After the testing we did two weeks before the race at Petit Le Mans, we were really looking forward to the race as we found a huge amount of grip with the resurfaced Road Atlanta. But, when we got out onto the track for the race weekend, it was like.... where's the grip gone?
It seemed to have an impact on everyone, as we were all looking to change the set-up of the cars. The Penske Porsches were the only cars that were close to the testing pace, as even Audi were scratching their heads. Ay Highcroft, we were struggling to find any grip as nothing we tried had any effect, so we just chipped away at it.
The competition was really tough as some of the top European teams were there for the race. The morning of qualifying was wet and Highcroft new boy Robbie Kerr was sent out first to try the car and track for the first time in the wet. He was in the top three while he was out there, but then hit a puddle and crashed. This meant we missed the practice session and went into qualifying with a bit of a guess on set-up. It was a shame for Robbie as he was doing a great job. but he just got caught out by the conditions, while the set-up we had didn't help either.
So into the qualifying we went and, the way things were going, we reckoned we were going to be lucky to get into the top eight. I did the session and put all my Road Atlanta experience into the lap to go fifth. This was as good as it was going to get as the Audis and Penskes were too quick for us, but we managed to outdo everyone else. We have had a great battle all year with Andretti Green and, at the last two races, they had out-qualified us, but we were back on top at Petit and that felt good.
![Stefan Johansson - Highcroft Racing Courage-Acura ARZ-01a [pic credit: Highcroft Racing]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/384681.jpg)
