Le
Mans Series 2006
Round 5. Jarama 1000 Kilometers. September 23rd-24th 2006
Race
Report
There
are no words adequate to constitute a preamble to the final
round of the Le Mans Series from Jarama in Spain –
not for Mike Newton or Thomas Erdos, nor for anyone else
in the RML squad. This race was all about the finish, not
the start, but that’s where we must begin. It all
held such promise . . .
Race
Start
As
Tommy had forecast the day before, the MG made a relatively
conservative start from the second row, hanging back just
a little as the LMP1 cars jostled for the first series of
corners, letting Minassian through in the Creation, and
then settling down into fifth. Initially this left Marcel
Fassler in the Swiss Spirit Courage as the cushion between
the RML MG and Miguel de Castro in the LMP2 ASM Lola, but
once Fassler had moved through ahead of Erdos on lap seven,
de Castro was soon bearing down on Erdos and eager to get
ahead. The Brazilian was in no mood to argue. “There
was no point,” said Erdos. “I was concerned
he’d try something silly and put us both out, but
there was no need for us to fight with him. I just let him
through, and concentrated on maintaining a hold on second.
That would be more than enough for the title.”
So,
on the very next lap, Erdos left the door open, and the
Spanish driver was through and away. Having already extended
an advantage of more than four seconds over Moseley in the
Bruichladdich Radical, now third in LMP2, there was no great
pressure on Erdos, and he concentrated on setting a steady
pace in the twenty-eights and nines. Elsewhere, Rollcentre’s
bad luck continued, with an early pitstop for Barbosa in
the #22 Radical, and Bill Binnie’s fiery weekend went
from bad to worse, with a back-row start exacerbated by
a premature pitstop on lap eight. It could, and would, get
worse for the American Lola, and any remnant hopes the team
may have had of championship glory evaporated within the
first fifteen minutes. In hindsight, perhaps that was the
kinder way to go.
Out
at the very front, Emanuel Collard had established an early
lead in LMP1, but Jean-Marc Gounon in the #12 Courage was
gunning the throttle (and gearbox) like there was no tomorrow.
Having harried the Pescarolo remorselessly for half a dozen
laps or more, he finally forced an opening on lap thirteen
and swept through into the lead. Half a lap back in the
field, Erdos now had Moseley filling his rear-view mirrors,
but the Radical man had other concerns on his mind apart
from finding a way past the MG. Not only was Bob Berridge
in the Chamberlain Synergy Lola mid-way through a charge
from eleventh on the grid, but the factory-supported Radical
was also not in the best of health. Berridge powered by
on the sixteenth lap, and maintained his progress unhindered
by the RML MG to reach seventh place overall by the close
of the next lap – Erdos still in no mood to defend
unnecessarily against an LMP1 car.
Moseley
did his best to hang onto the tail of the red, white and
blue MG for the next ten laps (above and below), but with
the race barely half an hour old the Radical pulled off
with steam billowing from the back of the car. Having been
complaining of a misfire for some time, the engine was now
overheating, thanks largely to debris in the radiator, and
the car’s challenge would be over for another race.
The
sister car, Rollcentre’s #22 with Joao Barbosa at
the wheel, was looking in far better fettle. After the early
pitstop at the end of lap one, Barbosa was already through
to fifteenth overall by the time Moseley pulled over, and
proceeded to devour another position with almost every successive
lap, reaching the top ten on lap 30. Simultaneously, just
as Barbosa had deprived him of tenth, Jan Lueders pitted
the Kruse Courage from fourth in class, effectively negating
all Siedler’s valiant qualifying efforts, and upon
resuming, promptly tangled with the Barazi Courage. Both
got going again, and both pitted quickly for check-ups.
The cars had not suffered terminal damage and would soon
be racing again, but so far down the order that neither
would seem to offer any serious prospect of a podium finish.
