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Karim will return
to action on September 13 for the final round of this season’s Le Mans
Series at Silverstone.
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For more
details on Karim Ajlani, please visit
www.karim-ajlani.com.
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 mail your news to
editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk
Difficult end to
’09 at Silverstone for Ajlani
 Karim
Ajlani endured a difficult end to his 2009 Le Mans Series campaign at
Silverstone today after a small fire put pay to his chances in the
1000km event.
The Syrian had harboured high hopes of a strong season finale in Britain
after qualifying his OAK Racing Pescarolo-Mazda fifth during Saturday’s
qualifying session, despite having never driven a prototype sportscar at
the venue before Friday’s opening free practice.
Come Sunday and it was team mate Matthieu Lahaye who took the 11.35
start. The Frenchman made good progress during his opening stint,
climbing up to third in what was a fierce battle at the head of LMP2.
Karim then took over at #35’s first scheduled stop before returning to
the action in fifth having lost out slightly once the round of pit stops
had shaken out. There he remained for the next 30 minutes before a minor
error resulted in a harmless spin exiting the second Luffield right
hander. Pointing the wrong way, he returned to the fray via the gravel
trap, resulting in a lengthy stop to clean out the sidepods.
20 minutes were lost before he was able to rejoin, dropping the duo out
of contention. Despite the difficult situation, Karim drove a
trouble-free stint before handing the car over with three hours
remaining.
Progress then continued to be made under the guidance of Lahaye with
Ajlani back at the wheel for the final hour and a half. Unfortunately,
he would be forced to retire in the pits following a fire at the rear of
the car.
“It’s the first race we’ve started this season without incurring a
penalty,” said Karim. “Matthieu made a good start and quickly settled
into a good rhythm without any problems. We were third when he made his
first stop but lost some time changing the tyres as we couldn’t double
stint them.
“Everything was working fine during my first stint before someone
touched me on the right rear going into Copse. By Stowe I was
experiencing a strange sensation through the car before spinning at the
final corner. I ran out of track trying to point it back in the right
direction and went through the gravel, which cost us some more time. It
was a difficult race from there but we didn’t give up. Matthieu put in a
decent double stint before I took over for the final time. That’s when I
had a lot of smoke in the cockpit which forced me back in for good.”
Despite a difficult final race, Ajlani’s debut season in prototypes has
been a strong one with two podium finishes to his name, while his
exploits also earned a much sought-after Hilton Racing ambassadorship.
Ajlani scores
second podium of '09 at the Nurburgring
 Kara
Ajlani scored his second podium of the 2009 Le Mans Series campaign
after a determined display at the Nurburgring on Sunday.
Team mate Matthieu Lahaye started sixth in LMP2 at the wheel of the #35
OAK Racing Pescarolo-Mazda but was up to third by the end of his opening
stint. Karim then maintained that position for the first half of his
before a technical problem midway through caused the car’s pace to drop.
Despite the electrical fault, Karim was able to retain his third
position before pitting.
Karim: “My first stint was going well until the moment the engine bip,
when changing down the gears, stopped working and I had to switch the
mapping to ‘safe’. That meant I did not have any antilag and was slower
exiting the corners which cost me some time until the end of the first
stint. We decided to continue, waiting until the driver change for the
mechanics to fix the problem. This paid off as we only lost six minutes
in the pits.”
Those half dozen minutes dropped did however relegate the duo down the
order to seventh. Over the remaining four hours they would battle back
into podium contention, taking advantage of their durable Dunlop rubber
by not changing tyres at every stop.
“Matthiue again produced a super effort and decided to double stint the
tyres as he was the fastest LMP2 driver at that point. It enabled him to
climb back up to third.”
With no further problems, Karim had the honour of taking the chequered
flag in third after sustaining his co-driver’s pace over a final double
stint of his own.
“It is great to achieve such a good result. We are all so happy as we
had high hopes for this race,” Karim added. “Matthieu knew the circuit
well, although I’ve only driven here once, back in 2005. Matthieu did a
super job while I also worked hard so naturally we are delighted. We are
certainly going to enjoy the result which gives us a massive boost for
Silverstone.
“The result is a real breath of fresh air for the team, Dunlop, AER and
Mazda as everyone did a great job. The team was exemplary as always.”
Team mate’s Richard Hein and Jacques Nicolet completed an excellent day
for the Magny-Cours-based squad with fourth.
