Fifth pole at Silverstone

Published on 14 September 2008 by Niels Hendrix

Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur, the already-crowned champions in the LMP2 category of the 2008 Le Mans Series, held up its 100 percent record in qualifying for the fifth and final round of the season, the "Autosport 1000 Kilometres of Silverstone" at the famous Northamptonshire Grand Prix circuit. A lap time of 1.34.212 minutes for Jos Verstappen at the 5.141 km long circuit secured the team its fifth pole position from as many LMS events this season. Of course, the team's Porsche RS Spyder had also been on pole position in its class for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours. "I am delighted that we have been able to keep our 100 percent qualifying record upright", said Verstappen after qualifying at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon. "Our Porsche RS Spyder was perfect around this track." As the fastest car in the LMP2 category, the Dutch Porsche RS Spyder will be starting from eighth place on the grid.

Early in the 20 minutes' qualifying session for LMP1 and LMP2 cars at Silverstone, Jos Verstappen already posted the fastest lap time in class with 1.34.417 minutes, but later on improved his own best lap time to 1.34.212 minutes, which was enough to claim pole position in class for the fifth time this season. "Obviously, you need a little bit of luck to find some clear laps as well, but we were that lucky and I had two really good laps", said Verstappen.

Putting the car on pole position again was Verstappen's way to thank the team members for their efforts, putting the car back in shape again after an accident in free practice on the day before. "I hit a wet patch and the car started aquaplaning, there was nothing for me to do", said Verstappen. "When I went out again for free practice this morning, I immediately felt that the car was good. Finding the right set-up for qualifying was a bit of a gamble as we hadn't had that much track time, especially because the circuit was still damp this morning, but it was all right."
Team owner Peter van Merksteijn commented: "Jos has shown why he has already won the drivers' title in this series. His performance was great and we are confident for the race tomorrow!"

Niels Hendrix