Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 1. Catalunya 1000 Kilometres. April 5th-6th 2008
Friday Review
Friday
Practice
This
was not an easy day for the guys at RML, and Phil Barker,
team manager, summed it up succinctly. “We’re
a bit on the back foot after today,” he admitted.
“From now on, we’re playing catch up.”
They’ve been there before, and they’ve come
through with colours flying, but it was not the start to
their 2008 campaign that the team had anticipated.
First
Free Practice
When the stream of nearly fifty cars poured
out at the end of the pitlane to begin the day’s first
Free Practice session at 11:45, Tommy was there with the
best, and within a few minutes was topping the class with
the quickest first flyer in LMP2. It looked very encouraging,
although 1:42.414 was not, by subsequent standards, a quick
time.
As
is RML convention, Tommy completed just three full exploratory
laps, then returned to the pits. It was enough for the team
to know that, belying the state of the timing screens (where
the MG stood a lofty sixth overall) things underneath the
car’s svelte bodywork were not running as smoothly
as they should. Dragged backwards into the garage, it was
another ten minutes before the MG returned to the track,
by which time Tommy had fallen backwards down the rankings
and disappeared onto the second screen – the one nobody
could see.
It was a frustrating time for everyone,
with nobody able to follow progress by any cars except the
top fifteen. Luckily, Tommy was soon to come through with
a new best of 1:39.821. That was good enough for the top
screen and 7th in LMP2, but several seconds adrift of the
new class-leading best from Jan Lammers. The Dutchman in
the new Van Merksteijn Porsche RS Spyder, #27, had moved
into fifth overall. Seconds later, Jos Verstappen went quicker
in the similar, purple-liveried #34.
Others
showing well in LMP2 at this stage were Michael Vergers
(Barazi Zytek) and Olivier Pla (ASM Lola), while Caspar
Elgaard (who has a birthday tomorrow, Saturday) was just
able to edge Tommy down a peg with a mid-session 1:38.523
in the #31 Porsche.
A red flag half an hour in brought the session
the a brief halt, but practice resumed shortly afterwards,
with Verstappen immediately moving to third quickest overall
in the #34 LMP2 Porsche on 1:34.008, just behind the pair
of LMP1 Peugeot 908s – until Allan McNish slotted
the #1 Audi R10 neatly in between the two. In some respects,
it was mildly encouraging for RML when Olivier Pla pushed
the ASM Lola #40 into 6th, just behind second R10, with
1:36.422 rapid enough to claim second fastest in LMP2. As
long-term rivals – for three seasons – it did
suggest that, once whatever ailment blighted the MG was
sorted, Tommy could mount a challenge.
As it was, however, the session ended with
the MG lying mid-field in LMP2, a best of 1:38.687 an uncharacteristic
four seconds off the class pace.
“It’s
still early days yet for us,” insisted the Brazilian
with a wry grin. “We started with a fairly conservative
set-up, so we’re not unduly concerned by lap times
at the moment. We’re just working away steadily at
getting the car dialled-in for the track, and being sensible
with the new engine. As soon as the AER guys give us the
thumbs up, and they’re 100% confident that we’re
sorted, we’ll go for it!”
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 1
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
34 |
4 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Mekrksteijn/Verstappen |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:34.008 |
| 2 |
40 |
8 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:36.422 |
| 3 |
31 |
9 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:36.844 |
| 4 |
27 |
10 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:36.860 |
| 5 |
32 |
11 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers |
Zytek
07S |
1:37.086 |
| 6 |
33 |
12 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:37.321 |
| 7 |
25 |
18 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:38.687 |
| 8 |
46 |
20 |
Embassy
Racing |
Kane/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:39.773 |
| 9 |
44 |
22 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:40.602 |
| 10 |
45 |
23 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Haberfield |
WF01
Zytek |
1:41.092 |
| 11 |
35 |
24 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:41.266 |
| 12 |
26 |
26 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:41.976 |
| 13 |
30 |
27 |
Racing
Box |
Didaio/Francioni/Savoldi |
Lucchini
Judd |
1:43.937 |
Second
Free Practice
Quarter
to three, and the day’s second session got under way.
The team had worked tirelessly during the lunch-break, and
now it was Mike’s turn to spend time refreshing his
acquaintance with the Barcelona circuit. He spent the best
part of forty minutes on track, and was knocking on the
door of the 1:45s by the time he finished his stint, and
handed the MG back to Thomas Erdos. “That was hard
work,” he said. “I was having to drive my heart
out, just to get a forty-four four.” This was as much
due to old tyres as a below-par contribution from the engine,
but it hardly raised the general mood.
With
only a few minutes of the session remaining, there was time
enough for a couple of quick flyers, and 1:38.054 was the
best – and enough to make the MG one of a minority
of cars to go quicker in the afternoon than it had in the
morning. Others also going quicker included the two Embassy
WFO1 Zyteks (below) and Michael Vergers in the
Barazi Epsilon Zytek.
This
promising sign gave RML AD Group fourth-fastest time in
LMP2 for the afternoon, but Phil Barker was far from satisfied.
“That session was blighted with further engine management
problems, just as we’d had been this morning,”
he explained. “We’ve lost a lot of track time,
and it’s put us on the back foot. We’ll be playing
catch-up from now on.”
The
team started to make good that promise by working late into
the night. The crew, together with the engine technicians
from AER, stayed in the garage, working on the MG, long
after most teams had headed back to their hotels. The fruits
of their labours will be witnessed in Saturday’s final
practice session, and then qualifying.
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 2
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
32 |
8 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers |
Zytek
07S |
1:36.367 |
| 2 |
31 |
11 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:36.859 |
| 3 |
34 |
13 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Mekrksteijn/Verstappen |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:37.039 |
| 4 |
25 |
15 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:38.054 |
| 5 |
33 |
16 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:38.172 |
| 6 |
27 |
19 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:39.054 |
| 7 |
45 |
20 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Haberfield |
WF01
Zytek |
1:39.726 |
| 8 |
40 |
21 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:40.727 |
| 9 |
44 |
22 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:40.843 |
| 10 |
35 |
23 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:40.937 |
| 11 |
26 |
24 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:40.977 |
| 12 |
46 |
25 |
Embassy
Racing |
Kane/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:41.024 |
| 13 |
30 |
27 |
Racing
Box |
Didaio/Francioni/Savoldi |
Lucchini
Judd |
1:44.000 |
| 14 |
41 |
30 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen |
Zytek
07S |
1:46.437 |
| 15 |
37 |
48 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:56.812 |
In
Tribute
RML's
MG Lola is one of two cars known to be carrying tributes
to those who died in last Sunday's Farnborough plane crash.
Black bands have been added to the twin roll-hoops on the
#25 car and a Saltire flag positioned on both sides in respect
to David Leslie, who raced with RML over the course of many
years during the 1980s and 1990s and is much missed by everyone
within the organisation.
The
Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo Judd also carries the names
of all five victims of the tragedy on a panel fixed to the
front dive-plane of the LMP1 prototype. Team boss Martin
Short was a personal friend of David's and an admirer of
Richard Lloyd.
The
third Free Practice session is scheduled for 09:45 tomorrow.
There
are high resolution images posted in the Barcelona
Gallery.
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