Thursday, February 11th, 2010

2009 Season Review

Ron Gerritse sits down with Charles Zwolsman to discuss a successful 2009

Was the transition from the Champcars you drove before to these Le Mans cars a big one? “It was some time ago I had last done races. That was probably the biggest adjustment. But all in all it didn’t take me long to get to grips with the R10 even though this car is much heavier than the ones I had driven before.” Is that very different for a driver? “It does make some things different. For instance if a heavy car starts sliding it’s a bit harder to straighten it out.” Do you mis single seater racing in the States? “I’ve always loved Indycar racing and I still do. But I enjoy racing anywhere as long as I can be on the edge and fight against strong competition.”

Looking back at 2009, what is the first thing that springs to mind. “That must be the big tough but very rewarding 24h race in Le Mans.” Was it a surprise for you to be suddenly competing in the Le Mans Series? “Yes it was a pleasant surprise. Kolles gave me a chance and thankfully I haven’t let him down.”

first taste of the R10

There was a relative short amount of time to prepare for the season with the new to the team Audi R10. Did this pose any problems? “The hardest thing was having to share the car with so many drivers during pre season tests. So it was impossible to make many kilometers. Of course we would have benefited from having a longer pre-season. In the first race weekend I was still learning a lot about the car during the practice sessions. Preferably these things are taken care of in the pre-season because you want to focus on car setup on this specific track. But it was what it was and I think the whole team has done a good job of making the best out of the situation.”

Do you think you have been good help to the Kolles team to get the Audi R10 at it’s best? “I think so. Together with the engineers (Jacky Eeckelaert and Jos Claes) we made good progress with the car during the season. I like to think my input contributed to these improvements.” At what circuit was the car at it’s best? “This was at the La Sarthe circuit in Le Mans. You can feel that the car was made with this track in mind.”

a great group of people

When looking back at this season immediately the great result in the 24h of Le Mans stands out. It looks impossible to do this race with only two drivers. “When I was told Narian (Karthikeyan) could not compete because of an injury sustained by jumping the pitt wall I thought something similar. I couldn’t believe what I was told. I had to ask again because I thought it was a joke. But it wasn’t so I grabbed my gear (which I had prepared just in case) and jumped in the car. I had about 3 minutes to let it sink in that Andre (Lotterer) and I were really going to do our first 24h of Le Mans with just the two of us. After that it was go time. No looking back because the race was starting!” We can say that this performance was your best performance of the season. And that with this performance a bit of history was written. Afterwards the press was very excited. “It was a very exciting race! Surely when you look at the fact that we didn’t just finish the race with 2 drivers but we were very competitive. We both did a consistent and flawless race. Normally you can be happy if you do that in a normal 2 hour race. So you can imagine the amount of concentration that was needed to do a 24h one.”

lots of practice goes into a fast driver’s change

You can also be proud to be the best finishing Dutchman. “Of course. Beforehand this is not a particular goal for me. I just want to perform to the maximum that is possible with the car. But I’ll take it!” Was it conditionally tough or does the adrenaline carry you trough the race? “I did get tired, but I was in the “zone” so I could continue at the level which I was performing. I didn’t sleep so the body can’t recuperate very well. But it really hit me after the race. I slept for a good long time :)”

In endurance racing you always share the car with other drivers. Isn’t that hard? Aren’t there situations in which you would have done something different compared to your teammates. “Of course these things happen. And it was something new I had to get used to. My teammates were “co” responsible for the my result and this gives me a whole new level of connection to their performance when they are in the car. But I know that everybody is trying their hardest to get the result. Luckily most of the time everything went according to plan so I wasn’t frustrated much at all.” As a driver did you push over 300% to get the most out of the Audi R10? “You bet! Although in endurance racing this doesn’t always mean to be on the absolute limit of the car all the time. You have to know when to throttle back so you can spare the tires and the car at certain points in the race.”

Some websites thought you did the best job out of all the Dutch International drivers this year, what do you think about that? “I don’t know about that. I haven’t read it. I am proud of my performance this season but I’m sure there are many Dutch drivers who had a good season.” If you walk by the “Wall of Fame” in Zandvoort surely you can smile at your name being up there? “Back when I was inducted I thought it was an extreme honor to have my name between all the greats in Dutch auto sport history. And that feeling of proudness is still there.”

