SVK by Speed Factory shifts into top gear at halfway point of ELMS season

The European Le Mans series rookies are ready for a new challenge at the Red Bull Ring. This weekend, drivers of the Spanish team SVK by Speed Factory – Konstantins Calko, Dainius Matijosaitis and J. Fuster – will continue their work behind the wheel of their black Ginetta-Nissan P3 car.

Podium finish at 4 Hours of Imola has boosted the confidence of the débuting racers about achieving good results.

“We will get past the Red Bull Ring in the middle of the season. Each race weekend helps us to accumulate experience, adjust teamwork and it reflects in our results. After Imola we are in second place in championship clasification and it is big additional motivation for the Red Bull Ring”, said team manager Dalius Steponavicius.

First ELMS race at Silverstone was like a cold sobering shower. The team completed the track without making any mistakes, but this simply did not show in the results. They missed performance of the engine compared to other competitors. Leak of engine power has followed the black Ginetta-Nissan P3 during couple of post Silverstone test days.

It turned out that this was fault in wiring loom. As if that was not enough, it became clear that the No. 15 Ginetta-Nissan P3 was falling behind its competitors by 50 hp. The fault was discovered and eliminated just before the beginning of qualification in Imola, and the car became simply unrecognisable.

“The drivers then had to adapt to a completely different car, and the team engineers were faced with the task of configuring a new setup. Our race strategy paid off in Imola. Despite Matijosaitis’ spin in the first lap, we later used the appearance of the safety car and the mistakes of the other teams to our advantage. This allowed us to establish ourselves in the top positions of our class, which we have managed to maintain for two thirds of the race. We should give the credit to Konstantins Calko, whose work on the track was incredibly professional”, explained Steponavicius.

Unfortunately, the team lost its leading position just before the end of the race in Imola due to broked headlights brackets. Fixing them in pit has cost the team three precious minutes.

It has now been almost a two month break before the 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring, and the SVK by Speed Factory team has used this time to prepare and improve its car. D Steponavicius hopes that it will now be more reliable as well as lighter and faster.

The main goal in the third stage of ELMS is to earn a maximum number of points and break through as the leaders of the LMP3.