Le Mans Endurance Series 2005
Round 2. Monza 1000 Kilometers. July 8th - 9th - 10th 2005
Practice & Qualifying Report

LMES - Monza - RML Practice & Qualifying - July 8th & 9th

RML had an excellent start to its Monza campaign. A class best in Friday testing and some excellent track time throughout all three free-practice sessions set the stage perfectly, but qualifying turned out to be a hugely frustrating twenty minutes for Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos in the MG Lola EX264.

The problem when it came was not only unexpected but, since it manifested itself right at the very outset, also dashed all hopes for a good qualifying position. In fact Tommy had only just started to accelerate out of the pitlane when things started to go wrong, and he never even got beyond third gear. “I’d just gone out to start my qualifying and once I was up to third I couldn’t move it any further - up or down. The gearbox was just stuck!” Luckily he was able to cruise slowly around the circuit and back into the pitlane, where the car was pulled straight into the garage. “There was something broken in the linkage,” confirmed the Brazilian. “The trouble was, it was only a twenty minute session for the prototypes, with the GT cars coming out immediately afterwards.”

The mechanics worked at double-quick time and had the car fixed in a little over ten minutes, but with the time lost at the start and then having the MG immobile for such a time, there was little chance of a quick time. “I’d been sitting in the garage all along, so the tyres had cooled and the pressures were right down,” he said. “I had time for just two laps, so there simply wasn’t enough opportunity to get any kind of temperature into them at all.” Under those circumstances, his time of 1:42.028 was actually far quicker than might have been expected, even if it was only sufficient for fifth in LMP2. “We got close, I guess,” he admitted, “and being just nine tenths away from pole was quite pleasing, even if the session as a whole was very frustrating.”

There seems little doubt that the RML MG Lola was set for class pole this weekend. Throughout the three practice sessions the car was ultra-competitive, and had been fifth quickest overall on Friday, comfortably heading the LMP2 pack. “Except for one, the cars ahead of us on the grid are all turbo engined, and there’s little doubt that they turn up the boost for the qualifying session,” Erdos pointed out – and having raced the AER-powered EX257 last season, he should know! “The only one that isn’t is the Lucchini. They’ve been running really well so far this weekend, but in all honesty, I think we could expect to be ahead of them. That’s why it has been so frustrating to encounter this gearchange problem - but better to have that happen today than in the race tomorrow! Something like that would have cost us a lot of time in the race.”

In every other respect both drivers are delighted with the way the MG Lola has been behaving around Monza. “It’s a great track,” grinned Mike Newton, evidently having enjoyed his track time so far. “It’s fantastic to go around here in a prototype. They handle exceptionally well, and the fast corners really make the aero work. It makes the cars very exhilarating to drive.” Mike did a good proportion of the second session on Friday, and then ran almost the entire Saturday morning stint. “Mike’s so confident in the car now,” said his driving partner. “He’s using the kerbs and it’s obvious that he’s really starting to enjoy his driving. Considering the condition of those tyres this morning, I think he should have a very good pace in the race. They were very, very old!” In fact, the team elected not to change the tyres at all ahead of Mike’s Saturday period, so they’d already completed both Friday tests and were well past their best. “They were the same tyres that we’d used right through from the start of the meeting,” acknowledged Newton, “so I was really quite pleased to do such consistent times.”

There’s no doubt that Monza places the prototypes in their element. “It’s so fast!” grinned Erdos. “Maybe four times in a lap you get above 280 kph, and there aren’t many circuits that let you do that. I think it suits the car very well. The engine is very strong at the top end too, which gives us a lot of confidence, and the downforce is very good. Being fastest in LMP2 on Friday was a great boost, so we’re feeling pretty confident. That gearshift problem aside, the car’s performing well.”

The whole team is still somewhere near Cloud Nine this week, with memories of their LMP2 victory at Le Mans fresh in their minds. “The team’s feeling very upbeat,” confirmed Erdos. “There’s a definite buzz and, I have to admit, it is nice to walk into the paddock and have people congratulate us. So we are still enjoying the win, and it feels just as good now as it did a fortnight ago.”

Tomorrow, however, is another race. Only six hours, perhaps, but now with the added pressure of reputation and high expectations to uphold. “The prospects look quite good,” suggested Newton. “The gap between our pace is the smallest it’s ever been, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be very competitive here. The turbo cars were quick in qualifying, but they haven’t been so much quicker in practice. There have also been some reliability and technical issues for some of them. The Horag Lista Lola is still getting up to speed, so I’m sure we’ll see more from them in due course, but they’re still on the learning curve this weekend, but we’ve already shown that we can beat all the others. Then, if it rains, we should be in an even stronger position.”

Erdos admits they’re looking for points here as much as anything else. “We could end up on the podium, which would be nice, but we also need some good points. We do have one thing in our favour, though,” he smiled. “Having done only two laps in qualifying means we’ve not done much on those tyres, and we have to start the race on those, so that should give is a good start!”

Marcus Potts

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