RML
AD Group Turfed off the Podium
A
near-faultless run in Round 4 of the
Le Mans Series; the Silverstone 6 Hours,
was rewarded with fourth place at the
flag for Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and
Ben Collins in the RML AD Group's Honda
Performance Development HPD ARX-01d.
A
podium looked on the cards, and Ben
was holding third when a length of
Astroturf became wrapped around the
front of the car. The team had to remove
the offending fabric during a late
splash’n’dash pitstop,
adding critical seconds to a very tight
margin.
The performance remains one of the
best of the season for the team, matching
the fourth place achieved at Le Mans
in the 24 Hours, but it left Mike Newton
and the other drivers feeling frustrated. “The
car ran totally reliably and we had a
smooth, untroubled run,” said Mike,
CEO of AD Group. “It’s just
a fact we have to accept, that even
when everything goes well, the deficit
we face against the cost-capped cars,
with their greater power and lighter
weight, ensures that we can’t
compete on a equal terms. We have to
drive the car to the limits, simply
because there’s nothing in reserve.
In effect, we rely on the others to
hit problems. It’s just too much
of a disadvantage.”
The race had started well, with Thomas
Erdos working through from class eighth
on the grid to third. A stop-go penalty
for a technical infringement, incurred
before the start of the race, cost
around 100 seconds, including time
lost driving in and out of the pitlane,
and knocked the car back several places.
However, a solid anchoring stint mid-race
from Mike Newton, followed by a hard
push from Ben Collins (including a
fastest race lap for the #36 HPD) saw
the team back up to third – and
then the Astroturf struck.
“I picked up the Astroturf at
Homebase. Apparently, they’ve
opened a new depot at Vale!” joked
Ben. “At first I thought I’d
broken the suspension, because the
handling was very strange. I came into
the pits, and the boys kindly ripped
it off, but in the meantime I’d
shredded the front tyres. When I’d
started my stint and the tyres were
fresh, I was really on the pace, but
the balance of the car changed after
my first pitstop, and from then on
I was fighting understeer. I started
to feel really frustrated, knowing
there was so much more potential in
the car. All that promise deserved
a better result.”
“RML did a fantastically solid
job to bring the car home so close
to the podium,” said Pauline
Norstrom, Director of Motorsport and
Marketing at AD Group. “RML AD
Group is a winning team. They have
the track record to prove that they’re
experienced and professional enough
to warrant good results, but this is
the best we’ve had in the Le
Mans Series all year. There’s
little doubt that the car is handicapped
by the regulations, and as two-time
title winners in the Le Mans Series,
the guys in the team deserve representative
results. At AD Group, we’re inspired
by the work they do, and our guests
are totally in awe of what Phil Barker
and his squad achieve for us. We’d
just like to see them suitably rewarded.”
The team’s Number One mechanic,
Vince “Vinny” Mitchell,
was taken seriously ill just before
the race weekend. “We were looking
strong for a podium this weekend,” admitted
Tommy Erdos. “We would have liked
to have done that for Vinny, but it
wasn’t to be, not today.” The
team would like to wish Vince well
for a full and speedy recovery, and
we look forward to seeing him back
in the squad as soon as possible.
.
Please
click on any image for a high (print)
resolution file. Medium (web) resolution
versions of the same images can be
accessed through the dedicated Silverstone
Gallery. In
the event of any reproduction elsewhere,
please ensure that an appropriate photographer's
credit is included - see hover (alt)
captions for details. Photos 1 and
3 this column, and top right, by Peter
May, Dailysportscar. Photo 2 this
column by David Stephens, Studio
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