Le
Mans Series 2009
Round 2. Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometres. May 8th-10th
2009
Sunday Review
Sunday
- Raceday
Although
the team has rebuilt a car in just a few hours in the past,
as they've proven many times under the pressure of race
conditions, the decision was taken not to rush the reconstruction
of the #25 Lola Mazda after Saturday morning's accident.
Having fitted a new engine after the failure at Barcelona,
the new regulations would have imposed a ten-place penalty
on the team in qualifying anyway, so rushing the rebuild
only to be guaranteed a start at the back of the LMP2 grid
seemed like an unnecessary risk. Instead the team worked
diligently throughout the day, but at a controlled and almost
leisurely pace - double-checking every nut and bolt, and
ensuring that the car would be 100% when it next took to
the track.
By
half-five most of the major work had been completed, and
no additional issues had been uncovered during the course
of the rebuild. Nevertheless, the entire left-hand side
of the car had been renewed, as well as floor, gearbox and
many other ancillaries. "The amount of work required
was not a million miles away from the level of damage we
had to repair when the car flipped at Le Mans last year,"
said Phil Barker. "The fact that the gearbox casing
was also involved gives some indication of the extent of
the damage, and this rates as a very major rebuild."
Indeed,
it's the kind of work the team might well have preferred
to tackle in the relative comfort of their workshops in
Wellingborough, but instead had to complete the task in
the cramped and slightly chilly conditions of a pit garage
in Spa. By seven in the evening the car was starting to
look like the finished item, and only the detailed checking
of the car's set-up on the flat patch remained to be done.
Having achieved such an excellent balance during Friday's
free practice session, when Tommy set quickest time in LMP2,
the drivers were keen that these settings could be safely
replicated for the race.
Warm
Up & Morning
At
just after 08:00 confirmation came through to the Media
Centre that Warm Up had been cancelled due to thick fog
and poor visibility all around the circuit. Strangely, the
teams were not told. A lengthy queue of cars had built up
on the exit of the pitlane before the news finally filtered
through to the team managers, just moments before the session
had been due to begin at half-past. The decision was relayed
via the timing screens.
This was not the best news for RML, who had hopes of running
as many laps as possible with the newly rebuilt Lola Mazda.
“Having no warm up was hardly ideal for us,"
said Phil Barker. "We’d have liked to have gone
out and checked that everything was OK, but we’ll
still do as much as we can as soon as the pitlane opens."
Many other teams shared RML's displeasure at the cancellation,
especially as the fog had largely cleared and only the pit
complex itself remained shrouded in a blanket of grey.
The
morning's events unfurled in their time-honoured fashion,
with Mike and Tommy sharing their time between preparations
for the race and fulfilling their duties to the team's guests
and the public. This included a half-hour stint at eleven
signing autographs in the paddock.
RML
had always anticipated being one of two teams starting the
race from the pitlane - the second being the Reiter Engineering
#79 GT2 Lamborghini - since neither had taken part in qualifying.
The news on Sunday morning was that five other cars would
be joining them. The #007 Aston Martin and #23 Strakka Racing
Ginetta-Zytek, which had started out on qualifying but then
been involved in incidents at La Source, would not be heading
for the back of the grid, as originally assumed, but would
also start from the pitlane.
The
Bruichladdich Radical, which failed to set a time in qualifying,
would be there as well, as would the Team Modena GT2 Ferrari,
which had failed scrutineering after being discovered marginally
under-weight - thanks to a new set of wheel rims that were
fractionally lighter than those used previously by the team.
When
the official grid was published, much later than expected,
the reason for the delay became clear. RML had been aware
of the penalty they faced for having installed a new engine
since Barcelona, but they were not alone. Seven other teams
had been similarly penalised, each car knocked back ten
places on the grid. Two of those were fellow Mazda-powered
LMP2 cars; Kruse's Lola and the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo,
both of which had suffered engine problems at the first
round. Although Kruse's problem had been turbo related,
it is understood that the seals marking the engine had been
broken in order to effect a repair, and this was enough
to warrant the demotion to row 16.
