Le
Mans Series 2007
Round 2. Valencia 1000 Kilometers. May 4th-6th 2007
Friday
Report
The
second round of the 2007 Le Mans series sees the teams at
the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, just outside the city of Valencia
in Spain. The nation's third largest city, Valencia stands
on the Mediterranean coast, 350 kilometres south of Barcelona
and a similar distance from Madrid, which lies inland to
the west. Back in the Middle Ages Valencia was where "El
Cid" famously battled the Moors, while a little more
recently, during the Spanish War of Succession in the early
1700s, it was occupied by the British for more than a year.
These days the British are back in even bigger numbers,
taking advantage of the climate, the beaches, and the nightlife,
while the big buzz around town is all about the imminent
arrival of the America's Cup yachting teams. The waters
off Valencia will host this event next month.
Before
that happens the sporting highlight is undoubtedly the arrival
of the Le Mans Series, and with a major poster campaign
throughout the city, and free entry, a healthy crowd is
being predicted for Sunday's race. In the meantime, it's
down to the serious business of Free Practice, and attempts
by the teams to dial in their cars for a circuit that has,
in recent days been subjected to heavy rain. The surface
has a reputation for low grip at the best of times, and
demands a high downforce setting if drivers are going to
set quick laps. Aside from the lengthy main straight, past
the pits, the circuit consists of a succession of short
straights punctuated by right-angled or hairpin bends. The
whole thing is surrounded by low hills, forming natural
amphitheatre that is accentuated by a continuous ring of
grandstands, allowing spectators to view the whole track
from almost any seat – somewhat similar to Rockingham
in the UK.
There
are few easy opportunities for overtaking - a situation
made more challenging by the narrowness of the track and
the size of the grid - and unusually (but in common with
Imola and Interlagos) the Circuit Ricardo Tormo runs anti-clockwise.
Over the course of a long stint, this can lead to neck problems
for some drivers, who are more used to the combatting the
g-forces generated by clockwise circuits.
First
FreePractice
The
day's first practice session began at one o’clock
. . . and stopped again five minutes later. Tommy had only
managed a single installation lap, and had come back into
the pitlane, when the red flags started waving round the
circuit. The Chad Racing Panoz #84 had run into serious
difficulties on its first lap out of the pits. “He
spun on his own fluid, and there was a big fire inside the
car, and round the wheelarches,” said Mike Newton.
The car was engulfed in flames and badly burned before the
marshals extinguished the fire. It was some time before
the session could be restarted.
That
first lap from Erdos had been enough to confirm that the
RML MG EX264 is now running the new 2007 aero package, developed
over the winter by Lola as part of their on-going development
of the chassis, and associated with their launch of the
updated B07/17. Visually, the kit is distinguished by the
prominent air intake in the nose (visible above), and the
absence of ducts to either side, while subtler changes include
a revised front splitter and profile changes to other frontal
surfaces. Questions had been asked after Monza, when the
EX264 still sported the earlier bodywork, but Team Manager
Phil Barker was happy to explain the decision. “Our
own tests have proven that, in low downforce configuration,
the ’06 aero kit is more efficient, and generates
significantly less drag. As the downforce is increased the
’07 becomes more efficient. Monza was a low downforce
circuit, so the ’06 kit was used and the ’07
bodywork was kept in the stores. Now that we’ve come
to a high downforce circuit here at Valencia, we’re
using the ’07 kit.” To the casual observer it
is sometimes difficult to tell what set-up a team is employing,
but in the case of the current family of Lolas, a car running
in a high-downforce configuration will have dive-planes
fitted to either side of the nose (also clearly shown above),
and the pitch of the rear wing elements will be steeper.
Other less obvious signs include the fitting of Gurney flaps
to the railing edges of the rear wing and bodywork, which
can vary in height, and the number of dive-planes fitted
to the nose.
In
the days leading up to this weekend, pundits have been predicting
a closing of the gap between LMP1 and LMP2 at the head of
the field. Valencia’s tight and twisty circuit should
favour the lighter, perhaps nimbler P2 chassis, while the
outright pace of the P1 cars may be stymied by their inability
to exploit any longer straights. It was no great surprise
then, when the session resumed, so see Thomas Erdos setting
a fastest lap that took him almost to the top of the timing
screens. On only his second lap out, he established a best
of 1:29.297 that would prove the quickest from any of the
LMP2 cars, and place him fourth overall. On the same lap,
Robin Liddell revealed that the Bruichladdich Radical would
be a strong contender at Valencia, posting 1:22.596.
