Sunday
Please
note that images will be added later
Hours
8-9 (12:00pm-2:00am)
The
race moved into Sunday with Thomas Erdos mid-way through
a lengthy triple stint, holding sixth place overall,
and the lead in LMP2. Further memories of 2005 were
generated by the demise of the second Belmondo Courage,
which retired early in the new day with transmission
failure. Last year the two AER-powered “Belmondos”
had taken the fight to RML all the way to the closing
minutes of the race, and might well have won the class
if they too had not encountered problems in the final
hours. This year their race was run far earlier, although
they will be back again in 2006, powered by bio-ethanol
fuels.
It
must have been with some relief that Tommy came down
the pitlane at 12:40 to hand over the MG to Andy Wallace,
who would himself be facing a similarly lengthy triple-stint.
The exchange of seats was rapid and routine, complete
with fuel and fresh tyres. The news from Thomas Erdos,
however, was not quite so encouraging. “There’s
a vibration coming from the front, and it’s getting
worse. My vision was getting blurred by the end of that
last stint, and there’s also a slight misfire.
The gear selection was also a bit temperamental at times,
but the vibration was the worst thing. The brake pedal
was pulsating, and that was making the car difficult
to drive.”
To
begin with Andy was able to drive through the problems,
and he pressed on regardless. A few laps further back
the #39 Lola was encountering the first of what would
be several garage-visiting problems, although it would
hold 9th overall and second in LMP2 for a while longer
yet. At quarter-past one Andy eventually admitted defeat.
The vibration was becoming so severe that he could hardly
see where he was going, and to continue could become
dangerous. The MG trundled down the pitlane, was rapidly
refuelled, and then dragged backwards into the garage.
The drivers had suggested that the front right-hand
corner was the source of the problem, and the telemetry
tended to support this assumption, so the engineers
set-to and replaced the entire upright, including brake
discs and callipers. This is quite a lengthy operation,
so other lesser issues were addressed at the same time.
The gear “pot”, or potentiometer, was replaced,
in the hope of addressing the gear-selection problem.
A turbo wastegate was also replaced, more as a precaution
than anything else, but the possibility of a “leak”
might help account for the loss of power identified
by Tommy at the start of the race.
Take
your car to the local garage and ask them to do that
much work, and they’d want to hold on to it for
the day and then charge you a fortune for the privilege.
RML’s efficient engineering crew had the whole
lot wrapped up in a quarter of an hour. Andy, who’d
sat patiently in the cockpit throughout, was roaring
away up the road again at half-past one having lost
just one place overall; to the class leading GT1 Corvette
# 64. Any fears that Warren Hughes might reap the benefits
of the MG’s extended stop were allayed by the
sight of the #39 Lola with the engine cover off, marking
the start of several problem pitstops for the Chamberlain
car. Come two o’clock Warren would have fallen
back to 14th overall, while Andy would be holding ninth
and the class lead.
Back to top
Hours
10-12 (2:00am-5:00am)
Soon after heading back into
the race Andy confirmed that the vibration had been
cured and he was able to press on unhindered towards
his next scheduled pitstop at 2:22. Mike, who had been
catching up on his beauty sleep in the team motorhome,
was given his wake-up call shortly afterwards, giving
him a generous half-hour to prepare for his next stint.
Some indication of how hot the day before had been came
through at quarter to three, when one of the tyre engineers
revealed that the track temperature, even at this stage
in the early hours of the morning, was still 26 degrees
centigrade. Little surprise then that some cars, most
notably Thomas Enge in one of the works Aston Martins,
had just recorded the car’s fastest lap of the
race.
Three-fifteen saw only the second
Safety Car period of the race, although this one had
no obvious cause. Several cars dived straight into the
pitlane, including Mike Newton, while the marshals carried
out a general tidy-up around the track – collecting
the #98 Porsche on the back of a flatbed, and elsewhere
clearing away scatterings of gravel and replacing uprooted
bollards. Mike was racing again by 3:17, and caught
the tail-end of one of the crocodiles out by Indianapolis.
