Murphy Prototypes sets the pace at Silverstone ELMS

Starting the #48 Hertz Car Sales Oreca 03 Nissan from row two on the grid, Murphy Prototypes were looking very strong for the opening round of the 2014 European Le Mans Series race at Silverstone.Rodolfo Gonzalez started the race for the Irish team and by the first corner had moved into second position. However from lap two onwards, their weekend would become more challenging as the team were handed a stop and go penalty for a jump-start. Opting to take the penalty straight away, Rodolfo returned to the track in ninth position and set about working his way back up the order. Approaching the end of his stint, the team received yet another blow that would ultimately ruin their podium chances with a puncture. Gonzalez brought the Hertz Car Sales machine back to the pits as carefully as he could but the damaged bodywork meant the team had to bring the car into the garage for further repairs.Alex Kapadia took over driving duties after Alan McGarrity (Team Manager) and his team performed a superb repair job on the car. Returning to the track in 28th position, Alex began what would become a double stint in the car. Kapadia put on a blistering display setting the fastest lap of the race during his time in the car and was the fastest car on the circuit for the majority of his double stint.Coming into the final hour of the race, the safety car was deployed to aid the recovery of the stricken Jota Sport Zytek. Alex quickly pitted the #48 Oreca 03 Nissan to hand over to Karun Chandhok for the final stint. When the race finally got back under way with 21 minutes to go, Karun with fresh tyres and a healthy fuel load immediately set a very quick pace with four fastest laps in row and ultimately recording the fastest lap of the race overtaking his teammate Kapadia's time. Crossing the finish line after four hours, Chandhok brought the Hertz Car Sales Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03 Nissan home in eighth position.

Once again Murphy Prototypes have proven themselves as the fastest LMP2 team in the championship with one of the strongest driver combinations.

Karun Chandhok, #48:“It was a really frustrating day to be honest as we had the pace to win. I had four fastest laps in a row and Rodolfo and Alex had really good pace. Rodolfo had a puncture which unfortunately came without warning and destroyed a lot of the bodywork, so that was it and put us out of contention. It’s a shame but at least we know we are quick and hopefully we can go to Imola and Le Mans with a lot of confidence and hopefully get a result there.”

Alex Kapadia, #48:“So the race here at Silverstone was a mixed bag for us really. Rodolfo had some bad luck getting the stop and go penalty and then the puncture put us down quite a bit before my stint. I had a really good stint myself, we had nothing to loose by that point, so I was just going for it and making sure I wasn’t wasting any time behind people in traffic. I managed to hand the car over to Karun with the fastest lap of the race. So it was a really good race for us but just didn’t get the result and luck we deserved.”

Rodolfo Gonzalez, #48:“I think my first stint was not too bad, we were running mostly in P2 chasing the leader. Unfortunately there was a bit of confusion at the start as I got a penalty for the start, and we got a stop and go penalty, which was pretty surprising. After the penalty it was just a case to keep going and make up the gap. We came out in P9 and made it back up to P4 closing on P3. But then arriving into Copse, the front tyre exploded. It was really frustrating, as I didn’t get any feedback from the car as to what the tyre condition was. We ended up doing some damage to the bodywork on the way into the pits as the delamination was pretty aggressive, so we had to repair the car. We have to take the positive from here, we had good pace all weekend and hopefully we can go to Imola and be strong there."


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