Le Mans Series rookie Andy Meyrick endured a tough opening round to the 2009 LMS championship this weekend, with an eventful race at the Barcelona circuit in Spain.  With little time to familiarise himself with the track before racing began, Meyrick was on a steep learning curve ahead of the first race.  Any hopes of a positive race result were dashed however, when Meyrick\'s team mate Michael Krumm was hit in the number 14 car early on in the race. 

Having only completed 19 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya before race day, Meyrick took to the track for free practice on Sunday.  Encouraged by his lap times and the car\'s set up, the 22 year-old racer had high hopes for the race ahead.  Team mate Michael Krumm was the first driver to race the number 14 car.  Lying in seventh place in the early stages of the race, the team looked in good shape until Krumm was hit from behind and forced off track. 

Stranded in the gravel trap, the team expected the Audi R10 TDi to be pulled back onto the track by track officials so it could return to the pits – in line with LMS regulations.  However, confusion among the marshals led to the car being left off on track for nearly 20 minutes until Krumm was able to gain the necessary assistance and limp back to the pits.  With over 30 minutes of repairs needed to the damaged car, the team\'s chances of a good race result were over. 

With the car finally fixed and running again, Krumm returned to the track, before handing over to Meyrick to complete his first racing laps in the LMS.  Despite there being no chance of a strong race result, Meyrick pushed hard to put in a number of consistently quick laps to match a number of the LMP1 runners on his debut.  With over 60 laps completed, Meyrick handed over to Charles Zwolsman who took the car to the chequered flag.

Reflecting on the weekend, Meyrick said, \"It was a very difficult weekend in many ways, we didn\'t have the pace we expected in qualifying and the accident early on in the race effectively ended our weekend.  On the positive side I learnt so much and had a great time in the car.  The championship, the level of racing and the level of competition is incredible and from that perspective I can\'t wait to get in the car again and show what I\'m really capable of.\"

Meyrick will next be on track for the second round of the championship at Spa-Francorchamps from 8 – 10 May.