How fortunes change. Back to Top
Hour
2
On
lap 39 De Castro was the first of the LMP2 runners to make
a scheduled pitstop, and in doing so, handed the LMP2 lead
back to Erdos. Evidently the Brazilian was not pushing,
and seemed content to stay clear of trouble and drive a
calculated race. Three laps later Erdos would follow the
yellow Lola down the pitlane, making his first mid-stint
pitstop almost exactly on the hour. It was a swiftly executed
refuel, and had the MG back out again ahead of the Lola.
In the meantime, and for one lap only, the #36 Belmondo
Courage led LMP2 – probably the team’s only
moment of glory all weekend before slipping back down the
order with its own pitstop, eventually to fall foul of accident
damage.
While
Lueders performed a further series of pirouettes and pitstops
in the Kruse Courage, Tommy pressed on steadily. He’d
already set a fastest lap in the mid twenty-sixes, but was
now cruising a good two seconds within his capabilities,
yet leading LMP2 from de Castro by about four seconds, with
Barbosa third in class and close behind. All three shuffled
up one as Gareth Evans pitted the Chamberlain LMP1 Lola
from sixth, and then were pushed even closer together by
the first (yet brief) safety car period of the race –
made necessary by a gravelly incident for the Ice Pol GT2
Porsche.
So,
with nearly sixty laps completed, the overall order had
Gounon leading Collard from Nakano, third in the second
Courage, the Swiss Spirit entry fourth, Minassian in the
#9 Creation fifth, and then Tommy Erdos heading the LMP2
pack in sixth. That was all about to change, however, as
the second round of scheduled stops began – Gounon
and Minassian being amongst the first to drop out, the former
then slotting in behind Collard, and the Creation resuming
just down the track from de Castro, who’d steadily
been gaining on the MG. That progress culminated one hour
and forty into the race with another gentlemanly pass on
lap 63, the ASM machine returning to its earlier position
as class leader.
The
anticipated pass from the resuming Minassian in the Creation
was delayed by the arrival on the scene of Joao Barbosa,
who got one over on the somewhat surprised LMP1 driver by
passing him in the Rollcentre Radical. A ten second gap
had developed between de Castro and Erdos by this point,
and having cleared Minassian, Barbosa was within four seconds
of the MG. It took just a handful of laps for him to narrow
that margin on the restrained Erdos, and with 78 laps completed,
Barbosa passed the #25 MG cleanly for second in class, fifth
overall. An extra slot for all three came courtesy of Gounon,
whose mercurial charge had come to a sticky end when the
#12 Courage began to display the early signs of a gearbox
failure that would eventually prove terminal. The top ten
was now Collard (Pescarolo), Fassler (Swiss Spirit) and
Kurosawa (#13 Courage), one-two-three in LMP1 respectively,
with De Castro (ASM Lola), Barbosa (Rollcentre) and Erdos
(RML MG), four-five-six overall, first-second-third in LMP2.
Minassian held seveth, Ragues (Belmondo) eighth, Evans (Chamberlain
Lola) ninth and Ayari in the GT1 leading Oreca Saleen, tenth.
Back to Top
Hour
3
Once
again, de Castro was among the first to begin the next series
of pitstops, and his departure allowed Barbosa to inherit
the class lead on lap 81, fourth overall. Shortly afterwards
Kurosawa adopted the outright lead when Collard pitted the
Pescarolo to hand over to Didier André. The #17 car
emerged third just behind the quick-pitting Fassler; the
Swiss Spirit team risking their tyres for an additional
stint, although it would ultimately prove an error of judgement.
Barbosa’s lead over Erdos stood at ten seconds, with
de Castro falling back to seventh behind Ortiz, now at the
wheel of the #9 Creation.
