Final
Free Practice & Qualifying
An
early start at the Nürburgring, with the
first race of the day hitting the track at eight
o'clock. That was followed at 08:45 by the final
session of Free Practice for the Le Mans Series.
After
missing out yesterday on most of the track-time,
Mike was given first bite this morning, and
spent all but the final quarter-hour renewing
his acquaintance with the Nürburgring,
and improving his confidence in a car that he's
really had precious little experience of this
season.
He
started off strongly and within five minutes
of the pitlane opening had the RML Lola Mazda
sitting third in class, with a preliminary time
of 1:54.608. Mike was only just getting into
a rythym, however, when the session was paused
for the recovery of the Lavaggi, which had stopped
out on circuit. The red flags flew briefly,
and then the rack re-opened, and Olivier Pla
came through with a stunning first flyer for
the #40 ASM Quifel Ginetta-Zytek that shaved
several seconds off the best we've seen so far
this weekend for LMP2, but 1:46.516 was not
the best he could do. A few tours later, and
he found even more to his advantage, posting
1:44.858.
Mike
completed a couple of additional laps, improving
with a 1:52.774, before heading for the pitlane
at 09:10
for the team to make a few tweaks to the Lola.
Once back
out again, he continued to make steady improvements,
and had his best down to a respectable 1:52.195
after half an hour’s running.
Mike
completed a handful of additional laps before
pitting the #25 and handing over to Tommy for
the final fifteen minutes. The Brazilian eased
back into the style he'd demonstrated yesterday,
smoothly advancing up the timing screen lap
by lap, and topping out with a 1:45.605 that
bettered his Friday best by two seconds, but
remained eight-tenths shy of Pla's fastest in
the GZ.
LMP2
Free Practice 3
Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Best
Lap |
1 |
40 |
7 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Ginetta-Zytek
GZ09S |
1:44.858 |
2 |
25 |
10 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
1:45.605 |
3 |
33 |
12 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
1:46.941 |
4 |
29 |
13 |
Racing
Box |
Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini |
Lola
B09/80 Coupé |
1:47.822 |
5 |
41 |
14 |
GAC
Racing Team |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter |
Zytek 07S |
1:47.904 |
6 |
35 |
15 |
Oak
Racing |
Ajlani/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:48.458 |
7 |
37 |
16 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Gommendy |
WR
Zytek |
1:49.096 |
8 |
24 |
17 |
Oak
Racing |
Nicolet/Hein |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:49.998 |
9 |
30 |
18 |
Racing
Box |
Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini |
Lola
B09/80 Coupé |
1:50.006 |
10 |
26 |
19 |
Bruichladdich |
Bruneau/Vergers/Sini |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:50.945 |
11 |
43 |
20 |
Q8
Oils Hache |
Jorda/Cortes/Nieto |
Lucchini
Judd |
1:53.581 |
12 |
28 |
21 |
Ibanez
Racing |
Ibanez/da
Rocha/Cavailhes |
Courage
AER |
1:53.649 |
13 |
38 |
23 |
Pegasus
Racing |
Schell/Thiron/Metz |
Courage
AER |
1:54.473 |
Qualifying
High
clouds, bright sunshine and a baking track provided
excellent conditions for a closely contested
qualifying session, following on from a fairly
entertaining GT period. This had seen the Larbre
Saleen (Laurent Groppi) take GT1 pole ahead
of the #72 Luc Alphand Corvette, driven by Patrice
Gouselard. In GT2, pole fell to somewhat unexpectedly
to Pierre Kaffer in the #89 Hankook Ferrari
430, with Antonio Garcia second in the Modena
Ferrari and Marc Lieb third for Felbermayr.
Neither
GT1 cars managed to match the times they’d
achieved in Saturday’s final Free Practice,
with Goppi setting 1:55.158. In GT2, Kaffer’s
best of 1:57.982 was more than three seconds
faster than either he, or co-driver Allan Simonsen
had achieved, but Garcia’s time, and that
set by Lieb, were much in line with expectations
– just a tenth or two faster than their
previous bests.
These
times hinted at the possibility that the track
was not being as generous as it might first
appear, and there was certainly some hesitancy
among the prototypes to emerge onto the track
when the pitlane opened at 14:05. The #24 Oak
Pescarolo managed an entire lap on its own before
anyone else joined in, and even then it was
a select few.
Sixth
to the tarmac was Tommy Erdos, although he emerged
just behind Wolfgang Kaufmann in the LMP1 Lavaggi
– a car that has struggled so far this
weekend to set an appropriate pace. He'd hoped
to get past the car even before they'd completed
the out-lap, but it was not to be, so he hung
back, and began his first flyer with almost
the length of the pit straight between himself
and the Lavaggi's tail. Tommy’s first
sector was 50 seconds dead, and at this stage,
the fastest by anyone. A 39.4 for the middle
was third-fastest, but Kaufmann couldn't compete
with that kind of pace, and the Brazilian caught
the Lavaggi half way through the third sector.
Even so, he crossed the line 5th overall. His
first lap had been a 1:51.378. He had five seconds
to find, and a mobile LMP1 chicane to contend
with.