The pause in proceedings lasted just ten minutes, with
the green flags waving by twenty-five past three.
The rest of the hour went smoothly
for Mike Newton, with the leading Audi coming by to
lap the MG at 3:43, and Mike being warned that the next
GT runner, the #009 Aston Martin DBR9, was only a lap
or so behind. Meanwhile, yet another problem for the
#39 Lola had allowed the #27 Miracle Motorsports Courage
through into second in LMP2, tenth overall, and five
laps behind the MG.
Ten past four, and Mike Newton
was back into the pitlane for a scheduled pitstop for
fuel and a visual check, the latter made at his insistence
after he said he’d clipped the edge of a kerb.
He was quickly sent on his way with the car passed fit
and well. It was the start of a smooth and unruffled
final stint for the AD Chief Executive, which included
a televised tussle with the #16 Pescarolo LMP1, way
down the order after earlier problems, but working hard
to get back into contention. Newton did not make it
easy for the Frenchman, and even once the P1 car had
got by, it was some while before a meaningful gap appeared
between them.
Back
to top
Hours
13-14 (5:00am-7:00am)
The
half-way mark in the race came and went almost unnoticed,
with Mike reporting back to the pits that he felt the
track wasn’t in too bad condition, but that perhaps
his tyres were starting to suffer. He was coming towards
the end of his stint, and he’d been driving hard
to maintain the kind of pace set previously by his co-drivers.
Five minutes later he took the side exit off the end
of the Porsche Curves and joined the lengthy pitlane
entry, weaving left and right behind the tyre wall,
and undulating over the hummock that defines the entry
to the pitlane proper. Tommy was there on the apron
waiting for him, surrounded by the rest of the crew.
As he pulled up neatly to a halt, straps already eased
but not undone, the refuellers stepped forwards. The
two drivers exchanged positions and seat inserts, Tommy
clambering down into the cockpit to be assisted with
his belts, just as Phil Barker blew the whistle to announce
that the fuelling was done, and the wheel-fitters could
go to work. With all four wheels replaced Tommy was
given the signal to start the engine, and then waved
off, a cloud of brake dust and a smear of rubber the
only reminder of his passing. The whole process had
taken about a minute at the most.
With the car running strongly,
the misfortunes of others became highlighted by the
MG’s progress. The Racing for Holland Dome, for
so long a serious challenger for an outright podium,
had suffered broken steering and crashed heavily on
one of the Mulsanne chicanes. Although several laps
ahead of Tommy at the time the incident happened, it
was less than twenty minutes before the Brazilian swept
passed the stricken Dome and moved into sixth position
overall – almost back to the earlier high of fifth.
At half past five on Sunday morning
the order in LMP2 stood as: RML MG Lola #25 leading,
sixth overall, with the #27 Miracle Motorsport Courage
second in class, but five laps adrift in 12th place.
Third, and even more distant, was the #24 Binnie Motorsports
Lola 05/42, 14th overall, with the #22 Rollcentre Radical
fourth, fifteenth overall. The long-time challenger,
the Chamberlain Synergy Lola #39 was still running,
with Warren Hughes making a routine pitstop at 5:37,
but had dropped off the bottom of the firs timing screen.
Any signs of the earlier handling
problems had disappeared, and with Thomas Erdos throwing
down regular laps in the region of three forty-eight
or better, the MG’s lead was growing steadily
greater. Further unscheduled pitstops for the #22 Radical
and the #39 Lola further narrowed the field to just
three serious contenders for LMP2 glory – RML,
Miracle and Binnie.
Just before six Erdos brought
the MG back into the pitlane for another scheduled fuel
stop. While data was downloaded from the onboard telemetry
a Michelin technician gave the tyres a quick once-over
and confirmed them fit for another stint,. In well under
a minute, Tommy was back on track again. His progress
was serene and relatively untroubled, with the MG circulating
well within it’s full potential.
