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Lola star unfazed by Silverstone heartbreak

Didier de Radigues hopes to bounce back from Silverstone heartbreak by beating the works teams at the Le Mans 24 Hours

The Rafanelli team Lola dominated the Silverstone European Le Mans Series race, running quickest in all sessions and leading the race. However, when a throttle cable snapped their efforts came to nought.

Nevertheless, de Radigues is determined to bounce back from the disappointment, and feels Le Mans may be the place to do it.

"It was only 8 laps - when it is so bad, you have to look at the positive side because to look at the negative would be too painful!" claimed the Belgian.

"But it proves we have a very good car - better than that, even, incredible," he added.

"And it is good to beat everybody - Audi, Panoz - by so much. And I'm sure we'll have other chances to do the same.

"This is the first time I can dominate a meeting like this - every practice and qualifying session, and then the race."

The Lola B2K/10 was fourth fastest behind the works Audis at Le Mans pre-qualifying, and encouragingly, had not yet been fitted with modifications specific to the French Classic's long straights.

"It was very good in the pre-qualifying, with fourth fastest time behind the Audis even though we didn't have the aerodynamic package we will have for the race," de Radigues enthused. "There was still lots of downforce and we were very slow down the straights.

"Lola is preparing the new package, but it won't be ready until about a week before the race, so Lola will need to make a perfect job as we won't get a chance to change it," he surmised.

With the performance the Lola - still a very new car - has shown, the chance of a Rafanelli team win is a distinct possibility. In fact, the Lola may be the only car capable of taking the fight to the dominant Audi R8s.

If that turns out to be the case, De Radigues will have plenty of opportunities to look at the positive side.

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