Erdos
was one of the last of the leading pack to make his second
pitstop, exchanging places with Mike Newton at twelve-past-two;
lap 86. It was a typically faultless pitstop, enabling Newton
to resume racing in 7th place overall, just 25 seconds behind
de Castro. He’d soon move into sixth when Ortiz was
forced back into the pits in the Creation with a puncture,
followed swiftly by a stop-go penalty, reputedly for crossing
the white line on the pitlane exit. Inspired, Newton pressed
on, secured a good lap, and closed up on Amaral, now piloting
the #40 ASM Lola.
On
lap 104 Barbosa, one of the last to do so, pitted the Rollcentre
Radical from the class lead, handing over the reins to Rob
Barff. This would elevate Newton to 5th, but Barff’s
entrance was not to prove a happy one. Within moments he
was embroiled in an incident with a tyre wall, and seconds
later was trundling the hapless Radical back down the pitlane
for repairs. It would be a lengthy pitstop, with the green
and black car eventually reappearing in 16th overall. Elsewhere,
Andre had moved back ahead of Fassler for the outright lead,
with Kurosawa third (one lap adrift), Amaral fourth (another
lap behind Kurosawa) and Newton fifth, just less than a
lap down. Ortiz, flying in the Creation, was a mere 16 seconds
behind Newton and closing fast, reducing the MG’s
advantage by about three or four seconds a lap. Karim Ojeh
now occupying third in LMP2, was 7th overall in the #36
Belmondo.
It
took six laps for Ortiz to catch and then pass Mike in the
LMP2 MG, by which time Newton’s lead over Ojeh, third
in the category, had grown to over a lap. All things considered,
the prospects were looking fair to good. Back
to Top
Hour
4
As
the race entered its fourth hour, the official order was:
First, the #17 Pescarolo (André) on 119 Laps, second
#5 (Fassler) on 118 laps, third #13 Courage (Kurosawa) on
117. Running fourth overall, and first in LMP2, Miguel Amaral
in the #40 Lola (116 laps), with Gabbiani having just taken
over from Ortiz in the #9 Creation fifth. Mike Newton, sixth,
had covered 115 laps, and was still a lap ahead of Ojjeh,
7th in the Belmondo. Owen was eighth in the #19 Lola, Ortelli
ninth in the GT1 leading Saleen, with Pedro Lamy had joined
the top-ten, second in GT1, in the Labre Aston Martin.
With
the pitstops beginning again, the order was pretty fluid
for the next twenty minutes. The only significant development
came on lap 132, when Gabbiani finally closed the gap on
Newton sufficiently to move through into fifth, but the
MG’s position appeared comfortably secure, with Newton
lapping several seconds quicker than Ojeh in the Belondo.
That became somewhat academic just after the half-hour when
Ojeh hit problems – literally and physically - and
the sky-blue C65 headed for the garage for bodywork repairs.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the MG though. Despite
keeping matters well in hand, Jarama’s narrow track
and bumpy surface were causing problems throughout the field,
and Newton was one of many to suffer. His “moment”
came when he was eased off the track by one of the GT cars,
but he recovered quickly enough with no serious damage done.
In
truth, LMP2 was starting to look very depleted. While fourth
overall was excellent representation by the #40 ASM Lola,
and RML’s MG was setting a very good example in sixth,
the rest of the category was in a sorry state. Rob Barff,
having fought back up to fourth in LMP2 after his earlier
incident, had gone off again. “Something happened
at the pitstop when I got in the car and the gearshift stopped
working,” he said later “I arrived at the hairpin
in fourth and went off. The team fixed the bodywork damage
and we were making very good progress but then the engine
just stopped.” This time it was permanent.
At
quarter to four, soon after the leader had completed lap
148, Mike headed down the pitlane for his scheduled mid-stint
refuel. Mike’s stay was a little longer than usual
while the crew fitted fresh front bodywork, but Kurosawa,
pitting the #13 Courage from third at the same time, would
not be rejoining for a long time. Once back and racing Newton
found himself seventh behind Ortelli in the Saleen, but
just ahead of Gardel in the Labre Aston. On lap 152 Newton
passed the still-stationery #13 to move into sixth, with
Amaral an impressive third outright in the class-leading
LMP2 Lola. Back to Top
Hour
5
Minutes
into the fifth hour Ortelli pitted the leading GT1 Saleen
from 5th, allowing Newton back through. Bob Berridge, now
steering the Chamberlain Synergy Lola like a demon possessed,
moved up to 8th, having passed Gardel’s Aston. He
promptly set the LMP1 Lola’s fastest lap; a 1:26.846.