Takayoshi
Ohashi
There has been a very slight but not insignificant modification
to the RML Lola-Mazda's livery this weekend. A new badge
appears on the panel just below the windscreen. It reads:
"Takayoshi Ohashi - Never give up! - 55 - 18 Years
of Challenging Le Mans - Winner Mazda – Mazdaspeed
1991". The badge has been added as a mark of respect
for Takayoshi Ohashi, who was the driving force behind Mazdaspeed,
Mazda’s in-house race and tuning division. He passed
away on March 9, 2009 at the age of 67. All the Mazda-powered
cars in the Le Mans Series are carrying the small badge,
and Phil Barker at RML confirms that the team's Lola-Mazda
will also retain the badge for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Takayoshi
Ohashi was also Mazda’s main Tokyo distributor when
he established Mazdaspeed in 1968, initially calling the
outfit "Mazda Sports Corner". Over the next thirteen
years Mazdaspeed launched repeated challenges on major endurance
events around the world, culminating in an outright win
in the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Mazda 787 in 1991. Along
the way Mazdaspeed picked up another five class wins. Mazda
remains the only Japanese manufacturer ever to have won
at Le Mans.
The
Race
Race
coverage is created "live", and then driver quotes
and additional observations are added later. This can lead
to some inconsistency with tenses, for which we apologise
in advance.
Race
Start
As soon as the pitlane opened, Tommy was out on track and
storming up through Eau Rouge and into a series of in-out
laps. He completed about half a dozen circuits of the track,
negotiating the busy pitlane at the end of each one to return
to the garage. This stop-start routine made it hard for
him to generate any consistent heat in the tyres or brakes,
but he was able to report that the balance of the car felt
good. With ambient temperatures expected to rise as the
race develops, times should steadily fall.
After
the early-morning mist, the conditions by 12:30 were almost
perfect, with bright sunshine bathing the spring-green of
the surrounding trees in an almost ethereal light. The skies
are now bright blue, and sparsely dotted with light clouds,
and topped over by the criss-cross of vapour trails.
Tommy
was back into the garage at just after half-past so that
the team could check over the car and make a few tweaks
. . . and for Tommy to prepare himself appropriately for
the first two hours or so of the race.
12:38
The pitlane is closed, and the cars that aren't starting
from the pitlane have taken up their positions. A new addition
to the pitlane starter list is the #11 Oreca Matmut AIM
LMP1 car, to be started by Nicolas Lapierre. The car had
not enjoyed a good qualifying session, and would have been
starting from row 13. It is assumed that they have elected
to begin the race on a different set of tyres, and have
therefore been required to move to the pitlane.
12:45
Reports suggest that two, or perhaps three cars have failed
to make it round the track to the grid. The five-minute
siren is sounded.
Tommy
should be the third car leaving the pits - Aston Martin,
Strakka and then Tommy in the RML #25.
12:50
The cars move off the grid on their formation lap. A few
seconds later Phil orders the tyres to be taken and fitted
to the Tommy's car.
12:51
The Signature Plus #12 car goes off at Les Combes on the
warm-up lap and hits the tyres fairly hard.
The
cars in the pitlane are in the wrong order, and Tommy is
trying to make his way to the appropriate slot. Oreca #11
heads the Aston #007, with the Strakka Racing GZ third,
and then the Bruichladdich Radical. "I eased my way
in alongside," explained Erdos. "I lined up beside
the Radical, and then when the lights turned green, I just
pushed my way forward!"
12:53
The race gets under way. There's a
lot of jostling through La Source, and two cars spin off,
including the lead Aston Martin and one of the Pescarolos.
"With
the accident just visible out on the track, I was worried
for a while that they might hold us in the pitlane even
longer, but actualy they released us almost straight away,"
said Tommy. With the #12 Signature
Plus car still stranded at Les Combes, a pace car is despatched.
12:55
SAFETY CAR
Tommy catches up with the end of the pace car trail, having
been able to make a relatively leisurely and safe start
from the pitlane - knowledge of the safety car having already
been supplied to those waiting in the pitlane. "That
first safety car was very useful," he admitted later.
"We were able to catch up on the tail relatively easily,
and everyone was neatly bunched up." Tommy queued up
in 42nd place, with five cars behind him.
