Le Mans Series 2008
Round 1. Catalunya 1000 Kilometres. April 5th-6th 2008
Saturday Review

Saturday

After the disappointment of Friday, and a late-night session in the garage, RML's dedicated personnel were hoping for a marked improvement from the MG EX265 on Saturday, and the suggestion that this was going to be forthcoming arrived with the day's first action - another hour-long Free Practice session.

Free Practice 3

Qualifying

Third Free Practice

The weekend’s third free practice session got under way at 09:45, when the sun was still working to break through the light mist and the track had yet to absorb much heat. The conditions still proved to be very conducive to quick times, and not a few surprises as well.

The first of these came right at the start of the period, when Stefan Mucke suddenly appeared at the top of the screen in the new Lola Aston Martin LMP1. His time - a mere 1:33.187 - was the fastest achieved by any car at the Barcelona meeting thus far, and finally suggested that the diesel-powered prototypes might not be getting everything their own way – at least for the time being. Mucke’s time would stand as his quickest for the session, and despite the best efforts of Peugeot and Audi, only Stephane Sarrazin would better it before the hour was done.

Tommy completed his usual three exploratory laps with a best of 1:41.265 and then pitted. A few minutes later, after a quick check-up and some adjustments, he was back on track, and his first flyer was a 1:38.453. That was just half a second shy of his best from Friday afternoon, but two green markers on the timing screen at the start of his next tour signified an even quicker offering in the making. True to form, he crossed the line in 1:36.735 to move the MG into 11th overall, and a more representative fourth in LMP2.

Delayed by traffic, his next lap was markedly slower, and Tommy returned to the pits. Meanwhile, the other Lola coupé was also doing well, with Andrea Belicchi in the Speedy Sebah car heading the LMP2 class thanks to a time of 1:35.578. The Horag Racing team – switching from Lola to Porsche this season – stood second, courtesy of former Le Mans winner Jan Lammers. This left Olivier Pla holding fourth for ASM, just ahead of Erdos, and Michael Vergers in the Barazi Zytek making an improvement with a time of 1:37.266 to stand a half second behind.

When the MG appeared again, it would be with Mike Newton at the wheel. His very first flyer turned out to be his best, but 1:42.422 was an excellent opener from the AD Group CEO. He’d been quite fortunate with traffic on that lap, and from then on he found it hard to get any clear space, so his times eased, but a series of laps in the forty-three to forty-five bracket must have been satisfying.

With the session drawing towards a close several of the “big guns” were brought back into action. Jos Verstappen was one such, and he posted an improvement of 1:36.859 for the #34 Porsche to move the purple and white car ahead of the Barazi Zytek. That was for starters, and a few minutes later he’d clocked 1:34.125 to move into the class lead, and an impressive fourth overall.

Also on track, and celebrating his 30th birthday, was Caspar Elgaard in the Team Essex Porsche. A best of 1:35.875 would take the #31 car to second in class behind the Speedy Sebah Lola until Verstappen’s blinder, and these late efforts would help nudge the MG back to 16th overall, sixth in LMP2.

With about ten minutes remaining, Mike Newton steered the MG back to the pitlane, allowing Tommy one last stab at a quick time. He tried his hardest, and his first flying sector proved that, with a new green light showing a “best yet” for the opening half-track, but with everyone else also trying to make the most of the dying minutes, he was soon amongst the traffic. He crossed the line in 1:37.532.

The chequered flag brought an end to free practice for this weekend’s 1000 Kilometres of Catalunya, with Tommy and RML having to be content with sixth in LMP2. The situation in LMP1 remained somewhat unexpected, with the #8 Peugeot now fastest overall from a delighted Stefan Mucke, and the quickest of the Audis being Allan McNish’s efforts in the #1, fifth overall. Significantly, that was behind the leading LMP2 runner; the Van Merksteijn Porsche.

The humour in the RML garage was much improved, although well short of delirious. “We’re not exactly happy,” emphasised Mike Newton, “but at least we’re not suicidal any more! I was very lucky to get a clear lap, and set that forty-two. I certainly feel that’s given me some confidence back. I was on used tyres too,” he added, smiling. He was managing to be very upbeat about certain aspects of the car’s performance. “We may not be able to out-drag anyone down the straights,” he suggested. “Not even the GT cars, but we can run a lot deeper into the corners. The brakes are monstrous – absolutely wonderful! We can also hold our own against anyone through the corners too, and I was even able to get away from one of the Peugeots.”