By comparison, Tommy’s fastest first-stint lap in
the LMP2 MG had been a 1:26.885. From fifth overall, Newton
had a half-minute lead on Soheil Ayari in the Oreca Saleen,
but the Frenchman was lapping fractionally quicker. By contrast,
however, Newton was actually making up ground on Amaral,
with a succession of lappery in the mid 33s being notably
better than the Iberian. Ayari’s efforts were being
steadily rewarded by a narrowing of the gap between himself
and the MG, such that it stood at just 20 seconds by lap
161, but Berridge would be the first to catch the MG. He
dismissed the Saleen on the following lap, and had caught
Newton by the end of lap 162 and powered through into sixth
next time around.
One
had to look a long way back down the order to find the rest
of the LMP2 runners. Ojeh, although moving again, was now
25th overall in the Belmondo, 30 seconds behind Vergers
in the Barazi Courage – the red car having never quite
made good its early-season promise, and was still recovering
ground after prior incidents. These two represented 6th
and 7th in LMP2, while the Bruneau Pilbeam and Kruse Courage
(13th and 14th overall) were 3rd and 4th in class. With
such a situation clearly represented on the timing screens,
the crew in the RML garage could be excused if they felt
just a little bit easier in their minds, and anything Ayari
could do in the GT1 Saleen was of little consequence. By
lap 165 he’d closed to within five seconds of the
MG, and next time around he’d halved that, but it
didn’t really matter.
The
race was now entering its fourth phase of pitstops. The
leader, André, and Amaral in the ASM Lola, third,
were early stoppers, both having clean and untroubled visits
to the pitlane. While they were stationary, Ayari finally
passed Newton for fifth – the prototype driver having
little or no need to offer resistance, aware of the more
straightforward need just to run cleanly to the hand-over
to Erdos. Berridge too had pitted, and was now a lap behind
Newton once more, but consistently quicker. Other times
throughout the field suggested that the track was finally
losing its ‘green’ status, and Angel Burgeno,
now in the #40 Lola, set the car’s (and LMP2’s)
fastest lap of the race on lap 171, the Lola’s 165th.
His time of 1:26.138 would prove to be the best of the day,
although Tommy would come close in his next stint.
At
the end of the same lap, Mike Newton brought the RML MG
back down the pitlane to hand over to Thomas Erdos, and
while the two were swapping places, Bob Berridge wailed
by in the Chamberlain Lola, setting up seventh overall for
Erdos on his return to the tarmac. That gap had grown to
75 seconds by the time the Brazilian got up to speed, representing
fractionally less than a lap, while next in line was Gardel
in the Aston, a distant eighth. Out at the sharp end, Harol
Primat held second overall for the Swiss Spirit team, but
he’d yet to make his fourth pitstop. When he did,
at just before half-four, he’d allow Burgueno through
to take his place. The ASM Lola’s race was going from
strength to strength, exactly as predicted by Adam Wiseberg
the day before, and when Primat’s Courage proved reluctant
to restart, the #40 car’s grasp on such lofty heights
strengthened yet further.
With
fresh tyres and enthusiasm, Erdos responded with a couple
of quick laps. His first flyer was a 1:26.887, just two
one-thousandths off his PB for the race so far. Only the
leading Pescarolo, with Bouillion now at the wheel, was
lapping quicker. Then, on the MG’s 170th lap, Erdos
established a new fastest lap for the RML machine of 1:26.469.