Thirty minutes after the hour
Tommy added another lap to the Radical’s disappointment,
passing Martin Short at about the same time as RML’s
lead over the #27 Miracle Courage grew to eight laps.
Ten minutes later the MG crossed the line to notch up
its 200th lap, just ahead of Tommy’s last lap
of another faultless double-stint, and time to hand
on to Andy Wallace. “The car’s fine now,”
said a much happier-looking Thomas Erdos. “It’s
beautifully driveable – the brakes are good, the
gearbox is good, the engine’s good – it
all works, and it’s going well.” That’s
more than could be said for the track, which Tommy felt
was starting to show signs of wear. “The second
Mulsanne Chicane is much more uneven than it was, especially
from the second apex through to the end, and it’s
getting worse. It’s been a dry, fast race, and
the loads on the tarmac place a huge demand on the physical
structure of the road, and maybe the asphalt is suffering.
It’s the same at the Mulsanne Corner. These may
be low-speed corners, but as the cars come out on the
other side they’re accelerating hard and loading
an enormous amount of torque through the tarmac. That’s
fifty cars over a lengthy period and all trying to follow
the same line.” Adding to the pressure this year
may be the two Audi R10s, which are known to generate
more torque at the rear wheels than almost any other
car. Interestingly, the sections of track picked out
by Tommy are normally public roads.
The pitstop came at 6:48, and
after fuel, tyres and driver swap Andy was back on the
charge. Seven o’clock saw him move on to a total
of 206 laps.
Back
to top
Hours
15-17 (7:00am-10:00am)
The hours around dawn, when shafts of sunlight streak
down between the trees, and cresting a rise can bring
a driver face to face with the rising sun, are supposed
to be among the most difficult to cope with in the Vingt
Quatre Heures. Changing light is combined with subtle
variations in track temperatures and conditions, and
when a driver is already weary from several lengthy
stints at the wheel, mistakes are easily made. We witnessed
quite a few, but none from any of the RML drivers.
Experience tells, and Andy’s
stint turned out to be efficient and untroubled, working
through the first fifty minutes to a pitstop at 7:40,
and then pressing on for another forty-eight during
his second stint to hand over to Mike Newton at half
past eight. Along the way he’d passed the spectacular
end of the WR Peugeot, which erupted in flames beside
one of the Mulsanne chicanes, but this aside, the only
point of significant note was that Andy not only retained
the lead in LMP2, but also built upon it. “I’m
loving it!” he told the interviewer from Radio
Le Mans, and to see the grin on his face, you had to
believe him.
Mike’s first double-stint
of the morning went well, and apart from going round
and round in extended circles for an hour and three-quarters,
there was little to report. Towards the end of his second
stint the race entered its third Safety Car period,
caused this time by a trail of oil that ran through
Indianapolis and beyond for several hundred metres.
Deposited by the class-leading IMSA Performance GT2
Porsche, it must also have been present through some
of the earlier corners too, since the Zytek spun at
marginally over safety car speeds going through Muslanne
Corner, and caught the #16 Pescarolo, sending Emmanuel
Collard tripping across the gravel and back to the pits
for a precautionary pitstop. Elsewhere, Miguel Amaral
had pulled off in the #39 Chamberlain Lola complaining
of a complete lack of drive. The car, for so long a
contender in LMP2 would not be moving again.
The Safety Car actually came
at a convenient moment for RML, with Mike drawing near
to the scheduled end of his second stint. At five-to-ten
he and Tommy completed their pitstop and driver change,
just in time for racing to resume at five-past. Two
cars not joining in were the Chamberlain LMP2 Lola and
the Barazi Courage, both hitting mechanical problems
at the same time and heading for the garage.
Back
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Hours
18-21 (10:00am-2:00pm)
Everything continued to go smoothly.
At half past ten the hourly-update on Radio Le Mans
gave the RML MG as having completed 257 laps, thirteen
ahead of the #27 Miracle Motorsports Courage –
the equivalent of roughly fifty minutes on the track.