12:57
Timing screens reveal that the safety car will come back
in at the end of this lap. In LMP2 Xavier Pompidou has taken
the lead from Olivier Pla in the ASM Zytek, with Emanuel
Collard third in the #31 Porsche - not the best of starts
perhaps from the works driver.
13:00
GREEN FLAG
Racing resumes with Minassian leading overall for Peugeot
with the #9 second, and Bruno Senna third in the #10 Oreca
and really pressurising the #9 Peugeot.
13:02
The leaders complete their first proper racing lap, with
the two Peugeots now starting to ease away from Senna's
multi-coloured Oreca.
Tommy
has moved through to 12th in LMP2, ten seconds behind the
eleventh placed car. Olivier Pla has taken the lead in LMP2
from Pompidou, 9th overall.
13:06
Tommy's rise through the ranks continues, and he's moved
up to 27th overall and has made up that missing ten seconds
on the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo, which he passes on the
next lap.
13:08
Five laps into the race and Tommy has overtaken half the
field, and is standing in 23rd overall. Meanwhile, out at
the front, Senna is being harassed by Fassler in the #13
LMP1 Speedy Sebah Lola, who takes the Oreca car on the run
down towards Eau Rouge Senna slows later in the lap with
a puncture.
13:10
The next target for Tommy is the Kruse Lola Mazda, with
Hideki Noda in the cockpit.
13:12
SAFETY CAR
Inside half an hour and a second incident - Tommy reports
debris across the track at Blanchimont, although it may
be from Senna's flailing rubber. Tommy is now able to close
up on the next three positions. Tommy has been consistently
four seconds a lap quicker than Noda, and significantly
faster still over those immediately ahead of the Japanese
driver. "It was just a case of plugging away and working
through the field as best I could,"said Tommy. "You
had to be quite aggressive - perhaps more than I'd usually
be - but the car felt so good. It's just amazing what these
guys have done; to rebuild this car and then have it handle
so perfectly, without any chance to test it, was remarkable.
I'm just chuffed to bits to be working with people like
this."
Unfortunately,
the safety car has missed picking up the leader, and should,
by rights, now be letting cars through to collect Nic Minassian
in the #7 Peugeot. "The second safety car helped us
to stay in touch with the leaders. I'd been fighting through
the GT cars and slower prototypes, and that had allowed
the cars at the front to pull away. The safety car brought
us all back together again.".
Several
cars have pitted for fuel, and Tommy finds himself in 18th
overall and 8th in LMP2, just behind Noda, who has also
stayed out. The crocodile behind the Safety car is moving
quite slowly, of course, but the gap between Tommy and Olivier
Pla in the class lead is ten seconds.
The
debris has been cleared and racing should resume next lap.
13:22
GREEN FLAG
Racing gets under way again, but there's an incident immediately
at La Source when a GT2 Ferrari spins, and then is hit by
the #17 Pescarolo and a second car, although one of the
Kolles Audis is believed to have set up the incident. "That
restart was particularly hairy!" observed Tommy.
13:24
Tommy has made the most of the restart, and has moved through
to third in LMP2, having overtaken three on the restart,
made more of a leap by two of the class leaders becoming
entangled in the La Source fracas. One of those was Olivier
Pla, who slumps to 34th, and judging by the speed of his
descent, may actually be stopped. That's last place to third
in half an hour for the Brazilian.
13:27
The gap between Pompidou, who still holds the class lead,
and Tommy in third is now a mere five seconds, although
the pace of the Speedy Sebah Lola #33 and Collard, second
in the Team Essex Porsche, are much on a par with the RML
Lola Mazda at present. On the last lap, Tommy set a 2:11.991,
compared to a 2:13.542 for Collard and a 2:12.143 for Pompidou.
13:31
On the next lap the two leaders respond to the Erdos challenge,
and match his time. Out at the sharp end, Minassian leads
by four seconds from Gene in the second Peugeot, with Fassler
(#13) third, and then Guy Smith in the first of the Ginetta-Zyteks.