It wasn’t quite the preeminent LMP2 lap, with Burgueno’s
1:26.138 standing faster, but it was by far the quickest
of anyone circulating at the time. Point demonstrated, however,
Erdos then eased back to his earlier more reserved pace,
and began circulating in regular sub-thirty times –
typically 28s and 29s, yet on a par with the leading three.
Gabbiani, fourth in the Creation, was tending towards a
fractionally slower pace, while Berridge in fifth was still
pushing, and easing away from Ayari. The gap to Erdos in
seventh was narrowing, but almost imperceptibly.
Elsewhere
in LMP2, the story was hardly impressive. The Bruneau Pilbeam
held third place from a lowly fifteenth overall, but with
the fleet-footed Siedler at the wheel of the Kruse Courage,
the Frenchman’s grasp on that third podium step was
starting to look fragile.
While
there were incidents aplenty throughout the nether regions
of the race, the order within the top ten appeared to have
become established. Erdos was gaining on Ayari by about
5 seconds each tour, but still had 50 seconds deficit on
the GT1 Saleen. The #13 Courage, having rejoined in 16th
position, was making up ground, but was too distant a challenge
now. On his 181st lap, Berridge pitted from 5th and lost
two positions in the process, one of them to Erdos, the
other to Ayari, now just 46 seconds ahead of the MG. On
his return to the fray, Berridge was once again impressive
in the Chamberlain Lola. Having resumed fifteen seconds
behind Erdos, he’d caught and passed him within five
laps, setting a new best for the #19 LMP1 Lola of 1:26.117.
It was of no significance to RML, or to Erdos, who appeared
content to maintain his steady pace and aim for the finish.
Back to Top
Hour
6
Soon
after the race entered its final hour, the second safety
car was deployed. This time the cars in distress were Tim
Sugden’s GT2 Ferrari and Jerome Policand’s Corvette.
Both had gone off into the gravel in separate incidents,
and their embarrassment precipitated a deluge of pitstops.
It wasn’t far off anyone’s schedule anyway,
and most of the leaders took the call, including the Swiss
Spirit Courage, followed swiftly by Bouillion, Burgueno,
Berridge, Erdos, Lamy and half the rest of the field. Everyone
was promptly back out again, although Oreca nearly miscalculated
by calling in Ayari just as racing resumed. He swapped with
Ortelli, but the Monegasque was lucky, losing only one position
to Berridge, but the gap to Erdos had shrunk to just 9 seconds.
With everyone back up to speed, the top-ten race order stood
at 17, 40, 5, 9, 19, 55, 25, 50, 63 and 70.
Forty
minutes of the race remained. The ASM Lola comfortably led
LMP2 from second overall, with the RML MG also looking secure
in second. Norbert Siedler, as expected, had dragged the
Kruse car through into third, ahead of Rostan, although
his meteoric rise had been accelerated by a puncture and
subsequent spin for the Pilbeam. These two occupied 12th
& 13th overall, but the Pilbeam would consequently lose
another four laps to rear-end damage repairs. That brought
Michael Vergers in the Barazi Courage to within three laps,
and while all this had been taking place, Erdos had eased
through ahead of Ortelli and opened out a 15 second advantage
over the class-leading GT1 Saleen.
Half
an hour to go and Bouillion was leading overall by four
laps from Burgueno’s LMP2 Lola. The Swiss Spirit Courage
was third, one lap behind but lapping quicker than the Spaniard,
and two laps ahead of Minassian, fourth in the #9 Creation.
Berridge, two laps adrift in fifth, was two clear of Tommy,
and the MG had 30 seconds over the Saleen. Pedro Lamy in
the Larbre Aston Martin was half a lap behind Ortelli, and
perhaps the only one amongst this leading pack still racing,
pushing hard in an attempt to catch the GT1 leader. In theory,
that’s how it could, and perhaps should, have stayed
to the end. A brief smattering of rain started to fall with
fifteen minutes to go, but eased as quickly as it had appeared,
and nobody did much more than glance at tyres.
