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Contact: Ed Triolo
Dick Barbour Racing Director, Communications A Weekend Of Highs And A Low look at pictures from Jarama Circuito del Jarama, Spain (May 20, 2001) – Few people save perhaps Dick Barbour himself expected the results to come so quickly:
 Dick Barbour sent his team across the Atlantic to run two European Le Mans Series (ELMS) races and tackle Le Mans itself. While that was clearly a challenge, given the fact that the program only began about 80 days ago, the team has risen to the steep challenge by delivering results like the ones above.Today at Jarama, Didier de Radiguès started on pole for the LMP 675 class and together with the skill of his co-driver Eric van de Poele and a very fast Reynard 01Q – Judd V-8, he was able to enjoy the fruits of victory in the LMP 675 class and the extra satisfaction of "splitting" the dominant German Audi R8 in the final results. But just as there were high highs like beating one of the "untouchable" Audis, there was the low resulting from the demise of the number 57 car driven by Milka Duno and John Graham. With Graham wheeling the car from the green flag, an electrical fault ended their afternoon after just 5 laps. But by the mid-point of the race, quick pit work, good fuel economy and fast, steady drives by de Radiguès and van de Poele put the team in fourth place – in other words, within range of a podium finish. As Didier said in the post-race press conference, "Sometimes you just need to be lucky." True enough, but part of Didier's luck came by way of setting the fastest race lap in class (good for an extra championship point). Another major chunk of luck came in the form of a failed brake caliper on the Johansson-Smith Audi that went from the lead into the garage just before the two-hour mark. That meant that Eric van de Poele who had by then taken over fourth overall moved up a notch to third, while Dindo Capello and Tom Kristenson in the number 1 Audi inherited the lead ahead of their teammates, Emmanuelle Pirro and Frank Biela. But after Guy Smith returned to the fray after the repairs to his Audi, he pushed hard as he could to recapture the podium position from van de Poele. At the end of the day, the speed of the Reynard-Judd in Eric's hands was fast enough to keep a three-lap cushion at the checkered flag. With just a few minutes left in the race and the "little" Reynard in a solid podium position, the call, "Time to go to the wall?" crackled over the team radios as the crew chief sent the entire squad out to wave van de Poele by on his victory lap. Dick Barbour Racing is back on top! Race Results ELMS Jarama, May 20, 2000
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