How was your relation with team boss Kolles? “I’ve known him for a long time now. We don’t need a lot of words to know what is going on. I would have loved to give him a podium finish but sadly that was just out of our reach. That is the only blemish on this season.” Is he a man who reigns with an iron fist? “He has his moments where he can tell everybody what this is all about. And what our goals are. This helps to realize that it’s not a game here and we really need to focus on the job at hand.”

The 2010 season is just around the corner. Plans? “I’m in touch with some teams. In the coming months it will be clear where this leads.” Do you also look at the quality of the team. In other words, does it have to be a team who can take the best out of you and the car? “It depends on more factors. First priority is competitiveness. Be it already competitive or working with a motivated group who wants to get competitive. But I also have a family to support so there are other interests as well.” Do you have a preference for a certain series? “I liked racing in the Le Mans series this year. But to be honest I like all sorts of GT cars and I wouldn’t rule out formula cars either.”

Have you spotted young talent in the Le Mans series? “We had an excellent feeder series that raced on the same weekends as we did. I’ve seen guys like Nico Verdonk who we can expect to see in the big league soon.”

What is it you do in the winter time? “This winter I had my first baby daughter and that changes a lot! Right now I’m training to get as fit as possible.”

Tags: 24hrs, Audi R10, Karthikeyan, Kolles, Le Mans, Lotterer, Zwolsman
Posted in Algarve, Barcelona, Featured, Highlights, Le Mans, Nurburgring, Races, Silverstone, Spa |

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Le Mans Review

Charles Zwolsman looks back at the 24hrs of Le Mans

“The brain is still at 200mph”

Charles is feeling pretty good about his 24h of Le Mans. When you heard Narain Karthikeyan had fallen down from the pit wall just minutes before the start of the race, what were your feelings? “It was all a bit surreal. Narain was supposed to do the start. Sometimes you joke about a situation like this, but I’ve never in my racing car had something like that happen before. Luckily there was little time to get worried. I grabbed my gear, jumped over the same pit wall, had a short talk with my engineer then put on my helmet and began the race!”

Did this change the race tactics?
“No not really, just that it was now up to Andre Lotterer and me to do all the work. I’m especially happy that we drove the race not only without making mistakes but also did this with very good speed and consistency. Jo Hausner was one of the engineers working on our car. He was the engineer on many winning cars for both Audi and Bentley in recent years. If he tells you afterwards that this was his coolest Le Mans yet, that really means something!”

It’s important to have a “save” setup on the car for such a long race
Isn’t it hard to get a good setup on the car as you have to share the car with 2 other drivers. Different drivers, different opinions right? “Of course you’ll have to make small compromises, but thankfully we had similar thoughts about the direction we wanted to take with the setup. It’s important to have a “save” setup on the car for such a long race, so it is reasonably easy to drive.” You can say that with the team being new to Le Mans this was a tremendous effort? “Yes the Kolles team has really done a great job. Even when we had trouble with the car they worked hard and fast to get us back in the race with the least amount of time spend in the pits. That is what is needed to be successful in Le Mans. Of course it was helpful that we were doing the race in a great car, the Audi R10. This car has proven it’s worth. But all in all the team did a great job to prepare the cars well and to have both cars finish in the top 10.”

“We were able to go at a good speed.”
You guys were able to consistently run in the 3.33’s and fight for positions 8,7,6,5. “We were very consistent even when we were overtaking slower cars. It was a real pity that we suffered gearbox trouble in the morning. Otherwise we would have been able to hold on to 5th position for sure!” Having GT2, GT1 and LMP2 cars on the track there is a lot of overtaking to be done. This can work in your disadvantage, but I had the feeling you were using it to your advantage? “You have to constantly look what your next moves are going to be, calculating what is the fastest way around slower cars without taking excessive risks. Sometimes you can get lucky when you can catch an opponent on the wrong foot when he is trying to pass a slower car. This can work in your advantage but you also need to try and not get caught out yourself in a situation like this.”