Then,
with just six minutes of the six-hour race remaining, in
the final moments of the MG’s sixth race of the year,
it all went horribly and unbelievably wrong for Thomas Erdos,
for the MG, and for the entire RML team. With no warning
whatsoever, the EX264’s AER engine suddenly seized.
It wasn’t a trivial cough or a stutter, but a total
and catastrophic failure. With a resonating bang, the engine
threw a rod out of the side of the block. Erdos grabbed
neutral, but could no nothing more. With smoke already surging
from beneath the engine cover and out through the wheelarches,
the signs were evident for all to see. In desperation he
coasted the MG to the side of the track. If he’d been
closer to the finishing line, perhaps he could yet have
pushed for the flag, such was his lead over Siedler, third
in the Kruse Courage, but even that was a distant impossibility.
Six
minutes. Deep divers regularly hold their breath for longer
than that. The MG couldn’t even do two laps at Le
Mans in that time. The disbelief in the RML garage was tangible.
Even above the sound of the cars still racing, you could
have heard a pin drop. The team gazed at the TV monitor
in disbelief. Tommy, forced to leave the car by the insistence
of nearby marshals, was distraught and, perfectly understandably,
in tears. A dream that had been there, within his grasp,
just minutes down the track, had died with the AER. Five
hours and fifty-four minutes of perfectly controlled, expertly
managed and consummately professional racing, for nothing.
A championship that, in 2006, had been missed by one solitary
point, had been denied the team a second time, but this
time by an even more cruel and absurd twist of fate. The
sensation is impossible to describe.
It
was not feasible to speak to anyone – nobody could
express their feelings coherently. The team’s many
guests, who had only minutes before been invited down to
the garage to witness the closing stages, were ushered away
again, bewildered by the sudden change in mood and fortune.
There was distress, there was incomprehension, and yes,
there was anger. How else to release such incalculable emotions?
Outside on the track, the chequered flag fell unseen, ignored
by everyone in the RML garage.
It
was some time before Thomas Erdos was able to return to
the fold. Still inconsolable, he was met by a speechless
Adam Wiseberg. Tommy’s co-driver, Mike Newton, had
just one thing on his mind; leaving the circuit, catching
a plane, and getting out of Spain. “Everyone’s
totally devastated,” said the Brazilian, shaking his
head. “The only consolation we can draw is that it
was nothing that we did. It was just one of those unusual
engine failures.” Mike Lancaster, the boss of AER,
had been one of the first to visit the team after the race.
“He came to see us and admitted that they’ve
never had a failure like it before, not ever,” added
Erdos. “It was a major thing. There’s a big
hole out the side, and we had no warning whatsoever. It
was going fine. I can’t understand it. We were on
a safe map, going easy, and controlling the situation. We
weren’t pushing hard at all - there was no need! We
had it all sewn up, and then, well, bang. It was all over.
I can’t believe it”. A representative at AER
later revealed that the oil pump had failed, although this
has yet to be confirmed.
Despite
his inner turmoil, Tommy was able to drag something positive
out of a devastated season. “We still had a pretty
good year,” he insisted, forcing a grin. “That
was a tremendous high at Le Mans, winning for a second time.
We mustn’t forget how much we’ve achieved. Right
now, I’m just gutted for everyone in the team. They
all deserve so much better than this. The guys should be
celebrating a title now, not this. It would have been nice
to have given that to them, and especially to Mike. That’s
what really hurts. Even so, it’s still been a great
year, and we can now look forward to 2007. Perhaps we can
win at the third attempt?”
If
at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If not,
third time lucky? We can but hope.
Please
view hover captions for photographer's credits. We are grateful
to David Lord of www.dailysportscar.com
and Ian Bull of www.sportscar-racing.com
for their photographs, and to David Lister of Sportscar
Pros for the final image - a case of being in the right
place at the wrong time.
View high-resolution Gallery
for additional images from Sunday. Back to
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