Tommy was “still looking for a bit more from the engine, but AER are working very hard to rectify that. We’re not yet able to use full power, so achieving a 36.7 under these sort of conditions, and amongst the traffic, isn’t that bad. Come qualifying, we should be in a better position.”

Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director at AD Motorsport, felt the team had “more to be happy about now. The set-up of the car looks to be excellent, and if we had the power to match, then I know we’d have a very good car indeed. Even as it is, we still have a quick one.”

Top LMP2 Times - Session 3

Pos	No.	Overall	Team	Driver	Car	Time
1	34	4	Van Merksteijn M/s	Van Mekrksteijn/Verstappen	Porsche RS Spyder	1:34.125
2	33	8	Speedy Sebah	Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia	Lola Bo8/80 Coupé	1:35.578
3	31	10	Team Essex	Nielsen/Elgaard	Porsche RS Spyder	1:35.875
4	27	11	Horag Racing	Lienhard/Theys/Lammers	Porsche RS Spyder	1:36.016
5	40	13	Quifel ASM	Amaral/Pla	Lola B05/40 AER	1:36.531
6	25	16	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	MG Lola EX265	1:36.735
7	32	18	Barazi Epsilon	Barazi/Vergers	Zytek 07S	1:37.266
8	44	19	Kruse Schiller	de Pourtales/Noda	Lola B05/40	1:37.359
9	46	20	Embassy Racing	Kane/Foster	WF01 Zytek	1:38.640
10	45	21	Embassy Racing	Hughes/Haberfield	WF01 Zytek	1:39.250
11	26	25	Bruichladdich	Rostan/Petersen/Lueders	Radical SR9 AER	1:40.438
12	35	24	Saulnier Racing	Ragues/Lahaye	Pescarolo Judd	1:40.640
13	41	27	Trading Performance	Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen	Zytek 07S	1:41.000
14	30	32	Racing Box	Didaio/Francioni/Savoldi	Lucchini Judd	1:45.594
15	37	34	WR Salini	Salini/Salini/Roussel	WR Zytek	1:47.860

Qualifying begins at 2:15 this afternoon, with the GT cars heading out first.

Qualifying

For a brief release about qualifying, see here.

A hectic schedule of support races followed the morning’s final Le Mans Series free practice, and as inevitably seems to happen, one over-ran into the next. This culminated in an oily incident during the second VdeV race that delayed the start of GT qualifying by a full half an hour.

In a change of routine, the GT cars took to the track first, but with only seventeen taking part the problems Thomas Erdos had anticipated in his weekend preview (here) never really materialised. There were very few “offs”, and the fifteen minutes went by largely without incident. The class favourites for pole in GT1 duly took that honour, with Antonio Garcia piloting the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9. In GT2, title-holders Virgo Motorsport enjoyed a comfortable run to pole, with Rob Bell’s Ferrari co-driver Gianmaria Bruni claiming two seconds over next-up Marc Lieb in a Porsche.

While this was happening on track, Tommy took a few moments to relax in the garage while the RML mechanics completed their checks on the MG. That done, they were still in good time to ensure that the EX265 was first-out in the queue for the start of the session. Tommy duly took to the track, followed by Allan McNish in the #1 Audi R10.

Then two cars swept off through the first series of turns, until the lengthier back straight offered the Scot an opportunity to get by, which he took. Back then into the twistier final series of turns, Erdos hung on to the LMP1 prototype’s rear wing, and the two cars swept down the main straight nose to tail to begin their flying laps.

Hoping to make the most of his tyres, which typically peak in their second or third lap, Tommy had intended to get a quick lap in right at the start. Following closely behind the Audi, he was alarmed when the car slewed sideways through the lengthy Turn 3. “Allan got out of shape and I had to back right off,” he explained later. “If not, I’d have gone straight into the side of him.” Luckily that didn’t happen, but in taking the avoiding action, Tommy had lost all momentum, and had to abort the lap. “It would probably have been my best lap too!” he said.

He pressed on, and his next lap was a 1:44.125. Although enough to front LMP2 at this early stage in the session, it was woefully short of expectations. In the cockpit, Tommy was already aware that the tyres were past their best, and push as he might, there seemed little chance of recapturing the form he’d been able to display in morning practice. Not only were the tyres deteriorating, but the rest of the 30-odd prototypes were now out on track, and hopes of a clean run had evaporated.

Erdos persevered, and improved with a 1:41.766, but others were now into their stride, and despite the better time, he’d dropped to 10th overall, 4th in LMP2. Michael Vergers then came through to lay his claim to pole for Barazi with 1:37.297 – a time that should have been well within the MG’s scope.

