Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Proton Racing driver Khaled Al Qubaisi’s pre-race test session at Le Mans was disrupted by bad weather on Sunday.
The Emirati driver is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for a second year running alongside teammates Christian Ried and Klaus Bachler.
Round three of the eight-stage series takes the team to the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 13-14, where they came second in the LMGTE Am class in a Porsche 911 RSR last year.
Pre-race practice consisted of two four hour sessions on Sunday but rain showers prevented many teams from taking full advantage of the run out, according to Al Qubaisi.
“Initial forecasts indicated sunny conditions at Le Mans, but that didn’t prevent unpredictable showers for a full hour,” he said. “We decided to stay in the pits as the track conditions weren’t dry enough for slicks and not wet enough for wets. So the team decided to wait till the last hour of the session where the track was in better condition.
“During the second session, conditions were better but not fully dry; I only managed five laps before the rain started pouring down again. Overall, the conditions weren’t perfect but good enough for testing. While we didn’t manage to find the best car set-up for the race on the day, we will be able to work on that during the weekend. We did manage to get the feel of driving on the circuit again and get the car safely back to the garage after several hours which some other teams were not able to do”.
