Le
Mans Series 2009
Round 3. Autodromo do Algarve 1000 Kilometres.
August 1st 2009
Qualifying Press Release. Issued August 1st 2009
Snakes
& Ladders for RML
Tommy
Erdos took an RML Lola back up to the front row in LMP2
for a round of the Le Mans Series for the first time for
over a season by qualifying second for today's Algarve 1000
Kilometres, only to see his achievement knocked back ten
places down the grid just a few minutes later.
The
penalty wasn’t unexpected, but still came as a considerable
disappointment after the team had worked so hard to achieve
a near-perfect set-up for the undulating and very technical
Autodromo do Algarve. Unfortunately, an engine
failure in the previous round at Spa meant a new unit had
to be fitted ahead of the Portuguese race, and that incurred
an automatic ten-place qualifying penalty and a further
two-point deduction from the team’s championship tally.
So, instead of lining up second in class and 12th overall,
the RML Lola Mazda Coupé will begin from 21st and
last-but-one in LMP2.
“It’s
very disappointing to get penalised in this way, through
no fault of our own,” said Tommy Erdos, “but
it’s in the regulations, and we have to abide by the
organisers’ decision. At least we know what we’ve
achieved. The chassis is great – just fantastic -
and the handling is excellent. We made some bold changes
after the last Free Practice session, and they were the
right changes. All credit to the team, they’ve created
a really good car for us, and even though we’ll be
starting from the second half of the grid, I’m still
looking forward to carrying that potential into the race.”
Not
since Silverstone in September 2007 has a red, white and
blue RML Lola qualified as high as second in class, although
race performances have often seen Tommy leading before the
end of his opening stint. “I only did three flying
laps today before coming back to the pits, but there’s
no doubt in my mind that we could have gone even quicker.”
It is not so long ago that RML’s previous MG Lola
EX264 would have been habitually fighting for pole, and
the team would often bring Tommy into the pits for the second
half of the session. This time the air temperature continued
to fall, by more than two degrees, and conditions improved
enough towards the end to aid Olivier Pla in setting a faster
time. “In truth, it was a bit of a surprise not to
see Olivier going into the thirty-threes,” admitted
Tommy, “but you have to put the tyres on for qualifying
that you’ll use to start the race, and in its own
way, that tells a story. It was nice to split the Zyteks
at last, and be the fastest Lola, even if only for a short
time. Very satisfying.”
In
the minutes after the chequered flag fell, Mike Newton,
co-driver and CEO of AD Group, was in high spirits. “It’s
some good news in what’s been an extremely challenging
weekend,” he said. “Today’s is the best
qualifying position so far achieved for the Lola Coupé,
and it proves that the complete Lola Mazda package can become
a very competitive prospect when we can overcome the reliability
issues.”
However,
having been penalised for one engine change, the team has
taken the decision to make another ahead of the race. “After
qualifying was over the engine technicians encountered some
data that gave them cause for concern,” Mike added
later. “As a precautionary measure, they’ve
decided to replace the designated engine. This will most
probably result in yet another penalty for our next race
at the Nurburgring, where we will have to fit another
new engine in order to complete the season at Silverstone.”
A regulation change that was originally envisaged as a cost-cutting
measure is actually costing some teams a small fortune.
Those
engine issues aside, Team Manager Phil Barker was pleased
with the way the car had performed. “It has been very
difficult to sort out a balance when the conditions have
been changing so much, and the hottest daylight sessions
can have no real bearing on what we’ll face in the
race. Despite that, we seem to have established that the
car is very quick, especially on old tyres. Tommy’s
quickest time (in Thursday evening’s practice session)
was set on tyres that had already double-stinted, so we’re
confident that the car can remain very competitive over
an extended period.
Pauline
Norstrom, Director of Worldwide Marketing for AD Group,
was “delighted with what was our best qualifying run
for nearly two years. That much has been very encouraging.
The car always shows that it has great potential, but going
all the way has eluded us so far this year. We must hope
that our good fortune holds out for the race this evening.”
That
race starts at 19:15 (UK and local time) and will continue
through to 01:15, or until 1000 kilometres is completed,
whichever is achieved first. The start and finish will be
shown live on Eurosport.
LMP2
Qualifying
Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Best
Lap |
Diff. |
1 |
40 |
10 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Ginetta-Zytek
GZ09S |
1:34.296 |
- |
2 |
25 |
12 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
1:34.728 |
0.432 |
3 |
41 |
13 |
GAC
Racing Team |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter |
Zytek 07S |
1:34.752 |
0.456 |
4 |
29 |
14 |
Racing
Box |
Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
1:34.948 |
0.652 |
5 |
33 |
15 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
1:35.100 |
0.804 |
6 |
30 |
16 |
Racing
Box |
Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
1:35.448 |
1.152 |
7 |
35 |
17 |
Oak
Racing |
Ajlani/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:37.076 |
2.780 |
8 |
37 |
18 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Jouanny |
WR
Zytek |
1:37.088 |
2.792 |
9 |
24 |
19 |
Oak
Racing |
Nicolet/Hein |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:38.396 |
4.100 |
10 |
43 |
20 |
Q8
Oils Hache |
Jorda/Cortes/Nieto |
Lucchini
Judd |
1:39.296 |
5.000 |
11 |
28 |
21 |
Ibanez
Racing |
Ibanez/da
Rocha/Cavailhes |
Courage
AER |
1:39.940 |
5.644 |
12 |
26 |
22 |
Bruichladdich |
Bruneau/Greaves/Sini |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:40.820 |
6.524 |
For
high resolution digital photographs, please
visit the Algarve
Gallery.
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