Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 5. Silverstone 1000 Kilometres. September 12th - 14th
2008
Friday Review
Friday
Practice
The
opening day of track action at Silverstone was an important
one for RML, but mixed weather meant curtailed running for
the team’s newly invigorated MG Lola EX265. Now with
the benefit of the full Lola upgrade to the coupé
bodyshell, the EX265 gains the suffix ‘C’, and
for a while also ran the risk of being re-designated with
the new running number of 28, in place of the 25 that the
team has used since 2004. Those who studied the images from
the shakedown test at Snetterton had already picked up on
the potential number change.
“It
would have been a shame to lose the 25,” said Phil
Barker, team manager, “but we’re grateful to
the ACO for allowing us to retain our usual number.”
The stumbling block was not the ACO themselves – far
from it - but the stewards at scrutineering, who were reluctant
to accept that the package from Lola was an upgrade. Instead,
they were at first insistent that the EX256C would have
to be considered a new car and therefore allocated a new
number. However, after an intervention from the ACO, and
in particular Daniel Poissenot, the organisation’s
Sporting Director, it was agreed that the RML entry could
retain its previous number of 25. “The ACO is keen
to do what’s best for the sport, and we’re in
accordance with that,” said Phil Barker, who was grateful
to discover some spare ‘fives’ in the truck.
The
day’s first session went well, and RML managed almost
a full hour’s running. By contrast, the second session
proved to be a virtual washout, with many teams electing
to do no more than the minimum number of laps – just
one in RML’s case. Nevertheless, it was all enough
for both Tommy and Mike to gain some valuable first-hand
experience of driving the coupé on a busy track.
“We’re viewing this weekend as just a major
test,” observed Tommy, “but we’re doing
it at a racetrack, right in front of everyone else. You
feel a bit out of synch with everyone else. They’re
all pushing as hard as they can, just as they do at any
normal meeting, but we can’t do that – not so
soon. We need to feel our way more carefully, and learn
the limits of the car.” Even so, as times in the first
session proved, Tommy wasn’t exactly hanging around.
Driving
the coupé is a very different experience for both
drivers, who have spent the last five years with the wind
battering their helmets and exposed to all weathers. Now
they find themselves in a snug cockpit and oblivious to
the wind and the rain. “It’s all very different,”
says Tommy. “To begin with, there’s a screen
in front of you. I know that sounds a bit obvious, but it
takes some getting used to. For one thing, there’s
just a hint of distortion. In fact, it’s slightly
reminiscent of one of those funny ‘hall of mirrors’
effects, down the very edge of the screen. It’s peripheral
vision really, but you have to adjust the way you look at
things, almost like refocusing. That felt a bit strange
to begin with.”
The
second most obvious effect is . . . not being aware of how
fast you’re going. “The feedback seems very
different,” commented Mike. “Maybe that’s
due to the lack of wind in your face, but you’re never
very sure of how fast you’re going. Not being buffeted
by the force of the air into your face all the time is a
very different experience. I thought I was going far slower
than I really was. There was one time when I felt I was
meandering gently through the sequence of corners between
Maggots and Chapel, but then I realised that I was right
on someone’s tail and closing fast!” Tommy readily
agrees. “You’re driving a car that’s as
fast as the 265, but it doesn’t feel like it. You
also don’t notice the speed until you get to a corner!
It’s a very new experience.”
New
it may be, but both drivers ended the day chuffed to bits
with the way the coupé performed on its first competitive
outing. “The feeling of the car is really very good,”
said Tommy. “If we can make the top five or six in
practice, I’ll be happy with that.”
First
Free Practice
11:15
- 12:15
The first of the day’s two practice
sessions got under way at spot on 11:15, but it hadn’t
gone far before the red flags were waving all around Silverstone’s
Grand Prix circuit. One of the GT2 cars had gone off in
the middle of the very demanding sequence of corners through
Maggots, Becketts and Chapel, and we were less than five
minutes into the hour. “It was one of the Ferraris,”
confirmed Thomas Erdos, who’d come through the complex
shortly afterwards. “There were huge chunks of grass
and earth all across the track. I have no idea how he managed
it, but the marshals needed to clear all that away before
we could re-start.”
The team had been about to bring Tommy back
in anyway, after he’d complained of poor braking.
