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Marc VDS Pleased With Paul Ricard Test
The Marc VDS Racing Team took another step towards the new season by completing the Blancpain Endurance Series official balance of performance test at Paul Ricard. Both cars finished the test in the top eight and ran smoothly over the two days.
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Car #3, with Bas Leinders and Yelmer Buurman driving and Max Martin absent, finished in sixth and #4, with Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Nick Catsburg, ended eighth.
The test offered the first opportunity for the team to get extended running on the new Pirelli tyres in dry conditions, after a weather affected test last week in Vallelunga. Both BMW Z4 GT3 cars made excellent progress with set up over the two day test, at a track that has traditionally not suited the car thanks to its long straight. The drivers worked closely with the engineers to push the performance forward and the team have a good amount of data to analyse before the first race.
Times were not a real target for the team, with the results of the test offering no points or championship rewards. However, to have both cars close together and high up the order, with times set by Buurman and Catsburg respectively, is a confidence boost for the whole squad.
Mechanically, both cars were near perfect, without a serious problem over the two days, which is a key factor for the endurance nature of the championship.
The first race of the Blancpain Endurance Series season takes place at Monza, on the 13th and 14th of April. The team will be aiming for a repeat of last year's victory at the famous Italian circuit, but with competition showing to be very strong, it will be a tough task.
Sébastien Metz: Technical Director
"It was a good chance to test the new tyres at a track where we can have a back to back test with last year's tyres. It was a good test because both cars ran without any mechanical issues, and the whole team worked very smoothly. We know we still have a lot of work to do to improve on the cars, but we got a lot of mileage and a lot of data to analyse. I'm happy."
Markus Palttala: BMW Z4 GT3 #4
"This has been an excellent two days for us. We've had consistent dry, sunny weather, which is fantastic for testing. For the first time this year we've had a good opportunity to go through a program and we did just that. We've went the right way, the wrong way, searching some solutions for different set up issues but I think we've had a good test. We have things to try but the time is always running out, we're always running out of time! Everybody is moulding together and we are agreeing on most things in the team, which means more track time."
Bas Leinders: BMW Z4 GT3 #3
"We are progressing nicely. We're doing roughly the same lap times as we did during qualifying last year, which is good. It'll be difficult to go any faster because we don't have a major update - but we have every confidence that SRO and the FIA will find the best solution for every car. The Marc VDS Racing Team is pretty new to the Pirelli tyre, but everything seems to be going OK and we're learning more every day. Vallelunga gave us some wet testing, and fortunately here we got some great dry running. It's obviously a little sad that we're missing Maxime, but we have four other very good drivers we can count on to keep moving forwards."
PaddockTalk Perspective
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