured the Spa pole for himself and his colleagues Romain Dumas and Pipo Derani with a lap time of 2:02.771 minutes. In the history of the WEC, written since 2012, it was the first pole ever for a US team.
Speaking to team owner James Glickenhaus calls it “a milestone” and notes with satisfaction, “It was pretty extraordinary, especially as we’re racing against thoroughbred factory teams. “
Glickenhaus is less satisfied with how the race went. Pla/Dumas/Derani took third place in the Hypercar class after leading the race in the beginning. But in the overall result of the race it was only P9 behind six LMP2 cars.
“We were doing well until we made a stupid mistake in the rain when our driver didn’t quite understand what we were asking him on the radio,” said Glickenhaus, referring to a misunderstanding between Derani and the crew.
While the direct competition from Toyota and Alpine changed from rain tyres to intermediates at this stage of the race – about one and a half hours before the end – Glickenhaus put on slicks. The misunderstanding was due to a radio connection that did not function optimally.
The consequence: Derani came back to the pits after a slow lap to pick up intermediates. As a result, the Glickenhaus squad fell off the lead lap and was subsequently unable to make up the lap deficit.
James Glickenhaus recalls, “We had asked [Derani] if he wanted to go for intermediates or continue on rain tyres. He misunderstood and said slicks. That was a terrible choice that cost us a lot of time and ultimately the result.”
On a positive note, the Glickenhaus pace was on par with Toyota and Alpine on a wet track. “It wasn’t our first race in the rain, because the start at Le Mans last year was damp,” notes the team owner, praising, “The pace was very good. We did well there. We made up ground that we had lost before because of the brake ventilation story. “
Brake ventilation story? “We got some tyre wear in the brake ventilation. That’s why the braking was off, both front-rear and left-right. That was our problem. But after we cleaned that up, everything was good again,” Glickenhaus said.
Another positive is the reliability of the 007 LMH, especially with the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans in mind. According to Glickenhaus, the car is “bulletproof” and has “no problems at all, because you can’t count the fact that the brakes don’t work properly because the cooling system gets clogged”.
By the way: The brake-by-wire system developed by Bosch was used for the first time by Glickenhaus at the Spa weekend, after it had not been used at the season opener in Sebring.
“We are systematically working our way through it,” says the team owner and speaks of a “very complex system that probably won’t make us faster straight away. But it should help us at the end of a long race that the brakes are better balanced. “
Summing up his review of the Spa weekend, Glickenhaus concludes, “It was going to be a close one. The pace in the rain was good, but then we had the problem with the radio. We would have had a chance to finish second otherwise. But for the future we will fix this problem. I don’t see it as a permanent problem.”
At the next race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11/12 June, Glickenhaus will field a second car. In addition to the proven trio Pla/Dumas/Derani (car number 708), Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Franck Mailleux (car number 709) will drive for the US private team.
