Dane done

Engine problems in warm-up for Ulrik Linnemann.

One of the stars of Super1600 in the first two events this year, Ulrik Linnemann fears that his run in France is at an end. The Dane parked his Peugeot 207 after just a lap of this morning’s warm-up session and puddle of oil on the ground after it was towed away told its own story.

“I think that’s expensive. I can’t see the damage but I think the engine is finished. This was definitely not my weekend,” said Linnemann who was excluded from the first qualifying heat after an investigation into an incident. Delayed in that, Linnemann was classified 20th at the end of the heat but then removed from the reckoning by the stewards.

Even if his team were able to fix the car here, they have precious little time in which to attempt to do so, the first heat is due to begin at 1000 and, under the changes introduced here, the Super1600 cars now run first in the programme, so Linnemann would be due in the very first race of the day.

Marc Laboulle was also penalised by the Stewards yesterday, losing his first heat time after a first corner incident that saw his Citroën slam into Stig-Olov Walfridson’s Renault: “I controlled Davy Jeanney to the first corner but then Walfridson came from the outside in front of us, I turned over the kerb but then the front of my car was in the air and when I landed I hit Walfridson. I was trying to avoid him but that happened, I feel bad about it and now I must be very good today,” said Laboulle.

Andy Scott is also looking for better speed today after his team and Tony Bardy Motorsport engineers worked late on his Focus. “We thought it was the centre diff in free practice but when we stripped it out the clutch had broken up. It was a rush to get the car back for the first heat and it wasn’t 100%, then I missed the start so it wasn’t good,” said Scott, “We had the gearbox out again last night and also welded the exhaust which was cracked so I hope we’ll be faster today.”

Today’s programme lists the second heat at 1000, the third at 1300 and the finals at 1500, whether the organiser can run on schedule today remains to be seen…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.