Liz Halliday enjoyed a successful penultimate round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship in Dubai, finishing a strong seventh overall, with British team-mate Justin Keen. The two drivers equalled their best finish of the year with the Lister works team, after identical results at Monza in April and Brno in June.
After the race, a delighted Halliday said: “This is a great result, not just for me and Justin but for the Lister team as well. We had a trouble-free weekend, the car ran very well, the team did an excellent job and the Dunlop tyres were perfect. We have equalled our best performances of the year so far and I am very pleased with our pace over the weekend.”
Despite a lack of technical problems, it was not an easy race for the 26 year-old American sportswoman: “On race day, the outside temperature was not too bad, only about 28 degrees Celsius! However, when I took over from Justin after his first stint, around 50 minutes into the race, I realised that the cool shirt system was not working properly. Not what you want when you are racing in Dubai! Normally I don’t drink much during races, but this time, after only three laps, I started to get very thirsty and I was desperate for fluids. So I went for the water bottle but found that it wasn’t working properly either. I knew then that I was in for a tough stint!”
Halliday continued: “I continued on and did my best to focus on the race, rather than the heat. I stayed out of trouble and maintained our eighth position overall. After about forty minutes inside the car, I was seriously hot and beginning to feel dizzy and sick. I knew it was not going to get easier, and was really concerned that I would start making mistakes, so I decided it was safer to head back to the pits earlier than planned and hand the car back over to Justin. I did not want to take the risk of jeopardising the race for the team.”
Liz returned to the pits and her team-mate took over until the chequered flag. Halliday said: “I came back into the pits holding 8th position overall. Justin put in an impressive and quick drive; by the end of the race we had moved up to 7th overall, which is a great result for everyone.”
Liz enjoyed her first race in Dubai and would love to compete there again in the near future: “The Dubai circuit is simply fabulous. The layout and length of the circuit makes it quite physical; you need to work pretty hard in the car. There are a lot of different style of corners and elevation changes, which make it a great track to drive. Probably one of the best I have ever driven, in fact. The facilities are very good and the developers have done a really good job of it. I hope I can race again here one day. There was a good crowd watching the race and the atmosphere all weekend was very friendly and exciting.”
Liz Halliday now plans to enjoy the Middle East climate for a few days before heading to Bahrain for the final race of the 2005 FIA GT Championship: “It looks like winter has definitely arrived in Europe, so I will enjoy the great local weather and work on my tan! We are travelling to Bahrain on Tuesday, as the first practice session is on Wednesday. I hope that we can perform well again and finish the season on a high, with an even better result than in Dubai.”