At
this early stage, every lap by a prototype was
faster than the last, and the leader-board changed
with every car that crossed the line. With seven
minutes gone, Fassler held provisional pole
for the #13 Speedy Sebah Lola Aston, with the
team’s sister car, the #33, holding a
tenuous grip on LMP2.
Only
four LMP1 cars had taken to the track with 8
minutes gone, but all twelve LMP2 prototypes
were on track.
Thwarted
by the Lavaggi, Tommy’s second, third
and fourth laps were no improvement on his first.
"Three times I dropped back so far that
I couldn’t believe I could possibly catch
him up again within a single lap, but each time
I did. Then I couldn’t get past him,"
said Tommy later. "The Lavaggi has the
more powerful LMP1 engine, and has a fair turn
of speed down the straights, but simply hasn’t
got the pace through the corners, where the
Lola is so good. It was so frustrating!"
With
half the session gone he sat 9th in LMP2, 12th
overall. Finally the rest of the LMP1 cars appeared
on track, including Danny Watts in the Strakka
Ginetta Zytek.
Seven
minutes remaining, and Tommy at last found the
space he needed, but had to do a two-minute
lap to do so. He crossed the line in 1:46.940,
once again tight under the tail of the LMP1
car. That was enough to notch up a few places
on the grid, closing to 5th in LMP2 (although
now only 11th overall, as more of the LMP1 cars
set new times). "I was clearly faster than
him, but he just wouldn’t let me past.
He was clearly “racing” me, but
why? There was no need. He did apologise afterwards,
but it was too late by then." Mr Erdos
was not a happy man.
With
just enough time for three laps remaining on
the clock, Fassler still held on to the top
slot overall, with Pla fastest in LMP2 (1:45.578)
and the similar GAC Zytek second, leaving the
#33 third.
It
was at this point that Tommy and Phil Barker
(RML Team Manager, watching the telemetry from
the pitwall) realised that he wasn't going to
be able to see out the session without more
fuel. "I hadn’t used my tyres too
much, but I had wasted a lot of fuel being stuck
behind the Lavaggi. I kept hoping I’d
get another stab at a quicker lap, but I was
running too low on fuel, and had to come in
for a splash more."
He
headed briefly for the pitlane for a top-up,
temporarily leaving the others to fight it out,
until he returned once more, refreshed and hopeful
of just enough time for a single lap. With the
exception of the aforementioned Lavaggi, languishing
down in 22nd overall, behind all but one of
the P2 cars, the screen gave the visual impression
of being correctly segregated into classes.
With
only three or four minutes to go, the #33 Speedy
Sebah Lola spun off heavily into the tyre wall,
sustaining extensive damage to the rear right
three-quarters. That brought out waved yellows
all the way through Turn Five, but the session
continued. Some drivers observed the yellows,
and eased back, others pressed on, and there
was a final flurry that saw Stefan Mucke take
pole for the #007 Aston Martin, followed by
Darren Turner in the #009, demoting Fassler
to third – still an Aston clean sweep,
but with the #008 a relatively distant 10th
overall, last-but-one of the P1 prototypes.
Tommy managed one more timed lap, but 1:47.23
wasn’t the improvement he’d hoped
for.
So,
no last-gasp changes in LMP2. Pole to Pla, second
to Philipp Peter in the #41 GAC Zytek, and third
to Pompidou in the somewhat disarranged #33.
Tommy held on to fifth, but with a time that
was considerably off the one he’d set
in final free practice. 1:46.940 was more than
a second shy of that earlier time, although
Pla’s pole time of 1:45.578 seemed to
confirm that the track hadn’t been as
accommodating.
LMP2
Qualifying
Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Best
Lap |
1 |
40 |
9 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Ginetta-Zytek
GZ09S |
1:45.578 |
2 |
41 |
11 |
GAC
Racing Team |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter |
Zytek 07S |
1:46.708 |
3 |
33 |
12 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
1:46.762 |
4 |
30 |
13 |
Racing
Box |
Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini |
Lola
B09/80 Coupé |
1:46.784 |
5 |
25 |
14 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
1:46.940 |
6 |
35 |
15 |
Oak
Racing |
Ajlani/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:47.498 |
7 |
29 |
16 |
Racing
Box |
Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini |
Lola
B09/80 Coupé |
1:48.098 |
8 |
37 |
17 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Gommendy |
WR
Zytek |
1:48.258 |
9 |
26 |
18 |
Bruichladdich |
Bruneau/Vergers/Sini |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:48.930 |
10 |
24 |
19 |
Oak
Racing |
Nicolet/Hein |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
1:49.770 |
11 |
43 |
20 |
Q8
Oils Hache |
Jorda/Cortes/Nieto |
Lucchini
Judd |
1:51.848 |
12 |
28 |
21 |
Ibanez
Racing |
Ibanez/da
Rocha/Cavailhes |
Courage
AER |
1:52.610 |
13 |
38 |
23 |
Pegasus
Racing |
Schell/Thiron/Metz |
Courage
AER |
1:53.076 |
Following
the Action
Radio
Le Mans has been broadcasting live on the Internet,
and on local FM (102.7), since the start of
first practice on Friday. Follow all the action
as it happens. Click the button below. As usual,
we shall be posting live during the race, so
in-depth news of Mike and Tommy's race will
be available on our Sunday page from approximately
one-hour into the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres.