The Creation team fought hard, recovered from technical and physical set backs and challenged for a podium position for about 85% of the race. But, with just over an hour to go in the 1,000 mile Petit Le Mans race, the Road Atlanta track caught them out. The driving team of Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB), Nicolas Minassian (F) and Harold Primat (CH) finished in fourth place behind the winning Audi of McNish and Capello, the Zytek and Highcroft Racing’s Lola.Jamie Campbell-Walter had just left the pits in full darkness, a little after 8.00pm, for his last stint of the race when he hit fluid or oil and lost control of the Creation CA06/H at turn 5 – one of the less well lit areas of the 2.54 mile track. In the time it took for him to coax the car back into life and re-enter the fray, he lost the 3rd place Creation had been holding. It was a heart-breaking moment for the whole team and, despite a spirited fight back, there was not enough time remaining in the race to claw back the position from Memo Gidley in the Highcroft Racing car. Another couple of laps might have put a different complexion on the race.A podium finish would have been a magnificent result for the British team whose assault on one of the great North American classics started from pole position. As the race went green Nic Minassian made a great start away from the two Audi R10s, and led the race until his first pit stop 33 minutes into the race. Delayed stops would prove to be something of an Achilles heel for the team, as would the need to change tyres each time the car entered the pits. The drivers gave their all throughout the race, but the physical toll was considerable. Jamie Campbell-Walter strained his back muscles badly due to loose belts, and Harold Primat suffered a problem with the car’s power steering in his first stint which, together with some discomfort in the cockpit due to his height, left him with pain down both sides of his chest.Team Principal Ian Bickerton’s disappointment at the end result was representative of the whole team. “It was great to finish a very prestigious race like this, albeit a few laps down, but I can’t pretend I’m not absolutely exasperated with the end result. This can be a very cruel business sometimes. We should have finished on the podium but we had a bit of trouble on the way. Jamie and Harold did a great job despite all the problems, and Nic was – as always – fantastic. I’m still gutted though.” Nicolas Minassian (F): “Of course it’s disappointing to not finish on the podium but that’s how it goes. It’s never good enough until you win. We just had too many little problems like the seat belts coming loose and losing 1st and 2nd gears for the last three hours of the race. It made it quite difficult coming out of the very tight corners, but it’s a tribute to the Judd engine and the amount of torque available that we could continue. The team really pulled something out of the bag to just get us to the grid after the clutch problem [on race morning] so it’s pretty good that the car lasted as it did.“I’m now thinking about Laguna and am sure we will be competitive there too. We got pole there in 2004 – now we need a good finish to round it off.”Harold Primat (CH): “We had some very interesting moments from the beginning of the race but I am delighted with the weekend overall, and happy that we finished the race. We had the potential to finish in p2; we got P4 in the end which is a shame but this is more experience for me, with a new car, new team, new team mates and a solid performance on my side. It is very good training for the final race of the championship in Laguna Seca where I will race for the first time. The Creation car is very good and I am sure I will have no trouble learning the track. I want to continue driving well and if we stay out of trouble, we have the potential to score a strong result.“I am happy with my performance in my first two stints, I think I did a solid job and kept our position on the track. I didn’t make any mistakes, despite the power steering not working properly, there was a lot of rubber on the track and the steering was very heavy. We were still p3 overall at the end of my stint so that was very encouraging.”Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB): “It was good to finish, but really unfortunate about my spin, and then to lose two more laps due to the safety car period was very hard. At the end of the day, fourth was disappointing but at least we finished. There were highs - Nic getting pole was exciting and fantastic, and we were on the lead lap for a long, long time in the race.“The seat belt problem was a really bizarre thing. I was going three abreast into the chicane, overtaking a Corvette and a GT2 car, and there’s a massive bump just before you brake. I hit the brakes and just kind of slid into the cockpit. I got through the corner and looked down and thought, ****, all the seat belts had pinged open. I waited to get onto the straight and tried to do them up myself, driving with my knee on the wheel as you need two hands, but couldn’t. I tried for two laps like that but my back started to hurt because of the sliding around in the seat and I had to come in. That was really unfortunate as it lost us a lap. At the end of my stint I got out of the car and could hardly walk because of the pain and I had chronic pins and needles in my left arm and leg. The Horag Lister team had a physio /osteopath who kindly gave me a tough going over and it appears that I’d trapped a nerve. He gave one of my legs a really hard yank and it freed everything up again and I walked out of there fine.”