Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 4. Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres. August 16th -
17th 2008
Saturday Report
Saturday
Third
Free Practice
09:05-10:05
The good weather continues into a second day - many regular
racegoers gazing towards the skies in disbelief. Together
with Spa, not far away in neighbouring Belgium, the Nürburgring
does not have a reputation for bright sunshine and cloudless
skies, but LMS Saturday offers exactly that.
True
to form, Tommy was first out in the RML MG Lola, and was
soon into a rapid stride, setting second fastest in LMP2
with his first flyer, and then responding with each successive
improvement from his rivals. By twenty-past none he'd yo-yoed
through second, fifth, third, second and then third positions,
posting a best of 1:45.040 to be just a fraction of a second
behind Belicchi in the #33 Speedy Lola, and some three tenths
or more behind an ever-improving Fernando Rees in the #32
Barazi Zytek on 1:44.698. Another of these talented Brazilians,
Rees has never raced at the Nürburgring before, and
his times have been getting progressively quicker. The #33
Lola coupé had a troubled time on Friday, with electronic
problems, but after carrying out an extensive redevelopment
programme since Le Mans, the team is hoping for a stronger
run this weekend.
So,
at the half-way stage through the final hour of practice,
the Porsches stood fourth, fifth and sixth in class, with
yesterday's pacey ASM Lola in seventh. That was all about
to change however, and with 25 minutes remaining, Verstappen
came through with a 1:43.901 to go quickest in LMP2. The
purple and white Van Merksteijn Porsche is without its namesake
this weekend - Peter van Merksteijn preferring to compete
in the World Rally Championship, also taking place in Germany.
Having won Le Mans already, at his first attempt, Peter
announced a few days ago that his goals in sportscar racing
have already been achieved, and he won't personally be continuing
with the team next season, although there is some speculation
that the outfit may well continue with a fresh driver line-up.
Tommy
handed over to Mike at this stage, and the CEO of AD Group
took to the track with just over twenty minutes remaining
and completed ten minutes around the circuit, typically
lapping around the 1:52 mark. By the time he returned to
the pitlane for the first time, that earlier 1:45.040 from
Tommy still held fourth, with neither the Essex nor the
Horag Porsches yet to show their hand. After a brief stop,
Mike returned to the track, and continued through to the
chequered flag.
Despite
what appeared to be a quick track, there were no last-minute
fireworks from the two remaining Porsche Spyders, so a very
untypical final screen in LMP2, with Verstappen fastest
in class from the Barazi Zytek with the Speedy Sebah Lola
third and RML fourth.
Overall,
a much closer tussle for any potential pole with the #2
Audi second, heading the #7 Peugeot, but still a second
behind Lamy in the #8 Peugeot 908, who set a remarkable
1:39.023 in the final minutes of the session. Encouragingly,
however, the leading petrol-fuelled car moved closer to
the diesels, with the Charouz LMP1 Lola only half a second
behind the fourth-placed #1 Audi. At the opposite end of
the field, a significant improvement for the Lavaggi, with
a best of 1:48.499 finally seeing the red and white car
elevated above the status of "last in LMP1", comfortably
bettering the #4 Saulnier Pescarolo. Less than a second
separated all four runners in GT1, with Team Modena's Aston
quickest on 1:53.602. In GT2, a dominant run from Marc Lieb
in the #77 Felbermayr Porsche, freed from the challenge
from Rob Bell in the Virgo Ferrari - still in the throes
of a major rear-end rebuild following a serious fire on
Friday afternoon. The team hopes to join the race from the
pitlane on Sunday.
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 3
Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
1 |
34 |
6 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Bleekemolen/Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:43.901 |
2 |
32 |
11 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:44.698 |
3 |
33 |
12 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:44.819 |
4 |
25 |
13 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:45.040 |
5 |
31 |
18 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:45.464 |
6 |
27 |
20 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:45.812 |
7 |
45 |
21 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:46.687 |
8 |
41 |
22 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin |
Zytek
07S |
1:46.722 |
9 |
40 |
23 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:46.722 |
10 |
44 |
24 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:47.411 |
11 |
46 |
25 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:48.067 |
12 |
35 |
35 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:48.134 |
13 |
26 |
28 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:49.113 |
14 |
37 |
30 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:52.416 |
Qualifying
14:00-14:20
As has become the norm this season, the GT cars completed
qualifying first, with pole in GT1 falling to Tomas Enge
in the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 ahead of Olivier Beretta
in the Courage #73. In GT2 the front row will comprise the
#90 Farnbacher Racing Porsche on pole with Marc Lieb in
the Team Felbermeyr 997 alongside. The Virgo Ferrari, usually
quickest in the class but still undergoing a rebuild, will
take part in tomorrow's warm-up, but will start from the
back of the grid.