It looked like a useful cushion. At 10:44 Tommy returned
to the garage for his scheduled fuel stop, and was swiftly
en route once again. Unfortunately it was a brief resumption,
since the MG was back on the apron again fifteen minutes
later with electrical problems. The alternator belt
had broken, but the solution was a little more complicated
than simply fitting a new one. The idler pulley that
maintains the tension between the alternator and the
drive pulley had seized solid, and although the belt
had kept spinning over the top of it for some time,
it had eventually worn through and disintegrated, leaving
the car instantly short of power. Luckily the failure
had been picked up very quickly on the telemetry, and
the team had instructed Tommy to head directly for the
pitlane.
Erdos arrived on the dot of eleven
o’clock, and the crew was instantly into action.
Refuelled on the apron – always the first job
to be done whatever the reason for the pitstop –
the MG was quickly hauled backwards into the garage
using a trolley. Once there, the full complement of
personnel could turn a hand to finding and fixing the
problem. With the engine cover removed the broken belt
was easily spotted, and the faulty pulley identified
as the culprit. The EX264 now carries two alternators,
and the quickest fix was to swap the primary feed from
the one attached to the seized pulley to the secondary
engine alternator. While this was being done the supplementary
headlamp pod was removed from the front of the car and
the standard damper-cover fitted in its stead. At the
same time some extra padding was added beneath Tommy’s
seat, in some hope that this might help to alleviate
a sciatic nerve pain he’d been suffering since
the early hours of the morning. After exactly seventeen
minutes, Tommy was heading back out into the race and
running seventh overall, just a tad under four minutes
clear of the 007 Aston Martin.
Frustratingly, the fix proved
to be only a temporary cure. At 11:42 the whole scenario
was played out for a second time, with the rear cover
and sidepods removed, and people running backwards and
forwards between the garage and the truck in search
of spares. It transpired that the cables connecting
the alternators to the electrical system had suffered
internal fractures and the previous remedy had only
lasted a short while. The clatter of slamming toolbox
shelves echoed through the garage, accompanied by the
machinegun rattle of the wheelnut airgun, but the combined
noise failed to drown out the barked instructions that
kept the operation running smoothly. Six minutes after
the car had come to a halt, the engine was fired up
once more. A quick blip on the throttle, held at high
revs for a second, was sufficient to confirm that the
system was now charging properly again. There were thumbs
up all round.
It was 11:50 when the engine
cover was refitted and the car eased out onto the apron.
Once there, Andy fired up the engine and blasted back
out into the fray. Another ten minutes had been lost,
and the margin in hand over the second-placed Miracle
Motorsport entry was narrowing. In the overall stakes,
though, another position had been lost; this time to
the Luc Alphand GT1 Corvette, which moved through to
7th, leaving the MG on 8th, still ten laps clear of
the Courage.
After so many trouble-free hours,
the die-hard engineers and technicians in the RML garage
were now being asked to prove their mettle on a regular
basis, but at least they had a breather of nearly forty
minutes before their next call to arms. Once again it
was electrical and it came at 12:38, with Tommy bringing
the MG back to the garage with a misfire. Thankfully
it was quickly and relatively easily fixed, a new set
of plugs and coils having the two-litre AER singing
sweetly again inside five minutes. It was just enough
to drop the MG to tenth place overall, but still with
eleven laps in hand over the chasing LMP2 Miracle Courage.
The pitstop was also an opportunity to make a time-effective
driver change, with Tommy climbing out of the cockpit
for the first time in nearly three hours. “I feel
like I’ve been in the car for ever!” he
said, looking forward to enjoying a few hours rest.
The
drivers were continuing with double stints and Andy
would stay at the wheel for the next ninety minutes.
