12 Hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race 2010 – Qualifying : Scenes from the Pit Lane
Petronas Syntium Team crew members preparing the two BMW Z4Ms for the qualifying session.
Although all eyes are on the track action during the qualifying session, life in the pit lane is as hectic as ever. Cars kept coming in and out for tyre changes and minor setup adjustments. Engineers analyse feedback from the drivers and decides if something needs to be changed. Despite this being a qualifying session, crew members of the teams are always on standby in case if anything happens. Life in the pit lane, is as fast and furious as life in the fast lane. After all, endurance racing is not a one man’s effort – it’s a team game.
Gen Suzuki, the master strategist of the Petronas Syntium Team. The man behind every decision and race strategy alongside the legendary Tetsuo Suzuki that has seen the success of the team’s 1-2 finish last year.
Melvin Moh of Petronas Syntium Team.
Australia’s Amac Motorsports entry, the Mosler MT900R GT3.
LKM Racing Team’s crew observing the on track action while waiting for their car to pit.
KK Performance Team engineers monitoring the situation in the pitwall as Alex Yoong takes the wheel of the Lamborghini LP560 for the qualifying session. A few laps later and Alex is back in the pit.
A quick tyre change, and Alex were off again for another qualifying stint.
Alex discussing something with the team after the qualifying session.
Alex managed to set a time of 2:05.359, good enough to be classified as 2nd fastest throughout the Driver 3 qualifying session for the GT Class. The KK Performance Team drivers did a combined lap times of 6:19.344, and will start the race 3rd on the grid.
Porsche Club Singapore’s crew members in action.
Another Australian team, the VIP Petfoods pairing of Tony Quinn, Klark Quinn and Paul Weel entered the race with a Porsche 997 RSR.
A quick chat, making sure that everything’s fine and they’re off again. In the qualifying session, the timing is very crucial to get the cars out on track without any traffic. Traffic will ruin the drivers lap time, lost them another lap and the optimum level of tyre performance. Another challenge is to make sure that the drivers have enough time to complete all the laps within the 30 minutes qualifying session time.
Two thumbs up for Darryl O’young. The Audi Race Experience Team Joest qualified in 4th place with all their drivers putting a fastest lap within the 2:07 seconds bracket.
Audi Race Experience Team Joest mechanics work on the Audi R8 LMS for another qualifying stint.
