Friday
at Paul Ricard
Just
a month after the official ACO test days at
Paul Ricard, the teams are back for the opening
round of the 2010 Le Mans Series season. A
total of 41 cars are entered, comprising eight
LMP1, twelve LMP2, seven Formula Le Mans (FLM),
just one GT1 entry, and thirteen GT2.
Most
of those who took part in the test have returned,
but there are also some additions. In LMP1,
a single R15 TDI has arrived from Audi Sport
Team Joest to challenge the privateer Peugeot
908HDi from Oreca Team Matmut. The Peugeot
factory is absent for this race, although
three cars are expected for the next round
at Spa.
The
LMP2 list is much as expected, with only two
additions to the class since March 7th/8th.
These are the Zytek-engined WR Salini, and
the Pegasus Racing Courage AER. Both were
regulars in the Series in 2009, although the
WR Salini is believed to have undergone significant
development over the winter, and the Pegasus
Courage has abandoned the Avon tyres that
it championed in 2009. The Pegasus entry is
now the only car in LMP2 to have retained
a four-cylinder turbocharged powerplant.
After
an encouraging showing at the test, GT1 is
down to just one representative for the Paul
Ricard 8 Hours, with Larbre Competition the
only team to have committed to a full season
in the Le Mans Series. Their Saleen S7-R is
guaranteed a win . . . as long as it goes
the distance. In contrast, GT2 continues to
enjoy great support, and the twelve-car grid
includes four Porsches, six Ferraris, a Spyker,
a BMW and an Aston Martin Vantage. While there
are a favoured few among that list, almost
any of the dozen could end up on the podium,
such is the closely contested nature of the
category this year.
Changes
at the Track
The
contractors have made best use of the weeks
since the Test, and the new pit garage complex
is complete. This provides generous space
for another fourteen cars in five well-appointed
units, and the FLM cars have been accommodated
there, alongside Quifel ASM, WR Salini and
a handful of GT2 squads.
The
former team car park area has been set aside
as a support paddock, which this weekend includes
F3 Euro Series, Classic Endurance Racing and
French Formula Ford.
Radio
Le Mans
Full
coverage of all the practice sessions will
be aired live on Radio
Le Mans.
First
Practice Session
The
day's first session of free practice got under
way at 12:40 local time, although true to
form, Tommy was held back in the garage for
just a few minutes to enable the engineers
to complete all their final pre-run checks,
and for the throng of cars to spread out a
little more evenly around the circuit.
With
nearly ten minutes completed, the red, white
and blue Lola eased out into the pitlane and
headed off to join the masses. Up until this
point, Danny Watts in the Strakka Racing HPD
ARX had been comfortably quickest in the class,
but Tommy's first flyer of 1:49.551 bettered
that by nearly two-tenths, and placed the
RML AD Group car #25 in seventh overall. Early
examination of the split times suggested that
the Lola was perhaps two seconds quicker through
the final third, but the Strakka car had an
edge through the middle sector.
Tommy
completed five timed laps before returning
to the pitlane for some tweaks. While he was
there, Watts posted an improvement for Strakka
of 1:48.160, which not only regained top slot
in LMP2, but also moved ahead of the #12 Rebellion
LMP1 Lola. Erdos rejoined at 13:12, but only
completed three laps before returning to the
pitlane, where Mike Newton was waiting to
take over.
Tommy's
initial thoughts were that the car was perhaps
not as quick along the Mistral as it had been
during the test, "but that's almost certainly
down to the warmer ambient temperatures here
today, and that will be affecting everyone
else as well. The circuit also feels very
different from the test days. It may be warmer,
but the track feels very "green",
with lower grip levels." That will improve
over the next two days as the continued use
of the track cleans away the dust and surface
grime. A thin film of rubber will also be
set down, the smallest grains filling the
microscopic gaps in the tarmac and improving
adhesion, while larger granules will build
up along the margins of the racing line to
create the "marbles" that will punish
drivers who stray wide.
"It's
early days yet,"shrugged the Brazilian,
"and we're not concerned by lap times
or competitiveness at this stage. We're still
making adjustments in the cockpit to ensure
that everyone's comfortable, and we'll be
making more changes to the set-up before the
next session."
At
13:25, Mike eased out onto the track to run
through to the end of the session at 13:40.
