DeltaWing coupe leads morning practice at Texas
DeltaWing coupe handles the rain, starts 3rd in Austin
Photo by: James Holland
AUSTIN, TX (September 20, 2013) – The DeltaWing coupe continued to impress in its debut at Circuit of the Americas, leading the speed charts in a wet morning practice session and qualifying third for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series race.
Texas race fans got their first look at the DeltaWing coupe this week, an evolution of the roadster that led the ALMS race at Road America last month. Drivers Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge put the coupe through its paces in test and practice sessions throughout the week, with the car showing the same excellent straight line speed the roadster displayed. The coupe also seems to share the roadster’s stability in damp conditions, leading the wet morning practice session.
When qualifying arrived, the rain had stopped, leaving the track in varying states of drying. Meyrick put down a solid lap time of 2:15.845 before a drivetrain issue sidelined the car near the end of the session. Meyrick's time puts him third in the P1 class and he will start third on the grid, as changing conditions through the class qualifying sessions necessitated putting the cars in class order for tomorrow's race.
“We have a good baseline,” said Meyrick. “The car continues to be good in the wet and since it looks as though it will rain again tomorrow, we have a good starting place to build from. Considering the small amount of mileage on the car, its performance has been excellent. We were quickest in the first session this morning and that’s something to take forward. We haven’t shown all our performance during qualifying; we’ve got more to come for the race.
“We’re getting used to the coupe with each session. There are many elements that are new to us, like the roof, the doors, the windscreen - and all those elements have been perfect. The visibility and cooling in the cockpit is also very good. Our Bridgestone tires are working well, the Élan motor is working well, so tomorrow should be a good race.”
Dr. Don Panoz, DeltaWing managing partner, was also pleased with the performance his latest innovation displayed through the day’s on-track sessions.
“We’re happy with the coupe’s pace,” said Panoz. “We’ll take care of the issues and be ready for tomorrow.”
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