The two Astons are fifth and sixth (an impressive run from
the pitlane by Stephane Mucke in the 007 car) with the #11
Oreca seventh, just ahead of Peter Hardman, up to 8th from
the pitlane in the #23 Strakka Racing Ginetta-Zytek.
13:37
A few incidents among the leading pack, as Senna spins the
#11, and just before that, Guy Smith is tipped into La Source
and loses three places.
Tommy
sets a new fastest lap for the #25 Lola Mazda, with a 2:11.126.
It's still not quite as quick as the two ahead of him have
managed, but they've had the clearer track.
13:39
Filtering through traffic has not aided Tommy's position,
and he's dropped back to 8 seconds on Collard. However,
he's eased away by more than ten seconds from the fourth-placed
#29 Racing Box Lola.
Darren
Turner is in the middle of a nose-to-tail battle for third
overall with Fassler in the Speedy Sebah Lola - they share
an engine and a chassis, but the two cars look significantly
different.
13:43
Emanuel Collard gets ahead of Pompidou to take the class
lead. Tommy has a bad lap in traffic and loses four seconds.
Many
cars look to be setting themselves up for a pitstop - those
that didn't stop under the safety car. Fassler is the first
of the lead cars to head for the pits, but others are sure
to follow, but there are several who've suddenly set new
fastest laps.
13:48
PITSTOP
Tommy is advised to "pit this lap" and requests
a windscreen clean. There is concern because space in front
of the garage is cramped by neighbouring cars, who've also
elected to pit now.
Tommy
enters the pitlane. Fuel only. Pompidou has also stopped
for fuel on the same lap. It's a quick stop, but screen
still not ideal. The #41 Zytek inherits second in LMP2 -
other positions will be made clear after the next lap or
two.
Hour
2 (13:50-14:50)
The
second hour starts with Minassian still leading overall
from team-mate Marc Gene with Darren Turner third in the
first of the two Lola Aston Martins.
13:53
Tommy reports that he's picked up what he thinks is a puncture,
and it's sent him straight on into the barriers at Rivage.
He's unable to reverse out and the marshals have found it
hard to extract him. He had stayed on the same set of tyres
after his pitstop. The team usually double-stint the Michelin
tyres, and they consistently perform well over at least
two stints. "At the time I thought it was a puncture,
but I discovered later that there was a small amount of
oil on the track there. Two or three other cars went off
at the same place just after me. I was a total passenger
in the car at the time. The slippy bit must have been right
on the approach to the corner, and when I started to turn
in, the car just went straight on. Then I couldn't get the
car into reverse."
13:56
Tommy is back on track and making his way gently back to
the pitlane. He's having to travel very slowly, with some
damage to the front of the car.
13:58
Collard pits from the lead in LMP2. He'd moved through to
7th overall.
13:59
PITSTOP
Tommy radios in to say he's made it to the Bus Stop. He
arrives in the pitlane shortly afterwards. The team quickly
examine the car, and confirm damage to the nose. Tommy heads
back out with a replacement nose, although without the same
aerodynamic package as previously. He's dropped to 39th
overall. Not quite the back, but almost.
Elsewhere
in LMP2, Collard's dropped to 16th overall, fifth in class,
with the #41 Zytek now leading the class (9th overall) from
Pompidou, back into second, from Noda third in the #39 KSM
Lola.
Overall,
there have been more changes. While Minassian continues
to lead, but Gene has dropped two places to fourth, with
Boullion in the #16 Pescarolo second and Albers third in
the first of the Kolles Audis.
14:08
The #39 Kruse Motorsport Lola is given a stop-go penalty,
and will lose third as a result.
14:13
Having emerged in eleventh place, 39th overall, he's back
up to tenth, 30th overall, within ten minutes. He's tagged
on to the tail of the lead Peugeot and is following through
as best he can.
14:20
The car seems to be behaving normally, and Tommy's last
lap was a 2:11.164, making him the fastest runner in LMP2
at present. He's up to 29th overall.
14:25
With the #41 making a second scheduled pitstop, the lead
in LMP2 has been handed on to the #33 Speedy Sebah Lola,
10th overall, from Emanuel Collard second, 12th overall.
