Le Mans Series 2007
Round 3. Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers. June 29th - July 1st 2007
Friday Report

Free Practice 1

Free Practice 2

Friday’s two periods of Free Practice could not have been more different for RML. The early session left neither RML driver feeling exactly effusive – although it ended well enough, apparently, with a first-rate lunch at the Smoking Dog - but the afternoon period was excellent. Having laboured to find a good set-up during the morning, prospects aboard the MG EX264 turned a corner during the afternoon, and Thomas Erdos ended the day as fastest in LMP2 and a remarkable fourth-quickest overall. This was more than enough to leave everyone in the garage smiling.

First Session

At least it was dry! That was something to be said for the opening period of Free Practice, although even that was in doubt at the beginning.

Tommy was given the first half-hour in the MG, and while he ended up fourth-fastest in LMP2 (on 1:50.059), it was not an easy session. “We had a set-up to begin with that just didn’t seem to suit the circuit,” he suggested afterwards. "Perhaps there was a bit too much downforce at the front, and not enough at the back. Over the course of the session, we made a series of adjustments to the set-up, and those changes achieved some improvement in the overall balance, but it was still not ideal.”

Mike drove the second thirty-minutes, and encountered similar problems, as well as dense traffic. “I came out into the middle of a particularly heavy stream,” he said. “Then there was a car off in the first sector, and that spoiled my first four laps with yellow flags. The softer compound tyres we were using behaved much better, even if there was still a bit of rear-end jump. We made a few more changes, and the car was much more consistent after that.”

Phil Barker was typically unfazed. “We’re just working towards a suitable balance for the car, and we’ve been trying a few things that are a little different to normal. That’s been useful, and we’ve gathered some very valuable information that means we’re happy to take things forward into the afternoon session. We’ll make some more changes after lunch and then see if we’re anywhere nearer by the end of the day.”

Second Session

The day’s second period of Free Practice got under way at ten-to-five, with the skies, if anything, even more gloomy than before, although the rain still managed to hold off to little more than a light drizzle.

Tommy was out promptly, and immediately confirmed that the car felt much better. This was reflected in his times, which improved steadily over the course of the first ten minutes or so, topping out with a best of 1:50.019. “He’s pulled his finger out!” wagged one of the engineers. Indeed, he had, but there was better to come yet.

That quick lap had been his fourth of five, and with that batch completed, Tommy headed back down the pitlane so that a few additional tweaks could be made to the aerodynamics. It worked a treat. His next flying lap past the pits was an impressive 1:47.785, and comfortably fastest in LMP2 – at that stage by nearly two seconds, with Michael Vergers second up in the Barazi Epsilon Zytek on 1:49.042. It was also quick enough to place the MG fifth-quickest overall. “It feels like a completely different car now!” he enthused. “The grip levels from the tyres are very, very good, and the whole things is so much more balanced.”

For the best part of five minutes Tommy’s time stood alone at the head of P2, until Miguel de Castro brought the ASM Quifel Lola into play. His first effort was a 1:48.492, about eight tenths off Tommy’s quickest lap, but the Spaniard followed that with an even quicker 1:48.062 to close to within half a second.

In the meantime, Erdos had been in to the pits for yet more fine-tuning, and when he went out, the results were clear to see. A first flyer on the new set-up clocked 1:46.308 and pushed the MG into the top three overall. It would be Tommy’s last lap of the session. Meeting traffic at the start of his next tour cost him nearly four seconds even before the end of the second sector, so Phil called him in with instructions for Mike to take over for the remaining eighteen minutes.

Those minutes went largely to plan, with Mike completing one mid-stint pitstop for a splash of fuel, and then rounding off the session to the chequered flag. Nearing the end, one of the LMP1 cars moved narrowly ahead of Tommy’s best, but the MG ended the day fourth-fastest overall, and quickest in LMP2 by almost two seconds.

“I’m now much happier,” grinned Erdos. “We tested two different compounds of tyre this afternoon, and the car worked well on both. We just need to decide now which one we’ll use for the race.” The changes to the set-up had clearly worked well. “There’s still some trimming to do with the aerodynamics, but I’m very comfortable with where we are at this stage, but we still need to see what everyone else can do in qualifying. It’s all very nice to be able to do a quick lap, but it’s more important that we have a good set-up for the race.”

Phil Barker looked far more relaxed. “I always had faith in what we were going to do,” he said. “I’m pleased with the refinements we made at the end of the first session, and it’s got us back in the ballpark. We’ll look at the data and see if there’s scope for moving up another notch tomorrow.” As ever, his mind was largely on the race itself. “We may be comfortable with what we have now, but it’s still only free practice,” he added. There’s a lot more to come, not only from RML, but everyone else in the highly-competitive LMP2 field.

Top Times

Pos	No.	Class	Team	Driver	Car	Time
1	07	LMP1	Team Peugeot Total	Gene/Minassian	Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP	1:42.793
2	08	LMP1	Team Peugeot Total	Lamy/Sarrazin	Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP	1:43.859
3	15	LMP1	Charouz Racing	Yoong/Mucke/Charouz	Lola B07/17 Judd	1:46.016
4	25	LMP2	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	MG Lola EX264	1:46.308
5	16	LMP1	Pescarolo Sport	Collard/Bouillion	Pescarolo C60 Judd	1:46.910
6	13	LMP1	Courage	Gounon/Moreau	Courage LC70 AER	1:47.344
7	10	LMP1	Arena Motorsport	Shimoda/Chilton	Zytek 07S LMP1	1:47.465
8	40	LMP2	Quifel ASM	Miguel De CASTRO	Lola B05/40 AER	1:48.063
9	17	LMP1	Pescarolo Sport	Primat/Tinseau	Pescarolo C60 Judd	1:48.207
10	12	LMP1	Courage	Frei/Cocket	Lola B07/10 Audi	1:48.219
11	9	LMP1	Creation Sportif	Campbell Walter/Ortiz/Nakano	Creation CA07 Judd	1:48.223
12	18	LMP1	Rollcentre Racing	Barbosa/Short/Hall	Pescarolo C60 Judd	1:48.414
13	19	LMP1	Chamberlain Synergy	Evans/Owen/Burridge	Lola B06/10 AER	1:48.668
14	32	LMP2	Barazi Epsilon	Vergers/Ojeh/Barazi	Zytek 07S	1:48.860

For full results of all races and events being staged at the Nurburgring this weekend, please visit this link, where it is possible to download PDF files for all sessions

The third Free Practice session is scheduled for 11:40 tomorrow.
There are high resolution images posted in the Nurburgring Gallery.

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