Having briefly lost the overall position during the
pitstop, the MG was swiftly eased back in front of the
Team Modena Aston Martin when it too stopped, and this
proved to be the only significant order change during
the first of Andy’s two stints. He called in for
fuel at half-past one, making a characteristically brief
and efficient pause outside the garage before being
sent back on his way. All signs of the earlier gremlins
had now disappeared, and he the MG was performing faultlessly,
allowing Wallace to set some of the fastest laps of
anyone on rack at the time. As two o’clock approached
the next distance milestone was passed, with 300 laps
covered in total.
Back
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Hours
22-23 (2:00pm-3:00pm)
Within the other categories the
most enthralling race was being played out in GT1, where
Aston Martin and Corvette were fighting out a twin-bladed
duel that could still go any one of four ways. Any one
of the top three contenders, the #009 Aston Martin and
either of the two Corvettes, was still in with a chance
of victory, but the #007 Aston was still close enough
to be in with a chance, and so was the #72 Luc Alphand
Corvette. In terms of overall positions, these five
were also in direct contention with RML’s MG,
but so long as the prototype continued to perform, there
should have been no real contest. When the #009 Aston
hit clutch problems at just after two, the #64 Corvette
moved into the lead of GT1, but with Andy circulating
in the three-fifties or better (typically five to eight
seconds quicker than these GT1 cars) he was rapidly
closing on the Alphand car.
Along the longer straights Andy
was probably within sight of the blue and yellow ‘Vette,
but would be denied the pleasure of passing for eighth
place by the need to stop for fuel. It would mark the
end of his double stint. At 2:15 he was back down the
pitlane, and Mike Newton was ready to take his place.
After nearly two hours without any recurrence of the
earlier mechanical maladies, it was just Mike’s
misfortune to be in the car when the next one struck,
at half-past two. On the one hand, it was easily fixed,
and the cost in time was a mere seven minutes, but out
on track the Modena DBR9 had moved through into ninth,
knocking the MG back to tenth overall. The two cars
would remain on the same lap for the next hour, marking
316 laps at ten past three.
For the past thirty years the
ACO, in association with ESCRA, has awarded a prize
to the four mechanics who have, in the opinion of the
ACO, demonstrated the “best technical assistance”
during the course of the 24 Hours. The 31st recipients
of this prize, which includes an elegant silver trophy
to each of the four, were none other than Vince Mitchell,
Rick Perry, Adam Hughes and Paul Smallcorn. In a brief
televised ceremony staged in the RML garage at half-three
a delegation from ESCRA and the ACO arrived to present
the award. Notably, the bottles of champagne were swiftly
whisked away for a later, more appropriate moment! Although
quick to point out that they were part of a much larger
team, the contribution of these four towards keeping
the #25 RML MG on track has been extraordinary. Despite
many hours without sleep while the car ran faultlessly
during the earlier periods of the race, they reacted
instinctively and without hesitation when problems struck,
repairing and rebuilding to an exceptional standard,
and rewarding the team’s drivers with a car that
handled perfectly and inspired confidence. They could
not have been expected to do more, although there’s
little doubt that, had they been asked, they’d
have found the reserves to do so. Great credit to them,
and all the guys in the team, for a fabulous job, expertly
done, and with good spirit and humour.
The timing of the presentation
was perfect, coming just after the last pitstop for
Andy Wallace, who had handed the car back to Tommy for
the Brazilian’s final stint. It gave everyone
time to share the congratulations and then recompose
themselves for the last ninety minutes of the race.
The final hours in the Le Mans 24 take on an almost
other-worldly feel, and it is sometimes difficult to
balance the sense that the race is nearing its conclusion
with the fact that more time remains than is often assigned
for a complete “endurance” race in other
series. The cars continue to drone round the circuit,
many still posting very respectable times, but others
clearly nursing problems or desperately trying to coax
an ailment through the final miles. Thankfully RML’s
AER engine continued hum with metronomic reliability,
and Tommy was setting some of the fastest times of any
car still racing, including most of the leading LMP1
contenders. Although the MG enjoyed a massive lead over
the Miracle Courage, there was still that desire to
move back up the overall order, and with three cars
on the same lap, the chances were good.