Over
the remaining forty minutes those times remained the best
from the class two cars, but several of the LMP1 runners
made improvements, including the Swiss Spirit Lola B07/10,
making its debut with Audi engine. Tommy completed four
flying laps before handing over to Mike Newton, who managed
an excellent 1:32.468 during his seven-lap practice, making
him significantly quicker than all but one of the other
“second” drivers in LMP2.
By
the time the MG returned to the pitlane with four minutes
remaining, the #25 car was ninth overall, but still the
leading LMP2 runner. Behind Erdos and Liddell, came Bruce
Jouanny in the #35 Saulnier Racing Courage, third, and Warren
Hughes fourth in the Embassy Radical SR9 #45. “The
track is still very green at the moment, but it’s
getting better. It rained yesterday, but it’s a low-grip
circuit anyway,” said Erdos. The general feeling in
the RML garage was one of satisfaction. “We have a
safe, balanced car” said Phil Barker. With reference
to the car’s aerodynamics, he added: “Drag is
a powerful tool. You carry it around with you all the time,
and it costs you top speed and fuel. Ahead of the second
session we will be looking to reduce that drag, but not
at the cost of downforce.” It’s a delicate balance.
Second
FreePractice
Two
and a half hours later and the cars were gathering in the
pitlane for the day’s second Free Practice. Overhead,
a bank of low clouds had masked the Spanish sun just enough
to allow the track to cool slightly, although the threat
of rain now hung over the circuit. RML stuck with their
usual pattern of running, giving Tommy the first handful
of laps, then a lengthy stint for Mike, before Tommy went
back out again towards the end of the hour. There were a
few spots of rain, about two-thirds of the way through the
session, but overall the conditions remained good, and times
were noticeably quicker than before.
On
his final lap, Tommy sets his fastest lap of the day, topping
out at 1:27.500, sixth overall, with the fastest time of
the day coming from Nic Minassian in the #7 Peugeot 908,
who managed 1:25.906 in the LMP1 coupé. While this
maintained the trend in LMP1, the picture in LMP2 appeared
to have altered somewhat. Fastest was Michael Vergers in
the Barazi Epsilon Zytek, claiming 1:27.422 to go a tenth
or so quicker than Tommy, while the Binnie Motorsports Lola
had moved into third, and the Quifel ASM Lola fourth, although
both were a second or so behind Erdos. At fifth and sixth
overall respectively, the Barazi car and RML’s MG
“The
track is picking up on grip and everyone is going quicker,”
suggested Erdos. “We’re also learning more about
the new aero pack, and that’s been quite a major change
to the car. When we understand it more I’m sure we’ll
be even quicker!” Circumstances have meant that this
has been the first opportunity for RML to trial the new
bodywork. “It’s all part of an on-going development
programme,” added Erdos. “Lola have been a great
help over the last few weeks, as have AER, and we’re
steadily closing the gap on the others, particularly the
Zytek.” At Monza that gap had appeared to be significant,
but already in Valencia the MG is looking to be much more
“on the pace”.
Picking
up on that theme, Mike Newton had a satisfied smile on his
face. “I’m much happier to be where we are today
than I was at this stage in Monza,” he declared. “I
feel very comfortable in the car, but I found that last
session particularly frustrating, what with cars going off
the track all over the place, and I wasn’t prepared
to argue with tractors or yellow flags! I wasn’t able
to get even close to stringing together a quick lap, but
overall we’re pleased with the car.”
Adam
Wiseberg, the Motorsport Director for AD Holdings, also
plays a key role within the team, following times and strategies
from the pit wall. “This is going to be a race that’s
hugely influenced by the way the drivers deal with the traffic,”
he said. “We always like to feel we’re on top
of the pace, and we’re almost there now, but I expect
at least a couple of the others to be closer by the time
we get to qualifying. On the whole, though, it’s all
gone very well today. Tommy’s quick lap was done through
heavy traffic, right at the end of the session, and confirms
that everything’s going to plan.”
The
final round-up of views comes from Phil Barker, who was
visibly more relaxed at the end of the first day’s
practice than he had been in Italy three weeks previously.
“We ran the 2007 aero kit for the first time this
morning, and we were very happy with the way that went,”
he said. “It was a good beginning, but after that
first session we felt we needed to make some changes to
the balance – the car was generating too much drag
and we were losing speed down the main straight. With the
adjustments we made to the aero, we found another six kilometres
[per hour} this afternoon. I’m quite encouraged really,
and we’re certainly not starting the weekend with
the deficit we faced at Monza.” Looking ahead to Saturday,
he added: “Lap times don’t mean a great deal
yet, since the track is still so green, but we’re
still off the pace we set here in testing, so there’s
the chance of more to come yet.”
The
third Free Practice session is scheduled for 09:50 tomorrow.
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