News
Brake problem denies Walker semi-final shot
27/06/2010
Liverpool’s James Walker will line up sixth for tomorrow’s first Superleague Formula by Sonangol race at the Nurburgring, but it could have been even better for the reigning champions.
Walker’s considerable experience of the former German Grand Prix venue was apparent in the opening knockout stages where the Jerseyman produced an excellent effort to make the top four and book his place in the knockout stages.
But a brake problem on the warm-up lap of his quarter final against RSC Anderlecht highlighted a problem with the Reds’ car’s brakes which ended any hope he might have harboured of progressing further.
“We were quick in the first session, which was really close,” said Walker. “The car was fine but something happened in the 15-20 minutes between our group and the knockout stages. I think we lost the rear brakes.
“The team pushed me out of the garage, asked me to stop and my foot went straight to the floor. Obviously with the rules as they are you’ve got to complete a lap so we were hoping that if they’d overheated, the air would cool them on the out-lap, but it didn’t help. I think we had 99% brake bias to the front! There was just no chance of even trying a quick lap.
“Overall we’re P6 which is somewhere where we can race and overtake. Nurburgring is also somewhere I know well, which is a change compared to where we’ve been in the last few races.”