By this time the ASM Quifel Ginetta Zytek
in the hands of Olivier Pla had moved through
to second in LMP2, posting a time that bettered
Tommy's first flyer by three tenths. Danny
Watts had handed over the Strakka HPD to Nick
Leventis without improvement. Mike completed
his quarter-hour very contented by progress.
"I completed an aggregate 53.4 towards
the end of the run that would have been very
pleasing," he conceded. He was also happy
to be carrying more speed through the challenging
Signes Curve than he ever has before.
In
the final few minutes Pla made a further improvement
for ASM, but elsewhere there was little to
report in LMP2 - except perhaps that the Formula
Le Mans cars were showing strongly in the
midfield, with the Applewood Seven car posting
a very respectable time. The #24 Oak Racing
Pescarolo managed to complete just one, slow
lap and spent much of the session in the garage.
Elsewhere, the #6 Oreca Matmut AIM stopped
out on track and was returned to the paddock
on a flatbed. The car had been fastest overall
in the Ricard test lat month, but was third
this morning on 1:44.660, narrowly behind
the #4 Oreca Peugeot (fastest with 1:44.154)
and the Audi R15 (second on 1:44.397).
"This
has been our first run since the test here
last month," said Phil Barker, Team Manager
at RML. "We have been able to push on
the Dunlop tyres for the first time. It was
simply too cold here in March, but the track
and ambient temperatures today have allowed
us to learn so much more. The drivers are
generating far higher g-forces through the
corners, and that meant changing some aspects
of the set-up and trimming the balance to
suit, but the results have been very encouraging."
First
Session - LMP2 Times
|
# |
o/a |
Team |
Car |
Drivers |
Session
1 |
1 |
42 |
8 |
Strakka
Racing |
HPD
ARX -01c |
Leventis,
Watts, Kane |
1:48.160 |
2 |
40 |
10 |
Quifel
ASM |
Ginetta-Zytek
09S |
Amaral,
Pla, Hughes |
1:49.065 |
3 |
25 |
11 |
RML
AD Group |
Lola
HPD Coupé |
Erdos, Newton, Wallace |
1:49.551 |
4 |
30 |
12 |
Racing
Box |
Lola
Coupé B09 Judd |
Geri, Piccini, Piccini |
1:50.221 |
5 |
35 |
13 |
Oak
Racing |
Pescarolo
- Judd |
Hein, Moreau |
1:50.924 |
6 |
41 |
14 |
Bruichladdich |
Ginetta-Zytek
09S |
Ojjeh, Greaves, Ebbesvik |
1:50.943 |
7 |
37 |
15 |
WR
Salini |
WR-Zytek |
Salini,
Salini, Gommendy |
1:53.047 |
8 |
29 |
16 |
Racing
Box |
Lola
Coupé B09 |
Cioci, Perazzini, Pirri |
1:53.514 |
9 |
49 |
17 |
Applewood
Seven |
Formula
Le Mans |
Toulemonde,
Zollinger, Zampatti |
1:56.150 |
10 |
47 |
18 |
Hope
PoleVision |
Formula
Le Mans |
Zacchia,
Moro, Kaufmann |
1:56.514 |
11 |
48 |
19 |
Hope
PoleVision |
Formula
Le Mans |
Beche,
Pillon, Capillaire |
1:56.579 |
12 |
27 |
20 |
Race
Performance |
Radical SR9 - Judd |
Frey, Meichtry, Dueck |
1:56.617 |
13 |
45 |
21 |
Boutsen
Energy |
Formula
Le Mans |
Kraihamer, de Crem, Delhez |
1:56.854 |
14 |
39 |
22 |
KSM |
Lola
B08/47 Judd |
de Pourtales, Noda, Kennard |
1:56.938 |
15 |
44 |
23 |
DAMS |
Formula
Le Mans |
Stirling, Hines, Piscopo |
1:58.539 |
16 |
36 |
24 |
Pegasus
Racing |
Courage-Oreca
AER |
Schell, Metz, Da Rocha |
1:58.671 |
17 |
43 |
27 |
DAMS |
Formula
Le Mans |
Barlesi,
Cicognani, Chalandon |
1:59.639 |
18 |
46 |
29 |
JMB
Racing |
Formula
Le Mans |
Kutemann,
Basso, Hartshorne |
2:00.095 |
19 |
24 |
- |
Oak
Racing |
Pescarolo
- Judd |
Lahaye, Nicolet |
No
Time |
Tyre
Manufacturer denoted by: |
Dunlop |
Michelin |
Pirelli |
Second
Session
The
day's second session started just behind schedule,
but continued through until 17:25. In the
RML pit, Thomas Erdos started the period with
a brief five-lap stint before handing over
to Mike Newton, who then remained in the #25
Lola for the middle two-thirds. Andy Wallace
then rounded off the hour by completing the
final fifteen minutes.
