The Day Before

With the change in schedule for the Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometres, bringing the race forward from Sunday to Saturday, the track action begins a day earlier than usual here in Belgium, and the first of three Free Practice sessions is due to begin at just after twelve on Thursday.

Another slight confusion is inherent in the name of the race. Although nominally a 1000 kilometres event, the race will actually run to the full six-hour format, as specified under the 2011 Le Mans Series regulations. If, as the current forecasts predict, the race will be "dry", then there's an excellent chance that the leaders will cover well in excess of 1000 kilometres in the six hours . . . although any chance of double points for covering 1500 kms is beyond the realms of possibility, even if Audi and Peugeot were doing some serious sandbagging at the Le Mans test!

Another aspect of the Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometres that gives the race an additional historic note is that it is a double-bill, with both the Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup marking Round 2 of their respective seasons here in Belgium. The ILMC comes to Europe after an opening race at Sebring in America, where the privateer Peugeot 908, a "grandfathered" LMP1 car, took top honours in the 12 Hour, with Audi giving the R15 a final run, and the works Peugeots hitting problems . . . or an Audi. The diesels were absent from Round 1 of the Le Mans Series, leaving the door wide open for Pescarolo to give the ageing (and also grandfathered) #16 a first victory of the season. This weekend may be very different, with seven of the diesels on track, including a trio of Audi's impressive new R18.

First Practice

The day's first practice session began at 12:20 local time, beneath crystal clear skies and a light breeze. Tommy Erdos was out in the RML AD Group from early doors, and ran through the first half of the session carrying out preliminary checks. He was just racking up to speed when the session was brought to a halt by an uncharacteristic spin into the gravel a\t Rivage for Allan McNish in the #3 Audi R18. The track was closed for about five minutes while the car was extracted from the gravel, and then the session resumed.

Tommy was second in the queue to get back out, and completed another handful of laps before pitting with about five minutes of the session remaining. Mike performed as quick a driver change as he normally does in the race, and was back out just in time to miss the pitlane closure. It was touch and go, but Mike managed to beat the lights and complete a single lap in the HPD before the chequered flags brought the hour to a close.

First Session - LMP2 Times

The first impression suggested by these final times is that the restrictor break, in conjunction with a good aerodynamic set-up for the Spa circuit, appears to have made a difference for the turbocharged teams. Just four seconds separate the top ten in LMP2 and Formula Le Mans, and over a circuit of seven kilometres that represents a fairly narrow band.

"We're certainly more competitive than we were, but it's early days yet," admitted Phil Barker, looking far more cheerful than he has for some while. Tommy Erdos said that the prospects had indeed improved, but he wasn't convinced yet. "I was running behind the Signatech Oreca for several laps, and it was pretty clear that he was able to pull away from me very easily along the straights, but through the corners the car looked very ragged. I suspect they're running a lower downforce set-up, and combined with what is still a clear power advantage, that gives them a higher top-speed than we can achieve. The Nissans are just too quick for us along the straights, but the HPD is working very well. We had no issues at all in that first session, and that's just a testament to how well the lads have done in turning the car round again since the Le Mans test. The consistency of the crew's preparation work is simply fantastic. I just wish I could reward them with something better."

The Brazilian also said that the RML AD Group HPD had been running a new Dunlop tyre compound during the first session."At first we found the tyres gave us a slight imbalance, so we need to do more work on that. Strakka Racing is a good yardstick for us. They know this car so much better than we do, but we need to set up our combination closer to theirs. We can improve, I'm sure of that, and we have two more sessions to go."

The situation may become clearer after the second afternoon session, which is due to begin at five-to-five, local time.

Second Practice

As was reported widely elsewhere, Mike Newton was involved in an accident with the #9 Peugeot, driven by Pedro Lamy, at the entrance to the right-left complex known as Pif-Paf, two-thirds of the way through the second Free Practice session.

A photo of the impact, taken by Pascal Saivet of Vision Sport Cars.

A full account of the incident, together with subsequent information, is included in both the Weekend Review, and also the coverage added here on Friday 6th May.

Mike was taken immediately to a nearby medical centre, just outside the circuit for a preliminary examination. He was conscious when removed from the car, and Tommy advised us soon afterwards that he was essentially "fine, all his vitals are good, but he's complaining of lower back pain." He was then taken to the nearby hospital in Verviers for further checks, including x-rays and an MRI scan. Mike was released from hospital late on Thursday evening, about ten o'clock local time, and returned to the team hotel.

The image below is of Mike in the RML HPD being chased down, on this occasion, by the #7 Peugeot. The area of run-off in the background became the scene of his accident on his next lap through.

Before the incident, Tommy had posted several quick times in the RML AD Group HPD. With the session cut short by several minutes it is not possible to say what times others might have set later in the hour, but up until the point that the period was red-flagged, Tommy had clocked the second-quickest time in LMP2. This is what the official records state:

Second Session - LMP2 Times

The car was brought back to the pitlane following the end of the session and returned to the care of the RML mechanics.

Crew members from the Quifel ASM team, based in the adjacent garage, helped with moving the car

The car was thoroughly stripped down and checked, before new suspension sub-assemblies were prepared and refitted to the car, together with new body panels and other ancillaries. The team completed the work late on Thursday, and had the car and garage contents packed away before the early afternoon of Friday. Most of the team personnel returned to England.

RML AD Group at Spa 2011
For an explanation of why RML AD Group had to withdraw from the rest of the weekend, including comments from Team Manager Phil Barker and the three drivers, please see the Spa 1000 Kilometres Weekend Report.

For high-resolution images, please view the Spa Francorchamps Gallery.