Tommy
was one of the first to take to the track when the green
lights showed for the start of the prototype session, following
one of the Audis and Jos Verstappen in the #34 Porsche out
of the pitlane. First to set a time for LMP2 was Verstappen
in the #34 Porsche, with a 1:44.035, followed shortly afterwards
by Tommy on a 1:44.807. Moments later Elgaard swept across
the line with a best of 1:43.970 to move fastest.
Next
to show was Vergers; his 1:44.283 slotting the Barazi Zytek
into third, and then a stack of good times from the likes
of Theys, Kane and Manning. Tommy, caught amid some relatively
slower cars joining later, aborted his second flyer, but
found space for his third. A 1:45.903 was enough to recover
6th in LMP2, if only temporarily. "It was very frustrating,"
he admitted afterwards. "I'd had a good first flyer,
and came up behind the LMP1 Saulnier Courage just at the
start of the main straight. He must have seen me closing
on him for most the the previous lap, so why block me? He
knew I was quicker, and I'm confident that next lap would
have been my best."
A
new fastest from Verstappen - 1:43.169 - recovered top slot
for the Van Merksteijn car, with Elgaard's time holding
second for Team Essex. With Vergers claiming third, Theys
was up to fourth in the Horag Porsche. Kane, qualifying
the #45 Embassy Zytek, was holding fifth when Tommy headed
back down the pitlane with seven minutes remaining. "I
had encountered oversteer pretty early on, but it was getting
progressively worse," said Erdos. It caught me totally
by surprise. After practice, we expected to be very competitive
- maybe even good enough for a top three." Instead
the MG lay 8th in class at this stage, after improvements
from Olivier Pla (ASM Lola) and Darren Manning (#46 Embassy
WF01).
Ten
minutes still to go, and the Speedy Sebah Lola spins off.
Andrea Belicchi would recover after a few moments, and then
go through two laps later to set a best for the coupé
of 1:43.981, third in class and ousting Vergers. Tommy remained
in the pitlane, disappointed no doubt, but with little prospect
in the dying minutes of improving on a disappointing ninth
in class.
A
minute or so to round off qualifying, and the order looked
more-or-less settled in LMP2 after Pla posted a final improvement
for the ASM Lola of 1:44.682 to move into fifth. In LMP1,
it was another one-two for Peugeot, Marc Gene claiming pole
in the #7 with Lamy second in the #8. An unexpected but
welcome third place on the grid for Stefan Mucke in the
Charouz Lola Aston Martin ahead of both Audis and Olivier
Panis, sixth in the lead Oreca Courage.
“We
made a mistake in tyre choice, simple as that,” conceded
Phil Barker, team manager of RML’s Le Mans sportscar
programme. “We elected to run on the softer compound
after a good performance in practice this morning. We knew
that the ambient conditions would play a part in how effective
that choice became, but we didn’t expect the track
temperature to have risen to such an extent by the time
qualifying began.” During the morning’s hour-long
practice session, the MG had run a strong fourth in class,
and Thomas Erdos had been confident of finding more pace
given the opportunity. In the four hours between that ending,
and the start of qualifying, the surface temperature of
the track had risen a full fifteen degrees. Relatively early
during that same interval the team had also needed to commit
to their choice of tyres. “Under those conditions
it was very difficult for Tommy to set a representative
time. He was contending with major oversteer and didn’t
stand a chance,” concluded Barker.
“It
seems that our choice of tyres was simply not suited to
the conditions this afternoon,” admitted Adam Wiseberg,
motorsport director of AD Group. “From this morning’s
data, we thought we could do well on the softer tyre, and
were hoping for a low 44 or even better, but we were caught
out by the rising temperatures. Being more positive, we
face a six-hour race tomorrow knowing we have a reliable
car with an excellent race pace, and I am confident we can
restore the balance before the start at midday.”
The
team has an opportunity to check that balance during warm-up
on Sunday morning, which starts at 08:40.
Top
LMP2 Times - Qualifying
Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
1 |
34 |
7 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Bleekemolen/Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:43.169 |
2 |
31 |
9 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:43.608 |
3 |
33 |
13 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:43.981 |
4 |
32 |
15 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:44.013 |
5 |
40 |
17 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:44.682 |
6 |
27 |
19 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:44.828 |
7 |
45 |
21 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:44.928 |
8 |
46 |
22 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:45.693 |
9 |
25 |
23 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
1:45.903 |
10 |
35 |
24 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:46.033 |
11 |
41 |
25 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin |
Zytek
07S |
1:47.106 |
12 |
44 |
26 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:47.233 |
13 |
26 |
28 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:48.580 |
14 |
37 |
33 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:54.370 |
There
are high resolution images posted in the
Nurburgring Gallery.
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