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American LeMans
ALMS: Emanuele Pirro Sebring Friday Blog
Emanuele Pirro writes about the ups and downs from Friday’s final practice and qualifying.
SPEED Staff  |  Posted March 19, 2010   Sebring, FL
Pirro qualified the Drayson Racing Lola B09/80 in fourth overall following a 1:46.460 lap time. (John Dagys)
It was an up and down day for us. I started the morning practice as planned. I was going to do a run on new tires, like a qualifying simulation. Then Paul was going to try a new tire run to see how the temperature would build up. But there was this unfortunate incident on Paul’s out lap. The tires were cold and to be perfectly fair, he was out on a set of tire compound which was a little bit too hard given the conditions. This didn’t make his life easy and he unfortunately lost control of the car.

Up until that point, we were happy with everything. It’s just part of racing sometimes and part of life. Sometimes when you feel really, really good, there’s somebody from up above who tells you, ‘Hey, fly lower!’ Now we’re flying a little bit lower.

The crew did an amazing job repairing the car in time for qualifying and I was fortunate enough to put in a very good run in the session. In qualifying, I’ve always been a guy who respects the machinery. I really have a lot of respect for the cars. Knowing that our stock is running a little low, it’s something in the back of you’re head that makes you think twice. This is seen in a positive way, though. It’s a much better way to approach the race instead of going flat-out and taking many risks. Our goal from the start of the weekend was to get to the checkered flag and that hasn’t changed. We just will probably take fewer risks now on our way to our objective.

Looking back, I would have liked to use the tires in a more aggressive way in qualifying. This is part of the learning process, figuring out tire pressures and such. But I’m still very pleased. After all, we’re not very far from the Peugeot and not far from the leaders in the gasoline race. We’re in a good position.
Emanuele Pirro always enjoys the atmosphere of the ALMS autograph sessions. (John Dagys)

We still can keep the fact that we have a good car. Despite the crash, the car is back in good shape. For today considering how it went, this is the best news. Because if you crash close to the race there’s always a question mark of things not coming back to how they were, especially when a car is very nice and well balanced. But the car was very good in qualifying and this is the main thing.

It will be nice for the mechanics to get some sleep tonight because they’ve been working very, very hard. I really have to thank them because they’ve been doing a really good job. The car has always been spot-on, and you always don’t have enough time to do what you would like to you, especially in our situation. We’ve been here for close to seven days, after all.

But tomorrow is the race, the day we’ve been looking forward to the most. I’ll be starting the car. I’m really looking forward to seeing the green flag and putting in a good start for the whole team. We have a car that’s very good on tires. Of course in a race like this, you want to stay out on the same set of tires for as long as possible. So we are normally going to double stint the Michelins. We’re still in a learning process and haven’t done a lot of long runs, but in principle, we want to stay out of the pits as much as possible. There are still things that we have to learn as the race develops. We’re not arrogant to think we will win it, but are aiming to do the best job possible and try to learn and collect information

With the race quickly approaching, I want to take time to thank all of you for reading my blog this week. I met a lot of you at the autograph session today and it was really nice hearing your comments. It’s something special knowing that we have so many supporters and it really made my day.

Thanks and wish us luck!

~Emanuele

In 2010, Emanuele Pirro joins Drayson Racing for his return to Le Mans Prototype One (LMP1) competition. He will co-drive the Drayson Racing Lola B10/60-Judd V10 with Paul Drayson (London/Gloucestershire, UK) and Jonny Cocker (Guisborough, UK) at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Six Hours of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans. The popular Italian continues as an Audi Brand Ambassador and will campaign in select racing events for Audi as well.  

The native of Rome is a five-time, overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (’00-’02,’06,’07) has won the 12 Hours of Sebring twice (’00,’07), the Petit Le Mans three times (’01,’05,’08) and has also collected endurance race victories at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (‘89) and the 24 Hours of Daytona (‘81) to complement his 18 ALMS overall victories. A former Formula 1 test and race driver, Pirro has seven automobile championships to his credit including ALMS LMP1 honors in 2001 and 2005. He has an unprecedented nine consecutive Le Mans podiums (2000-2008) and was part of the driver squad in a diesel-powered entry’s first victory ever at Le Mans.  

Emanuele Pirro is a man of many interests and passions. Dedicated to his craft, he has a committed training regime which includes a large workout facility in his home. He has a love for building scale replica cars and airplanes, collects frog figurines from around the world, enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and brings together his love of scuba and photography creating exquisite underwater images. He owns a software company for setup simulation of competition go karts and is in the hotel business, owning 3 Le Mans which has four hotels. He also owns a sports clothing company called Adrenalina and flies his own plane, a Mooney M20. He is member of the “Nazionale Piloti” and the “Star Team for Children” of Prince Albert of Monaco soccer team. Pirro lives in his native Rome with his wife, Marlene and two children.

For more information, please visit www.pirro.com and www.draysonracing.com.


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