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Le Mans Series 2008
Round 3. Spa 1000 Kilometres. May 9th - 11th 2008

Friday Review

Friday Practice

Gorgeous warm sunshine, crystal clear blue skies and a sizzling heat haze rising off the tarmac - surely this can't be Spa? But it is, and more amazing still, the forecast for the weekend is for "more of the same", with perhaps just a touch of cloud tomorrow, but expected to clear again for raceday on Sunday. Even so, this is the Ardennes, and it might still be raining on the other side of the valley . . . .

Forty-four cars took part in Friday's free practice sessions, with only a small handful of "significant differences" since Round 2 at Monza. The long-anticipated second Epsilon LMP1 Coupé has still not arrived in LMP1, but the Lavaggi is back again, having missed the Italian race. One absentee in LMP2 is the Racing Box Lucchini, but restoring the numbers is a new entry in GT1, with the Strakka Racing Aston Martin DBR9 (Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis) making a series debut.

First Free Practice

First free practice started at 13:00, but Tommy was caught on the hop. "I was sure it was half-past!" he insisted, as he strode purposefully through the garage towards the waiting MG EX265. Rapidly strapped into the cockpit, he was despatched to the pitlane only seven minutes late.

The modest delay didn't affect RML's strategy unduly, and after a single installation lap, Tommy completed half-a-dozen flying laps before pitting and handing over to Mike for the remaining half-hour. "It was important that we got Mike into the car as soon as possible," explained Erdos. "This is a far more technical circuit than Monza, so it's vital that Mike gets his eye in as soon as he can."

Tommy's quickest time had been a relaxed 2:10.076 on his penultimate tour. "One or two of the others have set quicker times, but they're not quicker than us," he said. "We're perhaps not as fast in a straight line as we should be, but I'm not unduly concerned at the moment. We've got some set-up issues to address, but the car feels good for a first session."

Mike ran through to the chequered flag without problems, although commented again on the difficulties of negotiating traffic. "We made a small aero change between the two runs," he added. "The adjustment was a definite improvement, but I never got a clear run, so it's hard to see exactly where we are with the car."

Phil Barker took a relaxed lunch at the Smoking Dog. "That was a busy session, but we worked through our initial balance checks and gave Mike as much track time as we could. There's a general feeling that we're still down on power. Even though we're running very little drag compared with last year, we're still significantly slower - both ways, up the hill and down again." The official speed trap clocked the MG at 265 kph, eighth quickest in class, compared with 277 kph for the lead van Merksteijn Porsche. "We'll just keep chipping away and hope to pick up the pace a bit this afternoon."

Top LMP2 Times - Session 1

Pos No. Overall Team Driver Car
Time
1
34
6 Van Merksteijn M/s Van Merksteijn/Verstappen Porsche RS Spyder
2:05:013
2 31 10 Team Essex Nielsen/Elgaard Porsche RS Spyder
2:08.658
3 32 13 Barazi Epsilon Barazi/Vergers/Rees Zytek 07S
2:09.127
4
40
14 Quifel ASM Amaral/Pla Lola B05/40 AER
2:09.287
5 27 16 Horag Racing Lienhard/Theys/Lammers Porsche RS Spyder
2:09.654
6
25
17 RML AD Group Erdos/Newton MG Lola EX265
2:10.076
7
45
18 Embassy Racing Hughes/Kane WF01 Zytek
2:10.102
8
46
19 Embassy Racing Kimber-Smith/Foster WF01 Zytek
2:11.252
9 33 20 Speedy Sebah Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia Lola Bo8/80 Coupé
2:11.928
10
44
21 Kruse Schiller de Pourtales/Noda Lola B05/40
2:12.297
11
26
22 Bruichladdich Rostan/Petersen/Lueders Radical SR9 AER
2:13.376
12
41
24
Trading Performance Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen Zytek 07S
2:15.485
13
35
29 Saulnier Racing Ragues/Lahaye Pescarolo Judd
2:19.894
14
37
35
WR Salini Salini/Salini/Roussel WR Zytek
2:23.571

Second Free Practice

While Friday's second session offered more of the same in terms of the weather, it was a significantly better hour for Mike, Tommy and RML. After a series of ranging laps, Tommy went for a determined flyer, and crossed the line in 2:08.385, 1.8 seconds faster than session one.

That was good enough for third fastest in LMP2. "I think the Essex car had problems," shrugged Erdos later. Indeed, the #31 Porsche RS Spyder had endured a troubled session, having been hit up the rear no less than twice by the Horag Porsche, and Elgaard managed a less than representative 2:10.600 before retiring hurt for repairs. That shouldn't detract from the fact that Tommy's time was still a significant improvement, and placed the MG nearer the top of the pile. "It's obviously a lot better," he agreed, "but we've still got an ocean to cross if we're ever going to catch the Porsches. It's early days yet, but in the wider context, it's an encouraging improvement."

"We've made some progress," agreed Phil Barker. "We made some chassis changes between sessions, and also during that last hour, and at least we're heading in the right direction."

Top LMP2 Times - Session 2

Pos No. Overall Team Driver Car
Time
1
34
6 Van Merksteijn M/s Van Merksteijn/Verstappen Porsche RS Spyder
2:05:742
2 27 16 Horag Racing Lienhard/Theys/Lammers Porsche RS Spyder
2:07.613
3
25
17 RML AD Group Erdos/Newton MG Lola EX265
2:08.385
4 33 20 Speedy Sebah Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia Lola B08/80 Coupé
2:08.873
5
40
14 Quifel ASM Amaral/Pla Lola B05/40 AER
2:09.362
6
45
18 Embassy Racing Hughes/Kane WF01 Zytek
2:09.399
7
46
19 Embassy Racing Kimber-Smith/Foster WF01 Zytek
2:09.713
8 32 13 Barazi Epsilon Barazi/Vergers/Rees Zytek 07S
2:10.299
9 31 10 Team Essex Nielsen/Elgaard Porsche RS Spyder
2:10.600
10
35
29 Saulnier Racing Ragues/Lahaye Pescarolo Judd
2:10.741
11
44
21 Kruse Schiller de Pourtales/Noda Lola B05/40
2:12.002
12
26
22 Bruichladdich Rostan/Petersen/Lueders Radical SR9 AER
2:12.265
13
41
24
Trading Performance Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen Zytek 07S
2:13.904
14
37
35
WR Salini Salini/Salini/Roussel WR Zytek
2:20.561

There are high resolution images posted in the Spa Gallery.

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