Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 4. Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres. August 16th -
17th 2008
Friday Review
Friday
Practice
Excellent
weather conditions accompanied the opening sessions of track
action from Round 4 of the 2008 Le Mans Series, with sunshine,
blue skies and a smattering of high clouds warming the air
between the tree-clad Eifel hillsides.
The
track itself is little changed since the prototypes and
GT cars were last here in 2007, but the same cannot be said
for the surroundings. Major building work is currently in
progress around the circuit (as hinted at in our preview
piece) and the old grandstands opposite the pitlane have
been totally demolished. In their place a new leisure, casino
and entertainment complex is rising from vast concrete foundations,
with a tight deadline to ensure that all the work is completed
before the Formula 1 circus returns to the Nürburgring
next year. Work ground to a halt on Thursday when a major
police operation saw helicopters, squad cars and dozens
of uniformed officers surrounding the construction site
as workmen and builders were checked for permits and status.
Activity is noticeably reduced today, although a couple
of the high-rise cranes - of which there are eleven - are
rotating lazily in the sunshine.
The
RML MG Lola EX265 has been fully rebuilt following its last
outing at Le Mans - a not uneventful occasion, considering
the nature of the team's retirement from the 24 Hours. Earlier
this week the team took the opportunity to complete a shakedown
test at Silverstone, where the car covered an untroubled
80 kilometres around the short circuit prior to being loaded
into the transporter for the trip to Germany. "That
was the car's first run since its Le Mans exploits,"
grinned Phil Barker, the RML team manager very happy to
see the MG back on all four wheels again. RML's first day
at the Nürburgring picked up where that Silverstone
test ended, with two encouraging hour-long runs that provided
valuable data for developing the car's set-up, but offered
little else by way of surprises.
All
forty-six cars took part in both Friday's free-practice
sessions, although one or two were clearly experiencing
some difficulties. In LMP1, the red and white Lavaggi continued
to struggle against the gremlins, and managed only a handful
of slow laps. The typically quick Virgo GT2 Ferrari, usually
a front-runner in the class, was fastest in the first session,
but then suffered a broken fuel line in the second and ended
the day with a toasted backside. Most of the damage was
cosmetic and Rob Bell, the driver at the time, was unhurt,
but the car will require a major rebuild ahead of tomorrow's
qualifying session. On the subject of injuries, however,
it was excellent to see that not only had Jamie Cambell-Walter
enjoyed a relatively successful day in the #15 Creation,
but Stephane Ortelli was also back in action aboard the
#5 Oreca Courage. Both had been involved in serious accidents
at Monza.
First
Free Practice
12:05
- 13:05
The early-afternoon First Session took place beneath pastel-blue
skies and bright sunshine. The track was warm, but many
drivers commented on just how slippery some sections were,
especially through the infield "Mercedes Arena".
Normally rock-solid, even the LMP1 Audi's were wagging their
tails through the first tight left-hander, with Alexandre
Premat in the #2 R10 making it a full 360. No such problems
for Tommy, first out in the #25 RML MG EX265. He was quickly
on the pace, and for some time was second quickest in LMP2.
Happy with the way the car was behaving, he pitted at just
after the half-way point and handed over to Mike. The MG
was lying third in LMP2, with all three signal lights shining
bright blue down the flanks of the MG.
Mike
enjoyed several quick laps before the chequered flag drew
the session to a close, although his fastest lap would have
been a lot quicker still if he'd not been baulked on the
run out of the Bit Kurve. A pair of GT cars - a GT1 Corvette
and GT2 Porsche - were engrossed in their own battle and
ran two-abreast nearly all the way to the chicane. Mike
wasn't best pleased, but overall, the team seemed well satisfied
with the performance. "That seemed to be a very successful
first session," observed Tommy. "We seem to be
there - or thereabouts - on pace. The car's just been fully
rebuilt since Le Mans, so we can expect one or two things
to need some extra work, and we're not quite there yet with
the chassis, but it's close enough for a first attempt.
All in all, the car's performing well."
That
early time of 1:47.420 from Tommy was subsequently bettered
by a couple more teams as the track started to improve,
but remained strong enough for fifth in class by the close.