Second
Session - LMP2 Times
|
# |
o/a |
Team |
Car |
Drivers |
Session 1 |
Session 2 |
1 |
40 |
10 |
Quifel
ASM |
Ginetta-Zytek
09S |
Amaral,
Pla, Hughes |
1:49.065 |
1:47.732
|
2 |
42 |
8 |
Strakka
Racing |
HPD
ARX -01c |
Leventis,
Watts, Kane |
1:48.160 |
1:47.743 |
3 |
35 |
13 |
Oak
Racing |
Pescarolo
- Judd |
Hein, Moreau |
1:50.924 |
1:48.840 |
4 |
41 |
14 |
Bruichladdich |
Ginetta-Zytek
09S |
Ojjeh, Greaves, Ebbesvik |
1:50.943 |
1:48.998 |
5 |
25 |
11 |
RML
AD Group |
Lola
HPD Coupé |
Erdos, Newton, Wallace |
1:49.551 |
1:50.050 |
6 |
37 |
15 |
WR
Salini |
WR-Zytek |
Salini,
Salini, Gommendy |
1:53.047 |
1:50.678 |
7 |
24 |
- |
Oak
Racing |
Pescarolo
- Judd |
Lahaye, Nicolet |
No
Time |
1:51.355 |
8 |
29 |
16 |
Racing
Box |
Lola
Coupé B09 |
Cioci, Perazzini, Pirri |
1:53.514 |
1:51.365 |
9 |
30 |
12 |
Racing
Box |
Lola
Coupé Judd |
Geri, Piccini, Piccini |
1:50.221 |
1:51.937 |
10 |
49 |
17 |
Applewood
7 |
Formula
Le Mans |
Toulemonde,
Zollinger, Zampatti |
1:56.150 |
1:54.027 |
11 |
27 |
20 |
Race
Performance |
Radical - Judd |
Frey, Meichtry, Dueck |
1:56.617 |
1:54.461 |
12 |
44 |
23 |
DAMS |
Formula
Le Mans |
Stirling, Hines, Piscopo |
1:58.539 |
1:55.004 |
13 |
47 |
18 |
Hope
PoleVision |
Formula
Le Mans |
Zacchia,
Moro, Kaufmann |
1:56.514 |
1:55.190 |
14 |
45 |
21 |
Boutsen
Energy |
Formula
Le Mans |
Kraihamer, de Crem, Delhez |
1:56.854 |
1:55.345 |
15 |
36 |
24 |
Pegasus
Racing |
Courage
AER |
Schell, Metz, Da Rocha |
1:58.671 |
1:55.811 |
16 |
48 |
19 |
Hope
PoleVision |
Formula
Le Mans |
Beche,
Pillon, Capillaire |
1:56.579 |
1:56.310 |
17 |
43 |
27 |
DAMS |
Formula
Le Mans |
Barlesi,
Cicognani, Chalandon |
1:59.639 |
1:58.076 |
18 |
46 |
29 |
JMB
Racing |
Formula
Le Mans |
Kutemann,
Basso, Hartshorne |
2:00.095 |
1:59.023 |
19 |
39 |
22 |
KSM |
Lola
B08/47 Judd |
de Pourtales, Noda, Kennard |
1:56.938 |
2:01.006 |
"Between
sessions we made a number of changes to the
car, and those achieved further significant
steps forwards," said Phil Barker."We
designated the afternoon to Mike and Andy,
and they both turned in some very good laptimes
on a track that was degrading rapidly. There
were significant oil patches and varying grip."
Significantly,
and with the aim of learning as much as possible
about the wear and durability of the new Dunlop
race compound, the team employed the same
set of tyres throughout the day. "We'll
let Tommy have some fresh tyres tomorrow,"
grinned Phil. "Then we'll get a better
idea of where we stand. It's still 'work in
progress', but we're getting there."
The
first Saturday sesion begns at 09:45.