Third is currently the #29 Racing Box Lola. All three have
yet to make their second stop.
14:28
Tommy sets a new fastest lap for the #25 Lola, with a 2:10.427.
He radios in to thank the guys for putting together such
a great racecar. Unfortunately, all these great efforts
are earning small reward, since the extra pitstop and, more
particularly, the slow return to the pits after the "off",
have cost five laps.
14:42
PITSTOP
After a consistent run, steadily recovering lost ground
lap-by-lap, Tommy's second stint comes to an end, and he
heads back down the pitlane to hand over to Mike Newton.
It's a typical RML pitstop and driver change, with a disciplined
refuel while Tommy was extracted from the car, and then
with, the tank full, the designated mechanics set-to on
fitting a new set of tyres while others dealt with cleaning
the screen and other essential duties.
With
the stop complete, Mike powered out of the pitlane to rejoin,
albeit in 28th place overall.
Hour
3 (14:50-15:50)
Mike's
opening few laps were steady and controlled. "I was
working my way in gently, picking away at my braking points
and hoping to pick up my ace as the race developed."
Sadly, he wouldn't be offered that luxury.
14:50
MIke radios in to complain that the engine has started to
misfire. He's just starting what must be his fourth lap.
He
never gets as far as Les Combes. The engine gives way, with
the telemetry confirming that, once again, the Mazda unit
has suffered another catastrophic failure. He coasts the
striken car towards the outside of the complex, up the old
route of the circuit. Helped by the marshals, the car is
pushed back behind the safety barriers, race over.
Once
again, it will not be possible to state categorically what
has caused this second consecutive failure, but the early
signs are that this is a carbon-copy of the fault that ended
the team's race at Barcelona a month ago.
LMP2
Race Result
The
following is the result for LMP2 in the Spa 1000 Kilometres
2009. This remains a provisional order subject to appeals
by three teams: Racing Box Lola Judd #30, Barazi Epsilon
Zytek Z07S #32, and Team Felbermayr Porsche #77. All were
disqualified for technical infringements in post-race scrutineering.
Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Laps/gap |
Best
Lap |
1 |
31 |
8 |
Team
Essex |
Collard/Elgaard/Poulsen |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
139 |
2:09.123 |
2 |
33 |
9 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
0.654 |
2:10.096 |
3 |
35 |
14 |
Oak
Racing |
Ajlani/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
132 |
2:13.568 |
4 |
26 |
19 |
Bruichladdich |
Bruneau/Greaves/Coleman |
Radical
SR9 AER |
129 |
2:16.469 |
5 |
38 |
24 |
Pegasus |
Schell/Thirion |
Courage
AER |
127 |
2:15.830 |
6 |
39 |
29 |
Kruse
Schiller |
Marsh/Noda
/Sini |
Lola
B05/40 |
115 |
2:14.367 |
7 |
37 |
32 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Gommendy |
WR
Zytek |
110 |
2:13.106 |
8 |
40 |
33 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Ginetta-Zytek
GZ09S |
101 |
2:09.120 |
|
|
|
|
NOT
CLASSIFIED |
|
|
|
9 |
43 |
35 |
Q8
Oils Hache |
Moncado/Combot |
Lucchini
Judd |
88 |
2:16.377 |
10 |
41 |
39 |
GAC
Racing Team |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter |
Zytek 07S |
80 |
2:12.053 |
11 |
25 |
44 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
47 |
2:10.427 |
12 |
28 |
45 |
Ibanez
Racing |
Ibanez/da
Rocha/Cavailhes |
Courage
AER |
41 |
2:20.772 |
13 |
42 |
46 |
Ranieri
Randaccio |
Randaccio/Solieri |
Lucchini
McLaren |
35 |
2:28.551 |
14 |
30 |
47 |
Racing
Box |
Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
7 |
2:11.773 |
|
|
|
|
DISQUALIFIED |
|
|
|
15 |
29 |
48 |
Racing
Box |
Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
137 |
2:10.131 |
16 |
32 |
49 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Rees/Barazi |
Zytek 07S |
134 |
2:11.755 |
There
are high resolution images posted in the
Spa Gallery.
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