Le
Mans Series 2007
Round 3. Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers. June 29th - July 1st
2007
Race in Retrospect. Issued July 4th 2007
Looking
Back on RML's Historic Win
After
nearly exactly six hours of trouble-free running, the RML
MG EX264 rose up through the final Nurburgring Chicane and,
as Thomas Erdos rounded the top corner to swing out onto
the main straight, he shouted into the radio: “I’ve
got a problem. The engine’s blown!”
It
was a joke, thankfully, and maybe it wasn’t the most
tactful, but it reflected the thoughts that had been going
through the minds of everyone in the RML garage for the
previous half hour or more. Those watching the telemetry,
and familiar with Tommy’s voice and sense of humour,
could see that the AER was running at full chat and pulling
as strongly as ever as he powered down the straight to take
the chequered flag. Unfortunately, more than one person
listening in on the network took him seriously, and visions
of past disasters loomed large in their imagination.
Over
the past two seasons few teams can have dominated a category
as comprehensively as RML has in LMP2. With consecutive
class wins in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2005 and 2006, and
unbeaten to pole throughout the last season, it seems hard
to credit that victory in the Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers
last weekend was actually only the team’s third championship
win. Yes, they’ve lead almost every time, and often
by a country mile. We’ve also seen Thomas Erdos setting
fastest race laps and new records along the way, but time
and again, the car has encountered the kind of bizarre and
unforeseeable mishap that has robbed the team of that top-step
podium.
Looking
back to last season, there was that late-race puncture at
Spa, an exploding brake disk at the Nurburgring, and that
appalling punt off the line, even before the race had started,
in Istanbul. To cap it all, the engine expired six minutes
from the flag at Jarama, when they were not only leading,
but also looking certain to take the title. For the second
year in a row, they ended the season as runners-up. Luck
has rarely been so cruel.
In
that light, perhaps Tommy’s exclamation can be forgiven,
or at least, understood. (Mind you, he still had to go down
on bended knee afterwards to apologise to Mike’s wife!)
Such has been this devastating train of events, that something
like an engine failure was almost expected, and the sense
of relief when the MG crossed the line without being struck
by lightning, hit by wild boar, or something else equally
unforeseen, was almost palpable. It was Tommy’s way
of letting off steam, and after the performance he and co-driver
Mike Newton had just given, yes, it could be excused.
From
the RML perspective, that win at the Nurburgring is almost
on a par with taking the class at Le Mans. Not only did
they cross the line first, but also they did so in a race
that saw perhaps the best LMP2 survival record of any event
since the category was introduced. Every single LMP2 car
was still running at the end of six hours, and while one
may have missed the cut on distance covered, at least five
ran faultlessly. Mike Newton summed it up. “At the
start of this year, we wondered if we’d ever be able
to win this season on pace, what with the new chassis and
the strong driver line-ups being employed by the opposition.
For a pro-am pairing like ours, we did feel that, if there
was a race where everyone ran clean and strong, we’d
have to settle for second, or a lot worse. This has been
that race, and yet we’ve won, on pace alone. Up against
the Zytek, the ASM Lola, and others, we’ve taken it
from them, and it feels very, very good.”
A
somewhat contrite Thomas Erdos grinned sheepishly. “I’m
sorry if I upset anyone,” he said apologetically,
but he went on to share Mike’s sentiments about the
race. “This is why we do what we do,” he said.
“To have come to a circuit like the Nurburgring, and
to have beaten the opposition on outright pace, is a great
feeling. More than that, we were up against really tough
opposition here too – good teams with excellent chassis
and great drivers. It’s brilliant!”
While
Tommy did set fastest lap for LMP2 in the race, at 1:49.031
(marginally quicker than he managed last year), that kind
of pace doesn’t account for the full lap advantage
that the MG enjoyed as the Brazilian took the chequered
flag. Much of the credit for that must go to the team’s
pitwork, which was awesome to watch. During the course of
the race the MG spent less time in the pits than all but
one other car, LMP1 and works teams included, and was consistently
between five and eight seconds-per-stop quicker than its
nearest rivals. That equates to the best part of half a
minute over the course of the six-hour race – and
finding that amount of time on track, through traffic and
without having to overtake another car, is almost invaluable.
“This
has been a great performance by the whole team,” said
a delighted Adam Wiseberg, not long after he’d been
dragged on to the podium to collect the team trophy. “Everyone,
the pit crew, team management, strategist and, most especially,
the drivers, have all done so well today. And who can remember
the last time that fifteen prototypes finished ahead of
the first GT car?” Who indeed.
Credit
too to Mike Newton. Technically, of course, he remains one
of the sport’s “gentleman” drivers, but
quietly, and without a lot of fuss, he has dug deep over
the years and honed a natural talent that now places him
amongst the top ten quickest in LMP2 – no mean achievement
for a man who spends his weekdays as CEO of a major corporate.
He cites one of his own products as being largely responsible
for that improved personal performance. The MG carries AD’s
TransVu CCTV system (now marketed by RML through their X-Pro
brand) and this allows in-depth analysis of every lap the
car travels. Lines into corners, braking points, gearchanges
and every apex clipped can be checked and double-checked.
“It’s technology that’s certainly working
for us,” suggested Adam Wiseberg, after Mike found
an extra two seconds overnight between Friday and Saturday
practice.
Last
weekend the RML MG was out at the front of the class for
the entire race, save three laps when the first round of
pitstops came into play, and never missed a beat. Elsewhere,
LMP2 demonstrated pace and reliability like never before,
and went some way to restoring the credibility of a category
that suffered a serious blow at Le Mans just a fortnight
ago, when only two cars finished the 24 Hours. As far as
RML was concerned, winning at the Nurburgring was also some
recompense for the disappointment of missing the Le Mans
hat-trick. That time the engine did indeed “blow”,
but not in Germany. “We’ve been knocking at
this door for what seems like years,” concluded Thomas
Erdos. “Finally, it’s as if we’re through
the other side, and it feels fantastic.”
LMP2
Results from Nurburgring 1000 kms
Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Distance |
1 |
25 |
6 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX264 |
189
laps |
2 |
32 |
7 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Vergers/Ojeh/Barazi |
Zytek
07S |
187
laps |
3 |
40 |
10 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/de
Castro/Burgueno |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
187
laps |
4 |
27 |
11 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Van
der Poele |
Lola
B05/40 Judd |
186
laps |
5 |
45 |
13 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Cunningham |
Radical
SR9 AER |
185
laps |
6 |
31 |
14 |
Binnie
Motorsports |
Binnie/Timpany/Buncombe |
Lola
B05/40 Zytek |
183
laps |
7 |
35 |
15 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Nicolet/Filhol/Jouanny |
Courage
LC75 AER |
182
laps |
8 |
20 |
30 |
Pierre
Bruneau |
Rostan/Bruneau/Pullan |
Pillbeam
MP93 Judd |
170
laps |
9 |
21 |
35 |
Bruichladdich |
Moseley/Greaves |
Radical
SR9 AER |
165
laps |
10 |
29 |
42 |
T2M
Motorsport |
Longechal/Yamagishi |
Dome
S101.5 Mader |
159
laps |
11 |
44 |
NC |
Kruse
Motorsport |
Burgess/de
Pourtales/Siedler |
Pescarolo
C60 Judd |
151
laps |
For
the full race report, plase visit the Nurburgring
pages.
High
resolution images from Nurburgring may be viewed and downloaded
from the Nurburgring gallery.