With the system checked, he was off and away again. Despite
assurances that he wasn’t going to push too hard,
the coupé certainly looked quick, and he simply breezed
past both the Kruse LMP2 Lola, and the LMP1 Saulnier Courage,
in the space of a the run between Club and Abbey. “Apart
from a touch of understeer, right at the start, the handling
was spot on, and I felt I could have kept going round and
round like that for hours, with no changes at all. It was
the first time I ‘felt’ the car, and I really
liked it.”
By
mid-session, fastest in LMP2 was the #34 Porsche, with Michael
Vergers in the #32 Zytek second, and then the Speedy Lola
third, but it was a close battle between these and the remaining
top five. The ASM Lola moved third quickest for a time (around
11:49), just as Tommy came back out on track again after
a second set of adjustments. It seemed to have worked, and
he clocked one concurrent lap at six seconds quicker than
the #27 Horag Porsche, just as the Speedy Lola #33 moved
back into third.
With
fifteen minutes to go, Warren Hughes in the #45 Embassy
WF01 posted the car’s best time of the first session,
and it was good enough for second in LMP2, until Vergers
came back again in the #32 Zytek. Moments later Tommy pitted
the EX265C, ready to hand the car over to Mike for the final
ten. “On my last lap, when I was coming in, it was
also my clearest lap of traffic, and I was two or three
seconds up on my previous best through the first two sectors,”
said Tommy after he’d clambered from the cockpit.
“I’m confident we’ve got a lot more to
come, so I’m not too concerned if we’re a bit
off the pace now.”
Mike
had time for four full laps and an in-lap, but any chance
at a representative time was stymied when the #20 LMP1 Epsilon
had a major accident also at Maggots. “There were
yellow flags and yellow lights all over the place, but they
were still waving blue flags at the GT2 cars,” he
said, somewhat perplexed by the mixed messages this profusion
of flags suggested. It is prohibited for anyone to overtake
under yellow flags, yet a blue flag obliges a slower car
to give way to a faster one coming up behind.
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 1
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
34 |
12 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Merksteijn /Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:36.114 |
| 2 |
32 |
13 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:36.927 |
| 3 |
45 |
14 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:37.130 |
| 4 |
33 |
15 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:37.218 |
| 5 |
31 |
17 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:37.852 |
| 6 |
40 |
18 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:37.857 |
| 7 |
46 |
20 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:38.305 |
| 8 |
27 |
21 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:39.046 |
| 9 |
25 |
23 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265C |
1:41.046 |
| 10 |
41 |
24 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Sharpe |
Zytek
07S |
1:41.089 |
| 11 |
26 |
25 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:41.228 |
| 12 |
35 |
26 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:41.487 |
| 13 |
44 |
28 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:42.236 |
| 14 |
37 |
29 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Gommendy |
WR
Zytek |
1:42.532 |
Second
Free Practice
15:45
- 16:45
By
the time the day's second Free Practice came round, conditions
had changed. During the session allocated to the Renault
Spider Cup, the clouds that had earlier been little more
than dull, turned dark grey. Qualifying for the Classic
Endurance race (15:55 Saturday) then became very interesting,
as those setting fast times early in the half-hour period
made the most of a relatively dry track, while those that
missed the opening ten to fifteen minutes were at a distinct
disadvantage. Conditions became very treacherous.
Things
were no better by quarter-to-four and the start of the second
Le Mans Series practice session. Many teams elected to stay
put, warm and dry in their garages, but the Van Merksteijn
RS Spyder was amongst the first to brave the slippery track.
It returned a lap later, but a disguise might not have gone
amiss, because something else certainly had. The purple
and white Porsche had evidently come off worse after spinning
along the Hangar Straight and hitting the barriers front
and back. Major damage had been sustained to the rear of
the car, and its activity for Friday, at least, was over.
Tommy completed an out-lap, saw the state of the track -
which included having to negotiate his way around the remains
of the Porsche's rear panel as he braked for Vale - and
came straight back in again.
A
modest handful of other cars continued to brave the worsening
conditions, vast plumes of spray being kicked up by every
one that sailed past the pitlane. Only six of them were
LMP2 runners, with Caspar Elgaard quickest, third overall,
in the Tam Essex Porsche. RML was among the remainder who
chose not to take the risk. Some indication of just how
unattractive the proposition was might be gained from the
fact that fifth fastest overall was the #85 GT2 Spyker,
Dutchman Tom Coronel clearly feeling at home when surrounded
by so much water.
