Difficult qualifying session for Sailesh Bolisetti at Le Mans

David Bodapati October 13, 2013

301 2 minutes read

Le Mans (France), 12 Oct 2013: Indian driver Sailesh Bolisetti’s NASCAR Whelen Euro Series weekend at the iconic Bugatti Le Mans circuit got off to a difficult start after an untimely off during qualifying left him 14^th on the grid.

The venue is hosting the season finale of the 2013 season of the European Stock Car championship, and uncharacteristically bad weather has thrown a spanner in the works for all drivers, a release said.

With no mechanical issues to hamper his progress unlike the last couple of rounds, progress was on cards in the initial sessions but the fickle weather proved challenging during the first practice session.

“We went out on dry tyres as it had just stopped raining before the session but two minutes in, it started pouring again so we had to switch to wets.”, said Sailesh.

“The car was still set up for semi-wet conditions so I didn’t get a good feel of the limit but it was still good to have the track time and learn the circuit at least”, he added.

The second practice turned out to be more of the same, but Sailesh managed to get himself up to speed although it was clear that the final outcome of qualifying and race result would be determined by the accuracy of weather forecasts.

Earlier on Friday, the forecast for qualifying stated that it would be dry, but Saturday morning it was clear that it wasn’t going to be the case.

The sun was out but the track remained soaking wet as low ambient temperatures didn’t allow it to dry out completely. Like all other drivers on the grid, Sailesh ventured out on wet tyres but it was clear from the outset that the last man across the line would be the quickest.

After doing a couple of sighting laps to adjust to the treacherous conditions, which required manhandling the 400 bhp stock car to counter the massive oversteer – Sailesh managed to set progressively quick lap times each time he crossed the line.

But on his third flyer while approaching the Le Musée hairpin, he encountered a slow moving car on the racing line at corner entry and in a bid to avoid rear-ending it, spun out and beached himself in the gravel.

He couldn’t wriggle the car out of the deep, wet gravel and by the time he eventually managed to get back on the track, the chequered flag was out.

“It was a real disappointment, I was confident, going faster with every passing lap and had top 10 pace for sure”, rued Sailesh.

“The race should be better we are out of position so hopefully we’ll get some overtaking done tomorrow and get a good result”, he signed off.

2013 Euro Racecar Series calendar

Round 1 31 March Nogaro, France

Round 2 11 May Dijon, France

Round 3 8 June Brands Hatch, UK

Round 4 6 July Tours, France

Round 6 28 Sep Monza, Italy

Round 7 12 October Le Mans, France

Scorpus Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS Specs

ENGINE: 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated Chevrolet V8