Max Mayer and his RLR Team headed for the demanding and technical track MotorLand Aragón near Alcañiz in the Teruel region of Spain, 240kms west of Barcelona over the course of 25-26 August.
Meyer, eager to return to racing the Ligier JS 2R after a summer break was confident he could make some good ground and return to form in Spain with some good results under his belt. This weekend Max was without his regular co-driver Simon Butler, so had to do all the work himself and he set out his plan with the team and studied data and set up ahead of track action in FP1 and FP2.
Spain in the summer is hot and the temperatures were high at 32c “1 or 2 degrees higher we risk blowing up the engine” Mayer said.
In qualifying Max had to be cautious with set up, because of the high temperatures and over heating the car but nevertheless he claimed a very respectable P2 for the race 1 grid. In Q2 qualifying for the second race “We managed to claim pole position which gave us a massive boost and there was loads left in the car and me” he said. So front row in qualifying for both races was a great start to the weekend.
Race 1 on Saturday Max mused, “I had a really good start of the race taking the lead of the race but unfortunately half way through the race we had a mechanical failure which sent me into a spin and I had to take it back to the pits and retire the car. The mechanical issue was the fire extinguisher which went off from me from going over a kerb, very frustrating but I guess this happens in motorsport but I was pleased with my performance as I had a 28 second lead over my rival up until the extinguisher issue.
Race 2 was different, the car was repaired and Max was in a confident mood “we started on pole and my main job was to manage the gap and bring the car home with a win. This plan was going exactly the way I wanted but with a few safety cars it made it a little bit trickier and even in our pitstop due to me being a silver graded driver I had to wait 15 seconds longer than the other drivers”.
After a safety car period Max was in P2, “but I knew I was going to catch the guy in front, It took only a few laps I had finally retaken the lead and my only job then was to drive to what the car could give me and manage the pace to the finish line”
Mayer went on to take the checkered flag winning by a healthy 10.897 seconds and setting a new lap record in this class and commenting, “it was such an emotional moment for me because after all the hard work been put in by me training with KOKORO PERFORMANCE and all the efforts and support from my entire family and friends it just meant the absolute world to me. But this is just the beginning of it all.”
Max’s focus is now on round 5 at the daunting Spa-Francorchamps in the Ardennes in Belgium “I’m looking for to getting back in the car with Simon Butler and doing our best to be at the top, now it’s time to prepare well on the sim and also physically, I can’t wait!”