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 1
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
31 |
12 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:46.833 |
| 2 |
40 |
13 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:47.130 |
| 3 |
34 |
14 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Bleekemolen/Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:47.223 |
| 4 |
32 |
15 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:47.241 |
| 5 |
25 |
16 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:47.420 |
| 6 |
27 |
18 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:47.937 |
| 7 |
45 |
20 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:48.259 |
| 8 |
35 |
21 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:48.557 |
| 9 |
44 |
22 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:49.022 |
| 10 |
33 |
23 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:49.090 |
| 11 |
41 |
24 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin |
Zytek
07S |
1:49.293 |
| 12 |
46 |
25 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:49.703 |
| 13 |
26 |
28 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:52.329 |
| 14 |
37 |
33 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:58.520 |
Second
Free Practice
16:45
- 17:45
The day's second hour of free practice came late in the
afternoon, by which time the Nürburgring had seen a
fair amount of action. As a result, despite what were in
other respects very good conditions, the times were not
perhaps as improved as might have been expected. Most cars
did go quicker, but there was a huge amount of variation
- some finding a tenth or two, others vast tracts, while
a few couldn't even match their earlier pace at all. The
suggestion was that little could be drawn from times, but
a useful session nonetheless.
RML
fell into the foremost category - Tommy improving his time
by just over a second. "That's enough to be encouraging,"
he suggested. "The car's running well, and we're all
much closer at the front than we were at the start of the
season. Back then, we were maybe a second to a second-and-a-half
off the pace of the Porsches, but now it's all a matter
of just a few tenths separating the top half-dozen. We're
certainly on the right track, but not quite there yet. That's
actually good! Knowing we can go quicker is much better
than thinking that's the best there is. Everything feels
good, and we just need to get a bit more balance in the
chassis, and we'll be there."
As
for the track - "It's always pretty slippy here,"
said Tommy. "It can be very tricky, and it did feel
particularly bad this afternoon, but nothing we can't cope
with!" What Mike found harder to deal with during his
stint was an apparently stuck throttle, coming down into
that first left-hander in the Mercedes Arena - the one where
several cars went off during the first session. "I'd
had a couple of scrappy laps in traffic," he said.
"Then I managed one or two quicker ones, but was coming
through the complex when the throttle seemed to stick at
about 20% under braking." He held the car, but had
to complete a figure of eight across the run-off before
rejoining the track. "That covered the tyres in rubbish,"
he said, "and after that there seemed little point
in continuing. The session was almost over, so I headed
back to the pits."
The
consensus was positive however. "We went quicker this
afternoon than we had at lunchtime," was Mike's observation.
"It was mildly frustrating for me, but nothing horrendous.
We've had to deal with a lot worse!"
The
LMP2 prototypes do seem to be better suited to the circuit
than some of those encountered earlier in the year, and
with some tight infield sections are able to deal with the
pace of some of the faster GT cars. "The circuit helps
us to keep ahead of the GT cars once we've overtaken them,"
said Tommy. "Long straights can make it very difficult,
where the GT cars have the power to keep pace with us, but
here we can exploit the car's handling through the twisty
bits. Occasionally that means heading off line, and that
leads to pick-up on the tyres, but overall, it's much easier."
The
final free practice session is scheduled for 09:05 on Saturday
morning.
| Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
31 |
8 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:44.645 |
| 2 |
34 |
10 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Bleekemolen/Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:45.214 |
| 3 |
40 |
14 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:46.321 |
| 4 |
27 |
15 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:46.408 |
| 5 |
35 |
16 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:46.620 |
| 6 |
45 |
17 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:48.259 |
| 7 |
25 |
19 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:46.862 |
| 8 |
33 |
20 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:46.917 |
| 9 |
32 |
21 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:46.994 |
| 10 |
46 |
22 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:47.837 |
| 11 |
44 |
26 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:49.585 |
| 12 |
41 |
27 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin |
Zytek
07S |
1:49.832 |
| 13 |
26 |
28 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:51.565 |
| 14 |
37 |
29 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:53.857 |
There
are high resolution images posted in the Nurburgring
Gallery.
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