The brain is still at 200mph
What was your toughest period of the race? “The last time I was in the car I had to do 4,5 stints (about 3,5h). From the very first stint I had a bad vibration in the tires that only got worse. My vision was a bit blurry because of this and the car shook me up. I had to slow down a bit to make sure I didn’t make a mistake because the car was very difficult to handle like this. This was very hard. When the car handles good like it did in the first half of the race, time goes quickly. But in this part of the race I was almost counting every lap.” How was it during the night? “The night itself was ok. The transition from day to night was not so easy though. As the sun is going down the sky is still lit up but the tarmac is already dark. Your eyes are still adjusted to the light but you need to focus on the dark part which is why it is very difficult to sometimes see the inside of some corners.” Have you been able to sleep in between runs? “Because we were racing with just the two of us there was simply not enough time to sleep for me. After getting out of the car I have a quick chat with my engineer. Than go on to eat something and get a massage. After this I had a little bit of time to lie down but my brain was still going at 200mp/h. As soon as you calm down a bit and get close to sleeping I had to get back out there.”

Reliabilty on the Kolles Audi R10 was pretty good
Did the reliability of the Audi R10 prove itself once again? “Apart from a gearbox problem and a broken anti-roll bar connector we had no problems. For a 24h race that is pretty good.” How many hours have you been in the car during the race? “I think we have both done about half, so 12 hours. Physically at the end I was getting some pain in the lowerback and my neck was pretty tense”

Mulsanne belongs to the Dutch!
“Le Mans must be the biggest autosport party of the year. At the driver’s parade there were so many enthusiastic people. All of the drivers loved it. I most certainly did. The whole week people are already there, supporting you and having fun. Mulsanne corner belonged to the Dutch crowd with a big orange banner wrapped around the grandstand. This was pretty cool. When the race was over the whole team was very happy that we had made it. We took some group pictures and drank some champagne. Around 5 o’clock I fell asleep and I woke up at 9 in the morning! Last time I had slept this long I must have been a baby. Next year I would love to do this race again, this time with three drivers, what a fantastic event this was!”

Are you already thinking about next race?
“After the race I took a half a week rest. Now it’s back to the gym again and than to the next race.” One more question: So how many times did you eventually brake in the race? “Haha, I lost count.”

Source: Charles Zwolsman Racing Media Services
Website: www.charleszwolsman.com
Image credit: Marcel ten Caat / Planetlemans

Tags: 24hrs, Add new tag, Audi, Audi R10, Kolles, Le Mans, race, Zwolsman
Posted in Featured, Le Mans, Races |

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Le Mans Result

Short Quote:

“What a fantastic race! Narain (Karthikeyan) got injured 5 minutes before he was supposed to do the start so I got the signal to get in the car. There was no time to think about how tough this race was going to be with just Andre (Lotterer) and me in the car. It was just a matter of pushing trough. I have to thank the team for getting the car at it’s best when it mattered most. Especially in the first half of the race the car was perfect. We got up to 5th position but in the morning we ran into gearbox trouble and lost a few laps in the pits. This dropped us back to eight. That was a tough moment as we had worked so hard up untill that point. Still we managed to finish 7th which I think is a nice result in my first ever Le Mans 24h. After not sleeping the whole race because it was just the two of us the next 24h race will certainly be easier! ”

1 9 LMP1 M  Peugeot Sport Total      GENE Marc/WURZ Alexander/BRABHAM David Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 24:01:45.442 382 216

2 8 LMP1 M  Team Peugeot Total       SARRAZIN Stephane/MONTAGNY Franck/BOURDAIS SePeugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 24:01:46.106 381 1 L 216

3 1 LMP1 M  Audi Sport Team Joest    CAPELLO Rinaldo/KRISTENSEN Tom/MCNISH Allan Audi R15 TDI 24:05:19.738 376 6 L 212

4 007 LMP1 M  AMR Eastern Europe       CHAROUZ Jan/ENGE Thomas/MUCKE Stefan Lola Aston Martin 24:02:36.162 373 9 L 211

5 11 LMP1 M  Team Oreca Matmut AIM   PANIS Olivier/LAPIERRE Nicolas/AYARI Soheil Oreca AIM 24:02:09.306 370 12 L 209

6 7 LMP1 M  Team Peugeot Total       MINASSIAN Nicolas/LAMY Pedro/KLIEN Christian Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 24:01:47.082 369 13 L 209

7 14 LMP1 M  Kolles                   KARTHIKEYAN Narain/LOTTERER Andre/ZWOLSMAN CAudi R10 TDI 24:02:53.898 369 1:06.816 209

8 16 LMP1 M  Pescarolo Sport          TINSEAU Christophe/JOUANNY Bruce/BARBOSA JoaoPescarolo Judd 24:02:38.522 368 14 L 208

9 15 LMP1 M  Kolles                   ALBERS  Christian/BAKKERUD Christian/MONDINI GiorAudi R10 TDI 24:02:54.170 360 22 L 204

10 31 LMP2 M  Team Essex               ELGAARD Casper/COLLARD Emmanuel/POULSEN KrisPorsche RS Spyder 24:01:52.362 357 25 L 202

Tags: 24hrs, Audi R10, Kolles, Le Mans, race, result, Zwolsman
Posted in Featured, Le Mans, Races |

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Le Mans Tuesday update

Scenery at the scruteneering today.

