Motorsport News
The PSR Volvo Empire Strikes Back
By source: PSR
May 9, 2007, 12:36

At the third round of the German Endurance Championship, the streak of bad luck that had befallen Volvo Team PSR finally found an end. Ulli Andree/Fredy Lienhard, jr notched the team’s maiden victory of the season – in an event that was once again marked by turbulences.

It was a classic case of „It Hurts so good“. Saturday’s 49th ADAC ACAS H & R-Cup saw, for the first time, two PSR Volvo S60 taking to the track in qualifying. Ulli Andree/Fredy Lienhard, jr climbed back into their original car, which had suffered severe damage when Lienhard flipped it five times in practice prior to round 1. Swiss siblings Remo and André Lips, meanwhile, got a new third man for the second Volvo S60, with Uwe Reich taking over driver duties from Stephan Herter.

But already during Friday testing, lady bad luck got a hold of the Adenau-based team again. Andree lost the left front wheel, which caused multiple damage to the suspension. „I had tried to save some weight at the uprights while rebuilding the car,“ explained team principal Danny Berk. „But I went one step too far. The upright gave way – and the mechanics had to work all through the night ‚till five in the morning to get the car ready for qualifying. We drove the car straight off the rig and into the pits.“

Both Volvo took to the track in qualifying. But while Andree clocked pole position in class, Reich spun his outfit twice and ploughed through the gravel. „The set-up caught me by surprise,“ admitted the veteran from Solingen. „I didn’t expect the rear to be as loose as it was. But I understand that’s the way for a competitive set-up.“

As a result of the two spins, the car’s clutch overheated on the way onto the grid. Lips/Lips/Reich were unable to start. „A shame,“ said Berk. „We would have loved to figure out how to play with different strategies for a car with three drivers. Both cars would have pitted twice. But there’s more room to play with if you’ve got three guys in the car. We will see to that in the next race.“

The other Volvo S60 managed to drove away from lady bad luck. Lienhard, jr took the early lead from pole position and ran away with it, opening up a gap of some massive five minutes. „After my massive crash prior to the first race, I had lost confidence a bit,“ the Swiss admitted. „But it all came back after a couple of laps. The times grew more and more competitive – and I was using less fuel than anybody else who’s ever driven the Volvo. I saved about ten per cent petrol without even trying to be fuel-efficient. I pitted on lap 11 but could have stayed out for two more laps.“

The low-consumption style runs in his family: Father Fredy Lienhard has been a regular in World Sports Car and sports prototype races, and the now 26-year-old-son also started his career in the sportscars. Saturday’s GEC race was his first-ever in a front-wheel driven race car.

Lienhard handed the Volvo over to Andree. The most successful Volvo driver in history opened the gap up to almost nine minutes. Said Berk: „We were almost one lap ahead of everybody else in class.“ Andree’s stint was free of trouble. He came in for a scheduled splash & dash four laps from the end but noticed that the front splitter and nose were giving way and about to fall off and get entangled under the car. „I had realised that the front was bottoming down in the Karusell,“ explained Andree. „Instead of risking damage to the car, I pitted to have the front taped up. But already on the Doettinger Hoehe in the next lap, I felt vibrations and knew that hadn’t done the fix – so I pitted again to have the nose taken off. After that, I finally really understood why we have this massive wing at the front: Without it, couldn’t push any more, as the car was understeering in medium and fast corners and became very nervous, with a lot of wheelspin, over the bumps.“

Nevertheless, Andree brought the car home in first place, securing the type’s 23rd class victory in the GEC and the 24 Hour Race. „It was a feeling of big relief to finally have overcome what can only be described as some traumatic weeks“, sighed Berk. Lienhard added: „I followed the repair works very closely during the last weeks. At times, I felt the team just couldn’t make it. I take my hat off to what the mechanics achieved; it was little short of a miracel.“ Berk summed up: „We almost built a completely new car. Only the floor was still useable. All the hard work and nightshifts of the boys have finally been rewared with this victory. Our next target is obviously to have both cars on the track for the next race – and, in an ideal world, score a one-two then.“

The drive to victory was witnessed by representatives of KS Tools, a tool manufacturer from Heusenstamm, Germany, the team’s new industrial partner. KS Tools will use the Nordschleife races for their own promotional activities as well as a platform for business-to-business marketing. The first steps were undertaken last Saturday – and fittingly undermined with the Volvo victory.

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