Le
Mans Endurance Series 2005
Round 4. Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers. September 3rd - 4th
2005
Weekend Report
LMES
- Nurburgring - RML Weekend Report
Practice
& Qualifying
The RML MG Lola EX264 was the star of LMP2 at the Nurburgring,
for last weekend’s fourth round LMES race; quickest in every
practice session, class pole in qualifying, and fastest
race lap by some margin, but once again the team’s first
championship win eluded them. Their consolation must be
that everyone else with a chance at the title has also endured
some bad luck this season, and with one round to go, RML
stands just three points away from the title, with everything
to play for. By rights, of course, they could have had it
wrapped up by now, but this is endurance racing and, like
every other branch of motorsport, anything can happen.
That
the MG was going to be a strong contender around the fluid
curves and stabbing straights of the Nurburgring became
evident right from the start. To see Erdos setting a best
of 1:49.905 on Friday afternoon, and finish the day fifth
quickest overall, was to witness a master at work. The Brazilian
readily admitted that the nimble Lola chassis is perfectly
suited to the German track, but he was making the most of
it. “The car just works so well around here,” he enthused.
“The short straights and tight corners, with excellent braking
areas, simply benefit the car, and we know it always runs
well on twisty circuits.” Even allowing for the fact that
some of the MG’s closest rivals missed the faster of the
day’s sessions, Erdos was the best part of two seconds clear
in LMP2.
Proof
that this was no flash in the pan came on Saturday, with
the MG once again comfortably quickest in LMP2, claiming
class pole with a best of 1:48.223. That came on just his
second flying lap, throwing Erdos and the #25 MG straight
to the top of the overall times before the fastest of the
LMP1 cars started to get into their stride. Obstructed on
his next lap, Erdos then managed a 48.355 before deciding
that saving his tyres for the race was a more worthwhile
enterprise. He sat out the remainder of the session, content
to see a second’s daylight between his best and next up
in LMP2, Sam Hancock in the Binnie Motorsport Lola B05/40.
With Didier Theys and the Horag Lista car third, it was
a good session for Lola, although Bob Berridge was having
problems in the normally front-running Chamberlain-Synergy
car to spoil a Huntingdon factory lockout. The result suited
Erdos perfectly, however. “The car has been very quick all
week,” he suggested, “and this puts us in an excellent position
for the race. I’m really looking forward to it!”
The
Race
Being right up there amid the LMP1 cars would give Erdos
an opportunity to consolidate his class position early in
the race, provided everything went smoothly over the opening
few laps. In the end, it couldn’t have gone better. While
there was some snapping and changing right at the very front,
Erdos found just the space he needed as the pack thundered
down the main straight and headed into Turn One. “I was
right there at the front of the pack. When you come into
a corner as tight as Turn One at Nurburgring, you have to
be conscious of getting your braking just right. I didn’t
want to get involved in anyone’s accident, so I was watching
those around me very closely. I had McNish on my left, Barbosa
on the right. When I went on the brakes, Barbosa was beside
me, and maybe braked a little late, and McNish had gone
wide and deep, off to the left. I found a perfect gap right
through the middle, so I went for it!”
That
put him into fourth place overall, at least for the time
being. “Allan came back at me towards the end of the lap.
I knew he’d be coming through at some point, and I wasn’t
going to fight it, so I let him through. On the other hand,
I also didn’t want to be so conservative that I’d fall back
into the thick of it again, so I kept pushing hard to try
and find some space; string it out a bit, and avoid the
mêlée that I knew would be developing just behind me.” John
Stack, caught in the middle of that mêlée, would spin out
the Jota Zytek at Turn One and encourage an early appearance
by the safety car, but it would only last a lap, and then
racing resumed once more.
The
push by Erdos left Barbosa, driving first stint in the Rollcentre
Dallara, some three seconds adrift inside a couple of laps,
and allowed the LMP2 leader to close down on Cochet in the
works Courage, but it was only a temporary assertion. “I’d
started to encounter a little too much understeer, so I
eased off after three or four laps just enough to save the
tyres. We wanted them to last two stints,” explained Erdos.
That allowed Barbosa to catch up again, and set up an entertaining
battle for fifth that would last for the best part of twenty
minutes. “In the end I wasn’t going to fend him off for
ever,” continued Erdos. “He was in an LMP1 car, and he’s
a very good driver, so I was happy to let him through in
the end.” A couple of laps later he’d have to do the same
again, as Hayanari Shimoda came blasting through in the
Zytek 04S; fastest in qualifying but denied pole when the
car failed the stall test in scrutineering. Far and away
the fastest thing on four wheels, the Japanese driver had
sliced through more than thirty cars in less than ten laps,
only to deny Erdos of sixth on lap thirteen. “He may have
started from the back of the gird, but that car is just
so quick!” said Erdos in admiration. “ I saw him coming
and let him through. I wasn’t about to argue!”
