Driver quotes after FP1

Olivier Pla (Ligier JSP2 n°40 Krohn Racing, 2^nd in FP1): « Everything went well. I did drive on Tuesday during the pre-test but I drove this afternoon and it was good. Then we keep setting up the car during the free practice and we will do the same tomorrow morning for the last session. Some of the competitors tried some tyres at the end, I wanted to do the same but there was the red flag. We had a good work day.”

Memo Rojas (Ligier JS P2 n°41 de Greaves Motorsport, 3rd times): « Everything went well but we had tricky conditions and a lot of traffic. I think that we are in a good tempo and the car is good. We will see tomorrow during qualifying.

I’m more used to American tracks. The Estoril one looks more like a city track for me, without the walls! There are slow turns and it’s a little bumpy, but I like it.”

Ben Hanley (Oreca 05 Nissan n°21 DragonSpeed, 4th time):  “We tried to find the right balance for the car and it will be the key for the race.  There will be a lot of cars on track and we have to stay out of troubles. I didn’t drive a lot during the first session because I was in the car during the red flag. The second positions in Imola and le Castellet and the victory at Spa-Francorchamps gave us a lot of confidence. For its first season in ELMS the team is doing a fantastic job.”

Vitaly Petrov (BR 01 SM Racing n°33, 5^th time): “Everything went pretty well today. We are in a good rhythm. The track has changed since the test on Tuesday and we improved the car during the free practice and now I can see that it starts raining! I hope it will stay like this until Sunday 17h30 as if we have a wet race we will have all the chances to be in front.

Alex Brundle (Ligier JS P3 United Autosports n°2, 3rd LMP3 time): “It was hard for us today to be honest. We ended the session in third position but the car can do better. We had some traffic at the beginning of the session and we had trouble with the balance of the car, especially at the back. I think that this is the case for a lot of teams. Mike (Guasch) was unlucky during the practice, ending up in the gravel. But we are in a good position and we will keep improving tomorrow.

Eric Clément (Ligier JS P3 n°20 Duqueine Engineering, 14^e LMP3 times): “I discover this track today and everything went well. We did 2 or 3 adjustments during the session and everything went in the right direction. Unfortunately, there was a red flag that stopped us and we didn’t improve much. Estoril is an old track. It is nice, in a valley but unfortunately it is bumpy.

Alex MacDowall (Aston Martin n°99 d’Aston Martin Racing, GTE 4th): “We improved the car a lot during the session and we still have 1h30 left tomorrow. The track was tricky and slippery but we are going in a good direction for the race.”

Christian Ried (Porsche 911 RSR n°88, GTE 7th): “It was not an easy session for us. We looked for the right adjustments for the car and it was hard. We don’t know if it comes from the car or the track but we have to improve tomorrow.”