The American manufacturer expressed satisfaction with the run on Thursday and Friday with Romain Dumas and Franck Mailleux driving the Pipo-engined 007 LMH FIA World Endurance Championship contender.
Marque boss Jim Glickenhaus revealed that the focus on the first day was on calibrating the car’s electronics before extended running began on day two.
“On the first day we had to work out the software, which was complicated because with COVID neither the guys from Bosch nor Xtrac [respectively responsible for the car’s electronics and gearbox] could travel and we had to establish remote data lines,” he told Motorsport.com.
“But on Friday we just kept lapping, lapping and lapping. Romain told me and he has been involved with bigger manufacturers than us who couldn’t do four laps in two days.”
Glickenhaus believes that the team “learned a lot” over the course of the test.
“We only did 20 laps on the first day, but we completed around about 100 on day two,” he said. “We were able to test all those things you need to, like the clutch and the launch control, and we did some good set-up work.”
Glickenhaus explained that the first test of the car had to be pushed back from early February as a result of delays in the arrival of parts caused by the world health crisis, as well as Brexit.
That has resulted in Glickenhaus Racing opting to miss the scheduled opening round of the 2021 WEC at the Algarve circuit on April 4 because it doesn’t want to homologate the 007 until it is properly tested.
“It is very important that we get the car right so that when we start racing it’s good, because once homologate it’s locked for five years,” he said. “I am playing the long game here, especially now that Ferrari has said it is showing up in 2023.
“Nothing is going to make me happier than to go and race Ferrari at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023, but I want to make sure I have the best car possible.”
Glickenhaus is planning a high-speed test at Monza in early March and then a 30-hour endurance test at the Aragon circuit in Spain in mid-April.
Asked if the team will be ready for the second WEC round on the current schedule at Spa on May 1, Glickenhaus replied: “We will be there — I would say after the 30-hour test we will be ready to homologate the car.”