Checking and double checking at the scruteneering.

All clear !

Press shots

It’s raining hard at the press conference ! Still a huge crowd turns up to see us talk. The fans are the best.

Doing some laps of the circuit in a road car.

That finishes the day.

Posted in Le Mans |

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Le Mans Preview

“24hrs of Le Mans means I have to brake 2.268 times.”
Charles Zwolsman seems to be ready for his next race the 13th and 14th of June. This being the famous 24hrs of Le Mans does make it a bit different. “I’m trying to approach this race as any other race but I think once I am there and the week progresses it will all start to feel a bit different.” Is team Kolles and the Audi R10 ready for 24hrs of top-level motorsport? “We have prepared ourselves to the best of our knowledge, for most of us though it is a completely new experience. The same goes for me. I’m really looking forward to it.”

About 170 drivers will compete.
We have many Dutchmen entering this event. This means that the small country does have a lot to offer. “We always have some strong drivers in our country. For the Le Mans race there will be about 170 drivers competing. It would be strange if there were no drivers representing the Netherlands. I hope we can be successful!” Has the team done any extra test before this race? “No, but we will have long practice sessions when we get there. And I hope we can make the necessary adjustments for this long race.”

Driving in the night is pretty different.
“Especially the braking points are tough. It is not possible to see far to the side of the track, this means that some braking markers cannot be seen once it gets dark. Now you need to find new ones in a hurry! I also noticed in a night test we did before the Spa race that the pupils need to adjust for a couple of laps before really being able to see properly. So for Le Mans I’m planning to be in the dark for a couple of minutes before my stint begins so I won’t be getting my sight back ever so slowly at 200+mph.” Who decides which driver does which stint? “This is up to the engineers, and I don’t really have a preference.” Where will you be sleeping in between stints? “I’m told we have a room above the pit box where we can relax for a couple of hours in between stints.”

Not always the fastest car wins at Le Mans
The reliability of the Audi R10 is proven. Can this be a big factor in competing with the faster Audi R15’s, the Peugeot’s and the Aston Martins? “In the past it was not always the fastest car that won Le Mans. Normally I don’t wish to get a good result by others having their car’s break down. But in endurance racing this is a big part of it and I hope we last longer than others without having car trouble.” They say the toughest time to drive is when you go form night to early morning? “I’ll have to see if that’s the truth. I assume this has something to do with the sun being low. And maybe some people missing their coffee.”

How many times do you think you will be braking into a corner in 24hrs?
“We will drive around for about 380 laps among the 3 of us. So I will do about 126 laps. Each lap requires around 18 times of braking so this means 2.268 times! Are you bringing spare shoes? “Haha, don’t worry, they will be able to last the distance. We are more worried about other things! But the team is prepared for whatever. At all times we will have tires and all sorts of other parts ready to be bolted on when needed.” How many tires will be used on your car in the race? “I’m hoping we can do with about 48 (12 sets). The longer we can do with the tires, the less time we waste in the pits changing them.”

The lights at night are beautiful, a work of art
There will be a massive amount of fans. What does this add to the atmosphere of this race? “It will add another dimension to it. Seeing how much this race means to people make’s you realize you’re part of something special. This race has got a lot of history.” When I say Le Mans, what is the first feature that comes to mind? “That would have to be how the light at night lingers over the asphalt like a painter using his brush on the canvas of a work of art.” What is your main quality geared towards endurance racing? “Knock on wood…, keeping a car on the road and being consistent.

“I’m enjoying myself in the Kolles Audi R10″
Do you miss Champcar/Indycar? “I had a great time while I was there, so for sure it would not be a punishment to go back there. But I’m pretty happy where I am right now.

Images taken by Marcel ten Caat/Planetlemans edited by Charles Zwolsman

Tags: 24hrs, Aston Martin, Audi R10, Audi R15, Endurance, Kolles, Peugeot, Zwolsman
Posted in Featured, Le Mans, Races |