With
Shimoda’s thrust through to fourth, some degree of stability
was established at the sharp end of the race. Collard had
taken the lead in the #17 Pescarolo on lap fourteen, narrowly
demoting Minassian to second in traffic, while McNish was
eleven seconds behind in third. The gap to Shimoda stood
at about half a lap at this stage, although that was narrowing
steadily, while the margins between Cochet, Barbosa, Erdos
and Theys – the latter eighth overall and second in LMP2
- had settled down to an even ten seconds apiece. Not until
the onset of the first scheduled pitstops, roughly an hour
into the race, would that change. First to go was Barbosa,
pitting on lap twenty-seven, followed by Collard, then Cochet,
McNish, Minassian and finally, on lap thirty-two, Erdos.
The
first RML pitstop was perfection. The tyres had survived
well and would last another stint, Erdos was staying on
board, and the only requirement was fuel. In a matter of
moments the MG was back out and racing, having picked up
a place in the process thanks to a slower stop by the #13
Courage. Another losing time was Collard, the Pescarolo
needing swift repairs to the back end and costing the Frenchman
the lead. Indeed, McNish would emerge out front after this
first round of stops with two seconds over Minassian; Collard
was trailing thirty seconds down the road in third.
The
situation in LMP2 was pretty clear at this stage. With Erdos
typically lapping one-and-a-half seconds faster than anyone
else in the class, the MG’s lead was extending steadily.
By lap 42 it would stand at 17 seconds, and finally lengthen
to nearly a minute as the race entered its second hour.
“After I went back out, I was able to keep on building up
the lead. The gap just kept going up and up and up each
lap. I was still pushing fairly hard! We were in a really
good position” On lap 55 Erdos would finally move back ahead
of the #8 Rollcentre Dallara, as the LMP1 car headed for
the pitlane, almost out of fuel. The fuel-efficient MG,
by contrast, would manage another eight laps before the
call came for Erdos to end his second stint, and hand over
to Mike Newton. “Coming into the pits we had a minute’s
lead over P2, and I believed we had a good enough cushion
to be on for a win,” was Erdos’s initial thought.
The
pitstop began well enough, with Mike Newton, fresh tyres
and a full load of fuel all safely and quickly installed,
but when Jakey gave Mike the signal to restart the V8, nothing
happened. It wasn’t a case that the engine wouldn’t fire
– it wouldn’t even turn over. Under the regulations, a car
must restart unaided. No quick fix with a slave battery,
no push-start along the pitlane. It has to fire up on the
button, and the RML MG EX264 was clearly not about to comply.
Within a heartbeat the engine cover of the car was whipped
off. A few beats later and it was heading backwards into
the garage, where more of the RML personnel could get to
work finding and correcting the problem. With two starter
motors, it seemed unlikely that these were the fault, but
as yet we still don’t know exactly what caused the process
to fail – maybe a lead, but certainly something that was
able to affect both units. It cost the team an extra eleven
minutes, and four laps on the LMP2 lead.
When
Mike Newton resumed the race it was from 21st overall, seventh
in LMP2, but he set about the challenge with gusto. Despite
being in the thick of the traffic, Newton was setting a
sprightly pace, clocking off lap after lap in the one-fifty-seven
or eight bracket, and certainly fast enough to start making
up ground on those ahead of him. Initially the places came
regularly, every couple of laps or so, as he tailed the
recovering #18 Rollcentre Dallara through the thick of the
GT1 and GT2 front-runners. Inside ten laps the MG had recovered
four places (including the Dallara) and was lying 17th overall
and fifth in LMP2, but then progress hit a rut of some kind,
mainly in the form of the #39 Chamberlain-Synergy Lola.
Although the yellow car was Newton’s next target, it was
a full lap ahead, and the MG was only gaining at the rate
of two or three seconds each tour. Twenty-two laps would
pass and the gap would narrow to around a minute, but then
the MG was due another pitstop for fuel, and how would it
fare?
The
car’s third pitstop went far better than expected, although
the starter motors were still reluctant to do their job.
A mere ten seconds or so was lost to their ill humour, enabling
Newton to be swiftly back out on track at the cost of just
one position; the Convers Ferrari 550 GT1. Problems for
Jan Lammers’ Dome gifted Newton seventeenth, and then he
had the satisfaction, not only of passing the Ferrari, but
also of moving in front of the Synergy Lola when it also
pitted for fuel. With memories of those heroic fight-backs
at Silverstone and Monza no doubt passing through their
minds, the RML guys must have been watching progress on
the screens and praying for another miraculous recovery.
Twenty dogged laps later, Mike’s stint came to an end as
he headed back down the pitlane from an impressive 14th
overall, a previously unlikely-looking fourth in LMP2. “Mike
drove really well all weekend, and there’s no doubt that,
had we not had those starter problems, he’d have maintained
our lead,” said his co-driver. “Even so, Mike had a huge
deficit to make up, and he did a great job to get us back
up to fourth.”
The
next of what would be five pitstops for RML revealed ongoing
problems in the starter motor department. Wise to the fault,
the team was able to minimize the additional delay to a
mere twenty seconds, but each passing breath must have seemed
like an eternity to the frustrated Erdos, keen to get back
out and continue the charge. Once confidently back in the
driving seat, he set about his duties with typical verve.