If the MG’s lead in LMP
2 was generous, the same could not be said for Miracle’s
hold on second. After hours of dependable if unspectacular
running, the red and black car was coming under considerable
pressure from the much faster but occasionally troubled
Binnie Motorsports Lola #24. It was a battle that would
eventually fall the way of the Lola, but was in doubt
all the way to the flag. Like the battles for the lead
in GT1 and GT2, it gave the massive crowd of some 235,000
spectators something to follow, since the race for the
overall lead had settled into a trough of silver-edged
predictability.
With
the drivers single-stinting to the end, it would be
Mike Newton who would have the honour, and enjoy the
pride, of taking the chequered flag in 2006. Last year
he had stood on the concrete pit wall and displayed
his delight to the world. He seemed a little relieved
to think that he’d be able to enjoy the moment
this year from within the relative anonymity of a racing
helmet. He was pulling that over his head as the #009
Aston Martin, for so long the leader in GT1, left the
pits after its clutch change. Following hours with the
promise of victory smelling sweet in their nostrils,
the car’s drivers would now be making up the numbers,
but at least they’d be finishing the race. To
many that alone is a significant achievement, and something
twenty-five out of the fifty starters wouldn’t
survive to enjoy. For the first time in several years
the race was not affected by rain, but the constant
searing heat took its toll, and the number of shuttered
garages at the close reflected the high rate of attrition
in the 74th running of the Vingt Quatre Heures.
Back
to top
Finish
(4:00pm-5:00pm)
At
a little after four-ten, Mike Newton set off up the
rise towards the Dunlop Bridge. For the next fifty minutes
he and the car simply had to maintain a steady pace.
The MG’s lead stood at seventeen laps, which was
more than the second-placed Lola #24 could physically
cover in the time remaining. That meant the victory
was assured, providing the car kept going. In order
to be classified, a car must not only cover 70% of the
total number of laps completed by the winning car, but
must also take the chequered flag under its own power.
The pressure was still on! Elsewhere in the pitlane,
cars that had been hidden away, some for several hours,
started coming back to life for that very reason. The
#22 Radical had been nursing a cracked cylinder head
since the early morning, aided by generous doses of
Radweld, and kept emerging from time to time to add
a few more laps to its total. It now barked back into
life and sped off towards the track. The #19 LMP1 Chamberlain
Synergy Lola had serious gearbox problems, but somehow
the ingenious Hugh Chamberlain had managed to contrive
a way of offering his drivers at least one gear that
worked, and it too emerged from the shadows. The yellow
car would end up being the last car classified, 113
laps behind the winners.
While Mike and the MG continued
to speed round the 13.5 kilometer circuit, the activity
in the garage turned towards packing up. With the falling
of the chequered flag, the crowds would be released
from the stands, and descend upon the pitlane like t-shirted
vultures, seeking souvenirs and other tasty pickings.
It has become a necessary tradition that teams start
to dismantle their pitwall awnings, signalling boards
and other equipment in good time for the finish. A favoured
grab by the bounty-hunters is the panel above the garage
door that proclaims the team name, car type and number.
Vince was sent up a set of steps to perch on the top
rung and snip the tiewraps to release RML’s. Others
were not so quick, and at least three were later seen
being run out of the pitlane.
As five o’clock approached
the cars still running started to clique together in
small groups; the two Audi R10s to create the perfect
photo finish, with smaller fry lingering in the background
hoping to be a part of that sure-to-be-famous picture.
The two Corvettes paired up, as did the Pescarolos,
one heading for second place overall. Mike was on his
own, and this seemed more appropriate somehow. The reverse
clock on the gantry ticked down, and at two minutes
to five the two Audis went through the valley of grandstands
for the very last time. Their last lap would also be
the slowest of their race, but they would achieve that
photograph Audi wanted and make motor racing history.
