Dome's F1 stars undeterred

The Dutch-run Dome developed clutch problems early on during the first practice day requiring a lengthy change, which cost Wilson and Firman valuable acclimatisation time. The team had hoped to make that time up in the following four hours of final practice yesterday (Thursday), but a broken valve spring killed the Judd engine further hindering the Le Mans rookie's progress. They eventually qualified 10th, two places behind Lammers' sister car.

Despite all of this, Lammers reckons that both the Brits have proved with their limited laps that they are on a similar level to himself (driving alongside rookies Chris Dyson and Katsumoto Kaneishi) and Coronel for pace, and thinks that they have a realistic shot at racing the Zytek and Pescarolo teams for best of the rest behind the Audis.

"Tom [Coronel] obviously knows the car and he knows Le Mans," said Lammers, "Justin [Wilson] and Ralf [Firman] haven't done a lot of running, but they seem to like the car and they seem to like the track. They are already doing things it would take some guys two or three years to do.

"Tom, Justin, Ralph and myself can all run a similar pace. My car will be the conservative car, or at least I'd like to think so. They can just be quick and there is no reason why they should drop back. If everything is working fine they should be able to just race and not break it even if they want to. So best of the rest is a realistic aim."

Lammers believes that the F1 experience Wilson and Firman have will help them deal with the lack of running they have had in the car. "That experience is desperately needed now of course!" he said. "I am now even more delighted that we have guys like that in the car. We are very lucky.

"The drivers reputations speak for themselves, they are doing an excellent job in the car. They have gelled together on and off the track and they are wonderful characters which has given the team a great boost."

Wilson himself believes there is much more to come: "I know I am a long way from my limit. But a lot of the time in practice you are running at night and I have not yet been able to match my times from testing. I know that in some places I am still braking too early, but it will be much easier to pick the pace up in the race when we are running in traffic and can get into a rhythm.

"It's been frustrating, but I am loving every minute of Le Mans. The circuit is awesome and the cars are pretty quick. But just like anything, you need to have time in the car to be able to get the maximum from it, but I think we can do a good job if the car doesn't have problems."

The one variable which will have an effect on the team's performance, which has been traditionally that of fastest non-Audi, is switch of tyre supplier from Michelin to Dunlop. Lammers admits that, over a race distance, he is not sure how Dunlop will match up to the French rubber.

"We have made some progress in some areas with the Dunlop tyres to make them work around our car," said Lammers. "The development programme is still very young, it's only been six months. During the pre-qualifying test we had an uprgrade that was a step forward. We need another two or three of those stages.

"I think the relationship with Dunlop is working well. I don't know what the difference is between the Michelin and Dunlop over a race distance, but the tyres are significantly different from last year. So yeah, bearing all that in mind, we are pretty pleased that we can still run close to the top ten."