Half
way into the hour, and fastest overall was the #8 Peugeot
on 2:09, with the #14 Creation second, the #31 Team Essex
Porsche third, just ahead of the #7 Peugeot. Fifth, the
#85 Spyker, and save one LMP1 and two LMP2 prototypes, the
rest of the top twenty times were all being set by GT2 cars.
The RML MG Lola had not returned to the track, but was not
alone. Only two cars were actually circulating, and then
even they came into the pitlane as the session was suspended
for five minutes.
The
pitlane re-opened at 16:23, and with the rain all-but stopped,
nearly all those who'd been out before, went out again.
Tommy remained one of just four - all prototypes - who chose
to stay under cover.
Conditions
were still not normal, by any stretch of the imagination.
Seeing the #14 Creation fastest overall was proof, if proof
was needed, while John Nielsen was setting some (relatively)
quick times in the Team Essex Porsche, still fastest in
LMP2, fifth overall. 'Big' John is known to be an exponent
of the belief that, if you're in a lightweight prototype,
and it rains, you just have to drive faster. "A prototype
is so much lighter than a GT car," explained Tommy.
"The GT car is simply a heavier car, so it sticks to
the road better at lower speeds. Prototypes need the speed
to generate the downforce, and without it they just slide
across the surface of the water."
The
final few minutes saw times tumble, at last, and a more
typical scheme of colours fill the timing screen. A stunning
final lap from Allan McNish saw the #1 Audi top the times
overall by nearly four seconds. With the #34 Porsche out
of the reckoning, the RML MG Lola became one of only three
cars to have chosen to stay in the garage for all but that
first exploratory lap.
"It
was simply too wet out there," said Tommy, having returned
from his single tour of the track. "We could have gone
out for perhaps the last ten or fifteen minutes, but there
wasn't a lot to learn - not in those conditions - and we
thought it was better not to risk the car." Phil Barker
nodded in agreement. "I didn't want to se the car coming
back in kit form on the back of a low-loader!" he joked.
"There's always tomorrow, and the forecast for Sunday
isn't too bad, so an hour in the rain wouldn't have taught
us much of value."
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 2
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
31 |
5 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:01.423 |
| 2 |
32 |
9 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
2:05.098 |
| 3 |
40 |
11 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
2:09.284 |
| 4 |
41 |
20 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Sharpe |
Zytek
07S |
2:14.831 |
| 5 |
44 |
23 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
2:18.967 |
| 6 |
26 |
26 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
2:20.364 |
| 7 |
37 |
30 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Gommendy |
WR
Zytek |
2:23.858 |
| 8 |
33 |
35 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
2:36.455 |
| 9 |
35 |
38 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
21:21.9658 |
| |
|
|
NO
TIME - 1 lap only |
|
|
|
| 10 |
27 |
|
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
- |
| 11 |
34 |
|
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Merksteijn /Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
- |
| 12 |
25 |
|
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265C |
- |
| |
|
|
NO
TIME - no laps |
|
|
|
| 13 |
45 |
|
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
- |
| 14 |
46 |
|
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
- |
So
the day ended with something of a damp squib – no
bang, apart from the one made by the #34 Van Merksteijn
Porsche when it hit the wall. The team is confident that
the car can be repaired in time for the next session on
Saturday morning. “To see that Porsche doing a 36.1
is quite an eye-opener,” conceded Tommy. “This
is only the first day’s free practice, and they’re
already within a second of last year’s pole.”
Not discouraged, he still felt enormous satisfaction at
the first run in the MG Lola EX265C. “We’ve
got tremendous potential in that car, huge downforce and
great handling, but we just don’t know how to use
it yet,” he said. “We just need a little time,
but it will come.”
Tommy
is not the only one to express his appreciation of the new
coupé. Andy Wallace, who has co-driven with Mike
and Tommy at Le Mans for the past three years, flew in to
England from the States to see the car make its debut this
weekend. “I’m amazed at how nice it looks,”
he said, a broad grin across his face. “It’s
an optical illusion, but it look smaller and neater. I’m
also hugely impressed by the quality. The way the doors
are put together, for example, and the neat way they close.
It’s so precise, and so perfectly made. The whole
car looks beautiful, with a cockpit like a jet fighter,
and I’d love to have a go!” He is confident
that it won’t take RML very long at all to prove the
car’s potential. We hope he’s right.
The
final free practice session is scheduled for 09:00 on Saturday
morning.
There
are high resolution images posted in the Silverstone
Gallery.
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