The phone ringing 30 minutes after the end of Test Day running is often not all that welcome as we look to finalise the stories of the day but in this case, it was a very pleasant addition to the storylines as Jim Glickenhaus checked in before he makes his way to Le Mans for Race Week after attending the Pebble Beach Concours over the weekend:
“It’s, of course, great to hear that we finished the test so positively, but we know the much bigger task is ahead.
“I’m very proud indeed of what’s been achieved so far, and to bring an entirely new car, and an entirely new team to this event in competitive form is something we are all very proud of. Le Mans has been a dream for my whole life and we are close now to turning a new chapter of that.
“I know how hard the whole team has worked to put the cars on track, it’s great their efforts have been rewarded with a good news headline. All of them though know that we now have to take a breath and look hard at what has been learned, and refocus on the plans for our running before race day.
“There is so much still to learn and understand, and so much more to come I’m sure. There’s hard work to come before the race, then we can only do our best and see what comes our way. This is a place and a race that demands respect, I hope our efforts will do just that!”
Olivier Pla after topping the Test Day times in the #708 SCG 007
Olivier, you’ve had a long career here and you know that while people will say, top of the test day means nothing, it means something?
“It’s good because the initial feeling with the car here has been really good. Right from the morning when we put the car on the track, it was right on the pace, we were very surprised by the balance from the beginning. And we kept improving the car through the day and getting better, faster and more consistent.
“So we’ve been pushing, we have nothing to hide. We are focusing entirely on our own programme and not being distracted by anything else.
Looking back with your experience, and now forward to this very new team, with a very new car coming into Le Mans, how do you think Glickenhaus are looking for the race?
“It’s actually a bit of an unknown for us. We knew that we had some reliability problems with the brakes, and with some gearbox issues for us in Monza that the whole team has been working really hard to fix.
The car is still very new. We improve, and we learn every day, every time we are on the track. And we’re going to continue to work like that and see what happens. It’s way too early to make any prediction.
Has the team yet decided how to approach the race, with such a new car will it be a conservative pace?
“We haven’t talked about this yet but I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep a conservative pace because Toyota will not keep to that!
“It’s very important for Jim that we see the chequered flag, and run the best race possible, to be maybe on the podium.
“Now we come into race week and we need to learn more through long runs, building on the good balance we already have. On the braking, the team has been working to fix the problem. And I think too that it’s a little bit less demanding than Monza so it doesn’t seem to be a big issue anymore.
Team Principal, Luca Ciancetti
Luca, was that a late-session push to show your form?
“No, honestly, the plan was to work on the car, to understand better how to use the car on this track.
“This was our first time here so while we are delighted with the result that was not exactly the plan, I have to say.
“Honestly though it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a good way to start. We’re not hiding anything.
There was a very different look to the day for the #708 and #709?
“We did two different programmes for the two cars. So we don’t know yet absolutely everything that has been learned.
“But I think that working and putting together everything we learned today from the two cars, something more will come.
What, if anything, have you been able to do about the braking issues that we saw at Monza?
“I cannot say it has been solved. But for sure it was something related to the way we were using the car at Monza?
“We worked a lot from Monza to here on understanding what was wrong there and the numbers we saw today are much, much better. It’s very nice to be on top at the test and we are so happy, it helps to encourage the team to push even harder.
“We know though that what really matters is who is going to be in this position next weekend at the end of the race. We are all excited to take on the challenge, and everyone here knows just how tough a challenge that is.”