Sailesh Bolisetti qualifies 5th in debut race at British GT
Oulton Park (Cheshire, UK), 8 April 2012: Despite trying conditions, Indian Saloon car driver Sailesh Bolisetti put on a great showing on his first outing in the British GT championship here today. The series rookie displayed commendable driving maturity under trying conditions at the season-opening round at Oulton Park, according to a Press Release.
The characteristic British weather at the Cheshire circuit didn’t make things easy for the Indian as a wet first practice session ate into his track time and setup work pencilled in for the session earlier.
It was also the first time he was driving the
full track, having only tested on the shorter ‘Fosters’ layout last month.
“Certainly it wasn’t the start I was looking for in the morning, the track was soaking wet and the lines were completely different from the dry”, said Sailesh.
“At this early stage I would’ve much rather preferred a dry track to work with from start to finish.”
The track was still damp in the second free practice session but was deemed good for slicks.
The Indian driver then managed to make the most of his half hour session behind the wheel (one hour of practice being split between him and his teammate Phil Glew sharing the Lotus Evora GT4).
With conditions improving, Sailesh was able to get much closer to his experienced teammate’s benchmark.
“I was getting into the groove as the track dried up and the car was working well under those conditions.”
Buoyed by his progress, he was confident of his pace and looking forward to qualifying.
The British GT format includes two qualifying sessions, the results of each deciding grid position for the each of the two races.
Come qualifying, this time it was Sailesh who unconventionally took the wheel ahead of teammate Glew.
However, his relative inexperience came to the fore as he was unable to get the tyres and brakes into the operating window during the short 15-minute session.
“I was feeling a lot of vibration, and the car didn’t seem to have any grip. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, and was under pressure as I knew the clock was ticking.”
The team later discovered that Sailesh had not been able to get the brakes and tyres working since during all preceding sessions, it was teammate Glew who always took the wheel first, thereby leaving Sailesh alien to this aspect of car’s performance.
“It isn’t something we could foresee – Sailesh had never driven an opening stint before so he wasn’t familiar with the procedures we normally undertake to get the car working”, Lotus Sport UK team manager Gary Ayles suggested.
“During the testing and even practice sessions, we had been focussing solely on his speed and maximising track time since the aim was to get him settled in at the earliest”, he added.
“So it isn’t a shortcoming, just lack of track time and inexperience, and he should be ok from now on.”
The short qualifying session was soon over and still struggling with the car as he crossed the line, Sailesh ended up fifth on the GT4 grid.
As per regulations, he will now start race one and hand over the car to his teammate during the mandatory pitstop window between the 20th and 40th minute.
In the second qualifying session, Glew went on to clinch pole position in the GT4 category, confirming the potential of the team’s Evora GT4.
“We know for sure that we have a strong package, and we have a long race ahead of us on Monday”, conceded Sailesh.
I am therefore aiming to move through the field quickly and finish as high as possible.”
“The circumstances were a bit unusual today, but there is something to learn from every experience – especially so early in my stint here”, he concluded.
The two one-hour races are scheduled on Monday April 9th.