Reliability issues cost Ajlani podium shot at Algarve 1000kms
number of niggling reliability issues cost Syrian racing driver Karim
Ajlani and his French team-mate Matthieu Lahaye a shot at a class podium
in round 3 of the Le Mans Series, the Algarve 1000kms.
The pair’s OAK Racing Pescarolo-Mazda undoubtedly had the pace to secure
a top three finish in the night race at the brand-new Portuguese
circuit, proved when Lahaye had charged from the back of the LMP2 grid
to third place in the opening few laps.
Unfortunately a fuel pressure issue, two slow punctures and a broken
spark plug limited the duo to a sixth place finish in the LMP2 category
and 12th overall.
“It’s a shame because all the OAK Racing team has worked really hard
since Le Mans,” said Ajlani, who this season became the first ever
Syrian driver to take part in the legendary 24 Hour endurance race. “A
ten-place grid penalty for changing the engine after the last round in
Spa put us well down the grid, but Matthieu did brilliantly at the start
to get up to third. Sadly, all the different problems we encountered
meant we had 11 pit stops compared to six for most of our rivals. That
obviously left us a little further down the finishing order than our
performance really merited.”
The 4.692km circuit located near the Algarve town of Portimao opened its
doors for the first time less than 12 months ago meaning few of the LMS
drivers had raced there before. The challenging nature of the track’s
layout was also amplified by the fact that the race represented the LMS’
first real ‘night race’.
“We were one of the few teams that have not tested here and we had some
problems in practice which limited our track time. Despite that we were
on the pace quite quickly,” said Karim. “It is a very demanding circuit
both mentally and physically. There are a lot of corners and at no point
can you relax, which during such a long race is quite testing,
especially at night. I really enjoyed the challenge of learning another
new track though.”
Despite the frustration at missing out on a high finishing position,
Ajlani was eager to draw the positives from a weekend which saw the team
make another step forward in terms of performance.
“I think we really showed just how much potential the car has got and we
just need to work a bit on reliability now,” he said. “I’m looking
forward to the next round at the Nurburgring as the track should really
suit the car. We’ll work hard over the next few weeks to prepare for the
race and hope that we can get back on the podium.”
Ajlani makes history at Le Mans
 Karim
Ajlani became the first Syrian driver to compete in the world famous Le
Mans 24 Hours last weekend, although becoming the first to finish will
have to wait until 2010.
The OAK Racing
driver, who had lined up eighth after LMP2 class qualifying, was handed
the honour of starting the epic race. As the 33 year-old took his place
amongst the 55-car strong grid, so he became a part of one of the most
evocative sights in motorsport.
“The start was
extraordinary with the concentration level required much higher than at
the beginning of any other race,” said Ajlani. “This event is massive
and the start is something incredible. I was very concentrated and
focused. It went well and there were no dramas during the opening
laps.”
Karim ran strongly
during his opening stint and remained at the wheel of the Pescarolo-Mazda
prototype for the second after pitting for fuel.
“My first stint was
good and at the end we decided to double stint the tyres. It’s the first
time I have ever done that, I haven’t even done it in the LMS before, so
I made sure I was more careful under braking and all went well.
“In my second stint
I found a rhythm pretty quickly and made some progress setting my best
lap time as I continued to build my confidence in the car and on the
circuit.”
Having enjoyed
another trouble-free run, Karim made his second scheduled stop of the
afternoon to hand over to co-driver Matthieu Lahaye. Fellow #35 car
driver Guillaume Moreau would also have time in the car before Ajlani
returned for his next stint that night.
It would prove to be
anything less than trouble-free however. Towards the end of his stint
while running fourth, the gearbox alarm inside the cockpit lit up. On
returning to the pits several laps shy of a scheduled stop, his
engineers discovered that the engine had developed a problem. With it
sealed, team mate Lahaye returned to the fray, only for the car to start
billowing smoke. Further checks prompted a 90 minute delay while the
entire turbo charger was replaced. Optimistically, Lahaye again headed
out, only to complete a further 30 minutes of running before, at 8.30am,
the car was retired with engine-related problems.
“Obviously we were
all disappointed. The car had been running well up until then but I
guess that’s what Le Mans is all about. It’s 24 hours, not 18, although
we can be proud to have come that far with an all new package. It was a
shame, but at least the sister car proved the potential by finishing on
the podium.
“Our mechanics did
an exceptional job to try and help us finish the race and I am very
thankful to them. Le Mans is a real challenge of both man and machine
and I learned a lot. We have done a lot of kilometres this week and this
will be beneficial to us for the remainder of the season.”
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