2015 News

Tequila Patrón ESM Qualifies for 6 Hours of Silverstone

SilverstoneQualSilverstone, England – In its first 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) qualifying session of the season, Tequila Patrón ESM will start fifth and eighth for the 6 Hours of Silverstone race on Sunday, April 12.

In what was described as a “typical Silverstone day”, early rain showers greeted the team on Saturday morning. The Tequila Patrón ESM team opted to not participate in the wet practice. The weather cleared for a sunny, yet Silverstone-cool qualifying session.

Per the FIA WEC rules, the quickest lap time from each team’s qualifying drivers are averaged in order to determine the starting position.

Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier Hansson qualified the No. 30 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b. The average lap time of the No. 30 team was 151.551, resulting in a fifth-place start in the LMP2 class. Dalziel and Heinemeier Hansson are co-driving with Tequila Patrón ESM driver/owner Scott Sharp during the six-hour endurance challenge on Sunday.

The No. 30 car made some changes after Friday’s two practice sessions. Opting to sit out the final practice because of the rain, the team did not test the car following post-practice adjustments and struggled with mechanical issues during qualifying. The team will inspect the prototype and revert to the settings from Friday.

Ed Brown and Jon Fogarty qualified the No. 31 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b. Fogarty opened the session with clean laps, yet Brown experienced a braking issue during his qualifying segment. The average lap time of the No. 31 team was 155.491, resulting in a ninth-place start in the LMP2 class. Brown and Fogarty are co-driving with David Brabham this weekend. Season-long co-driver Johannes van Overbeek was unable to race to do a recent non-racing rib injury.

Green flag for the 6 Hours of Silverstone takes place at noon BST/7 a.m. ET on Sunday.
 
Where to Watch
The 6 Hours of Silverstone will be televised globally and on FOX Sports 1, at 7 a.m. ET. The race can also be viewed via the FIA WEC second screen app or online at www.fiawec.com.
 
The race can be heard live on Radio Le Mans at www.radiolemans.com.

About Tequila Patrón ESM
Founded in 2010, Tequila Patrón ESM is one of the premier sportscar teams in the world. Tequila Patrón ESM’s record includes two GT wins with the Ferrari Italia F458 (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road Atlanta, 2012), two LMP2 wins (Long Beach, 2013 and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, 2014) two GT pole positions, four LMP2 pole positions and a combined 22 podium finishes.
 
For 2015, Tequila Patrón ESM competes in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with two Tequila Patrón-sponsored LMP2 prototypes and drivers Scott Sharp, Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Ryan Dalziel, Jon Fogarty and David Heinemeier Hansson.

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ED BROWN
“Jon did a great job during the first part. Something happened inside the car and it caused an issue with the brakes. We weren’t sure what it was, but the team is looking at it and making sure that it doesn’t happen again. This is a six-hour race and we’re focused on that now.
 
“I’m getting more comfortable with the track on each lap. I still need to run more laps, but every session has been better. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.” 

RYAN DALZIEL
“We made some big changes on the car that were positive, but we I think we went in the wrong direction for qualifying. It is unfortunate. If we had been a little bit closer to what we ran in practice, we definitely would have been a fair amount quicker. We didn’t want to abuse the tires. We’ll go back to what we know worked in practice. I’m sure the car will be much better in the race.”   

JON FOGARTY
“I’m pleased with my time in the car during qualifying. It was tough relative to the competition. They have incredible pace, but we knew we’d be a little off when we opted to run the 03b here. I made huge strides as far as my pace around the circuit and that’s giving me more confidence going into the race. This is still a six-hour event. We need to keep plugging away and improving. Ed and I are learning with every lap. As long as we can keep improving, that’s the right direction.
 
“The track is different today following the rain. Qualifying was my first no traffic, good tire run. The track felt good and the balance of the car was consistent.” 

DAVID HEINEMEIER HANSSON
“Qualifying was tough today. We showed better speed in practice, so we’ll revert back to what he had on Friday. We weren’t able to show what this car can do here. We were much closer to where we wanted to be in practice. The race will be much better.”