A succession of rapid laps, several running close to qualifying
pace, soon had the MG eating into the deficit, but there
was a mountain of lost laps to climb. He did manage to pick
off a few places, including the Convers Ferrari (again!)
and the BMS 550 #51, but it was electrical problems for
the #35 Renstal de Bokkenrijders G-Force Courage that finally
gave RML third in LMP2.
A
ding-dong battle raged between the Horag Lista Lola and
the #37 Belmondo Courage for the lead in the class over
the next twenty or thirty laps, but with a six-lap deficit,
Erdos had no realistic hope of joining in. Within the overall
standings, however, he had one more move to make before
his final pitstop, taking the Aston Martin #62 for twelfth
position before heading down the pitlane for fuel. The leading
Audi was just completing its 166th lap, with Erdos on 153,
and the race was about to enter its final hour. Unfortunately,
just as it had during the second pitstop, the MG’s restart
would not go smoothly. For the second time the car would
be drawn backwards into the garage, allowing the crew to
work on the starter motors and encourage the engine back
into life. It cost a further twelve minutes and another
five laps but, as luck would have it (for once!) Erdos was
given the green light just in time to rejoin the race a
lap ahead of the delayed G Force Courage. Third in LMP2
was still RML’s for the taking, provided the last stint
went smoothly.
Out
at the head of the class, the battle raged on. While Erdos
had been languishing in the pitlane, the #27 Lola had just
had the edge over the #37 Courage, but within a handful
of his coming back out on track, the roles had been reversed,
with the Belmondo car snatching back the lead once more.
For ten laps the French car held sway, easing away just
a tad from the chasing Lola, but on lap 175 disaster struck
the #37 in the form of some unforgiving barriers. Did the
suspension break before or after the impact? Hard to tell,
but whatever the cause, the effect was to send the car limping
slowly back to the pitlane. Was it terminal? Excitement
and anticipation was rife in the RML garage, as Thomas Erdos
started to reel in the nine-lap deficit. By the time the
Courage had been stationery for five laps, the chances of
picking up second place suddenly looked possible. “That
gave us a glimmer of hope,” said Erdos. Having been circulating
in the modest one-fifty-threes, the MG’s pace picked up,
with Erdos pushing hard to cover as much ground as possible.
“I was lapping strongly again – near to the LMP1 pace, perhaps,”
he suggested. “I was trying as hard as I could to make up
the ground.” Then, with the gap down to four laps, the #37
appeared on track again. It wasn’t perfect, as smoke from
the rear testified, but it was moving. It was also gathering
speed. After a hesitant first lap, the car began clocking
two-oh-fives, and while Erdos was ten seconds or more quicker
on each circuit of the track, making up so much with less
than half an hour to go was a tall and unrealistic order.
In
the end Erdos pulled back another lap on the Courage, but
had to be satisfied with fifteenth overall, third in class,
when the flag dropped at the end of a classic and truly
thrilling race. “What on Earth do we have to do to finish
higher than third!” said an incredulous Mike Newton. It
does seem hard to believe that a team that is evidently
the best in its class can encounter such consistent misfortune,
and nobody can accuse RML of being anything less than the
most accomplished at what they do. Thomas Erdos, although
happy to have salvaged a good clutch of points and another
podium, was understandably disappointed not to have done
better. “It was all looking so very good,” he said. “The
car was going more than just OK, it was fantastic. Everything
was working together so well - the engine never missed a
beat, the tyres were unbelievable, and the handling was
superb. I couldn’t have asked for more from a car. We built
up a lead of more than a minute during those first two stints,
which is some indication of how well it was running.” Unfortunately,
those elusive electrical gremlins would deny the team a
richly deserved win. “We lost so many laps with the starter
motor,” shrugged the Brazilian. “Maybe ten or twelve laps
altogether, and that made it impossible for us to recover
the ground. After all that, perhaps we should be very pleased
that we were able to come through to a podium position at
the end, but we could, perhaps should, have won.”
Although
RML has been without doubt the class act of LMP2 this season,
no one other car has been able to capitalise on the MG’s
missed opportunities, and the championship remains wide
open as the LMES heads towards its final showdown at Istanbul,
two months away in November. “We’re second in the championship,
behind the Belmondo car, so there’s still a chance,” admitted
Erdos. “This result has had a major impact as far as the
championship is concerned, and it’s all down to the wire
now at Istanbul. Being only three points behind gives us
something to try for. The car is brilliant, Mike is driving
better and with more confidence than ever, and the whole
team is working together so well. We can feel pumped up
now, and take the fight to the Berridge and Belmondo cars
when we arrive in Istanbul.”
To
be sure of taking the LMP2 title, RML must win in Turkey,
and the Chamberlain-Synergy Lola has to finish third or
lower. It’s not impossible. “They’re long races – the length
of three grands prix,” points out Erdos. “As we’ve already
seen, things can go wrong, so nothing’s ever certain.” It
should be a thrilling finalé.
Marcus
Potts
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