Twelve minutes in, and Didier Theys slipped the Horag Porsche into second, and then Jonny Kane eased the #46 Embassy Zytek just ahead of Tommy, whose last lap had been a modest 1:52.515. The slowness of the lap actually betrayed the fact that he was searching for space, and had eased back in the hope of creating some. It worked, and with open track ahead of him, his next flyer was a more realistic 1:38.485. It briefly reclaimed third, until Warren Hughes came through in the #45 Embassy Zytek to snatch it back with 1:38.422.

Tommy was truly struggling by now. The MG’s tyres were no longer offering the same level of grip that he’d hoped to exploit at the start of the session, and it was also evident that the engine had reverted to Friday form, and was down on power once again. Others were suffering no such problem, with Noda next to pip Tommy’s time with 1:38.437, nudging the MG down to 5th.

Theys in the #27 Horag Porsche was still flying, and raised the bar with a new best of 1:37.344 to move onto provisional pole. Tommy managed two more laps; a 1:38.984 followed by 1:39.313, before the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola spun broadside across the track and stalled. Unable to restart, yellow flags soon turned red and the session was brought to a halt.

During the pause it was possible to recap on the situation in LMP2. Heading the class, the #27 Horage Porsche (8th overall). Next up, the #32 Barazi Epsilon Zytek (10th), the #45 Embassy Zytek (11th), the #44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola (12th), and then RML’s MG Lola EX265 #25 (13th overall). Sixth in class, 14th overall, came the second Embassy Zytek, #46.

At 15:22 the session resumed, but Tommy stayed in the pits. The tyres had done their best, the engine wasn’t offering much by way of purposeful assistance, and thrashing round the track would only further diminish the race-potential of one, and risk the other. The MG would not take any further part.

Others had been holding back, however. One such was Jos Verstappen in the #34 Porsche, who got the resumption off to a flying start with a walloping time of 1:34.422 – not only heading LMP2, but moving into 5th overall. This was followed by a similar, if slightly less emphatic blast from Caspar Elgaard in the Team Essex car, who moved into second with 1:36.256. Next up was Olivier Pla in the ASM Lola #40, who headed into the frame with 1:36.750. It was briefly good for third.

The net result of all this late track-action was that Tommy’s time slipped to 8th in class, 20th overall. Didier Theys then responded, the third Porsche moved back up to second, 1:36.156 taking him to 9th overall, a tenth clear of Elgaard.

Most cars were now in the pits, but there was one further player in the game. In the final moments, a last-gasp effort to regain face by Xavier Pompidou had the Speedy Sebah Lola up to 4th in LMP2 on 1:36.578, and then followed this on the last lap of the session with 1:35.795 to snatch second in class, leaving Verstappen on pole.

So the RML MG Lola EX265 will start tomorrow’s race from 9th in class, 21st overall.

Quotes from drivers and team personnel to follow.

LMP2 Qualifying

Pos	No.	Overall	Team	Driver	Car	Time
1	34	5	Van Merksteijn M/s	Van Mekrksteijn/Verstappen	Porsche RS Spyder	1:34.422
2	33	9	Speedy Sebah	Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia	Lola Bo8/80 Coupé	1:35.797
3	27	10	Horag Racing	Lienhard/Theys/Lammers	Porsche RS Spyder	1:36.156
4	31	11	Team Essex	Nielsen/Elgaard	Porsche RS Spyder	1:36.266
5	40	15	Quifel ASM	Amaral/Pla	Lola B05/40 AER	1:36.641
6	32	18	Barazi Epsilon	Barazi/Vergers	Zytek 07S	1:37.516
7	45	19	Embassy Racing	Hughes/Haberfield	WF01 Zytek	1:38.109
8	44	20	Kruse Schiller	de Pourtales/Noda	Lola B05/40 Mazda	1:38.437
9	25	21	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	MG Lola EX265	1:38.485
10	46	22	Embassy Racing	Kane/Foster	WF01 Zytek	1:38.500
11	35	24	Saulnier Racing	Ragues/Lahaye	Pescarolo Judd	1:39.594
12	26	26	Bruichladdich	Rostan/Petersen/Lueders	Radical SR9 AER	1:40.750
13	41	27	Trading Performance	Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen	Zytek 07S	1:41.516
14	30	31	Racing Box	Didaio/Francioni/Savoldi	Lucchini Judd	1:44.579
15	37	40	WR Salini	Salini/Salini/Roussel	WR Zytek	1:49.859

There are high resolution images posted in the Barcelona Gallery.

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