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Final Free Practice & Qualifying

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: David Lord / DailysportscarAn 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 b
ack 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.

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC

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.

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC

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

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: David Lord / Dailysportscar

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.

Click here to open the Radio Le Mans home page

Live timing can be found by following the appropriate highlighted link here.
For high resolution digital photographs, please visit the Nürburgring
Gallery.

Le Mans Series 2009

Round 4. Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres.
August 22nd 2009
Saturday Review

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Friday Free Practice. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: David Lord / Dailysportscar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group, Nurburgring, Saturday Free Practice. Photo: David Lord / Dailysportscar