When the #8, driven by Biela, Pirro and Werner took
the flag at 5:04, it would be as the first diesel-engined
car ever to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. Second was the
#17 Pescarolo C60, driven by Helary, Montagny and Loeb,
and third the #7 Audi of Kristensen, McNish and Capello.
Fourth overall, and winning GT2,
was the Corvette of Gavin, Beretta and Magnussen, with
the second Pescarolo recovering to fifth, the first
of the works Aston Martins sixth, the Luc Alphand Corvette
seventh and, crossing the line in splendid and richly
deserved isolation in eight place, Mike Newton in the
RML MG Lola EX264. A mere eight seconds behind him,
and racing all the way, was the Russian Age Team Modena
Aston Martin in ninth. On the pit wall to welcome him
home were Mike’s co-drivers and all the RML squad.
It was an emotional moment for everyone – not
only because the team had repeated the class win of
2006, but also because they’d done it from the
front. The MG led LMP2 for all but a small handful of
laps, and the category effectively threw off its reputation
for being fast but fragile. Still fast, the MG also
proved itself rugged and, on the whole, reliable. Including
regular pitstops, the MG had spent just one hour, thirty-six
minutes in the pits, which compares favourably with
the thirty-nine minutes total spent in the pits by the
winning Corvette, the least of any car in the race.
As the final car crossed the
line the hordes were released from behind the fencing,
moving in a seething swathe across the track. For the
second year running Mike and Tommy would stand on the
top step of the podium in the most famous motor race
in the world. Sharing their jubilation this time would
be a man who’s also known that experience more
than once before; Andy Wallace. Joining the three drivers
would be Phil Barker, the team manager and mastermind
behind RML’s race strategy; Ray Mallock, team
owner, and Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director of AD
Holdings. Their ceremony came come after the LMP1 winners
had been presented with trophies and champagne, an opportunity
for Bruno Vendestick to build up the big occasion in
his inimitable style. A massive crowd of nearly 80,000
had filled the pitlane and adjacent track to witness
the presentations, and a huge cheer went up when the
RML squad stepped out onto the platform to receive their
trophies. The support for the MG has been particularly
noticeable this year, and enormously appreciated by
the drivers especially.
A lengthy press conference for the Audi and Pescarolo
teams meant that the race had been over for much more
than an hour before Mike, Tommy and Andy sat down in
front of the microphones. David Waldron, the ACO’s
English language commentator, introduced the trio, and
asked the questions. Had this year’s win been
easier than last year? Mike reckoned that it was never
easy to win at Le Mans, but this year the team had done
it from the front, and finished in the top ten. Did
Tommy think the change to the AER engine had been a
risk? Everything in motorsport was a calculated risk,
came the reply, but why ask the driver? “I don’t
make decisions like that,” said Tommy. For Andy,
how did winning LMP2 compare with victory outright for
Jaguar in 1988? Andy admitted that he would not have
come back to Le Mans unless he could drive for a team
with a realistic chance of winning. He’d not been
offered the chance to drive with Audi or Pescarolo,
so when the invitation came to drive the RML MG, he
was delighted to accept. “RML is a fantastic team,
and we’ve had a fairytale result,” he said.
With
all the podium teams from GT1 and GT2 sharing the conference,
it was almost seven o’clock before the three RML
drivers could be released and hurry across to the AD
hospitality suite above the garage, where the rest of
the team, plus assembled guests, had been waiting to
congratulate the drivers and their mechanics. Martin
Haven, the voice of Motors TV, introduced the three,
and embarked on a lengthy but fascinating interview,
asking appropriate and incisive questions about the
last 24 hours. I would be some time before the team
could escape to the relative privacy of their own celebrations
– for a job well done, and a mission completed.
Winning Le Mans in 2005 was a remarkable achievement
for RML and the MG Lola. To do so for two years in succession
is tribute to the quality of their work and their dedication
to the sports prototype programme.
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Marcus
Potts
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