Le
Mans Series 2007
Round 5. Silverstone 1000 Kilometers. September 14th - 16th
2007
Friday
Report
Friday
This
weekend has a strange “end of term” feeling
to it. The Silverstone 1000 Kilometres will be the last
race in Europe for the Le Mans Series in 2007, and there’s
a fair chance that perhaps two out of the four championship
titles could be resolved on Sunday.
What happens on Sunday may also have a significant
bearing on the final scheduled race for the season at the
Interlagos circuit in Brazil. There’s a strong undercurrent
within the paddock that the race, which involves a twelve-week
round trip for the cars, is unlikely to be well attended.
The rumours suggest that only those teams that feel they
have to go, probably because they’re still in with
a shout of a title, will actually make the trip –
those who’ve won their class crowns, or have no chance,
may sign off their year here in Northamptonshire.
Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos face the weekend
knowing that 31 points gives them a seven-point lead in
the race for the LMP2 title. Currently sharing second place
are the three ASM Quifel drivers; Miguel Amaral, Angel Burgueno
and Miguel De Castro on 24, with the Horag Lola team third
on 21 points.
During the course of the year the complexion
of the LMP2 category has changed in subtle ways. The pace-setters
at the start of the season appear to have been struggling
of late, while various newcomers, most notably the Embassy
Radical squad, have started to feature prominently in the
running. Adding to that mix this weekend is a new entry
from LNT. More familiar in their bright orange livery as
the “works” Panoz GT2 squad, LNT’s Lawrence
Tomlinson has declared his intention to contest LMP2 in
2008, and a toe in the water at Silverstone takes the form
of a very quick and well-sorted Zytek chassis. Driven by
the very capable Danny Watts and Tom Kimber-Smith, the car
is sure to be a strong contender.
First
Session
The
first of the day’s two Free Practice sessions got
under way at 10:30, with Tommy Erdos quick to join the track
right at the start of the period. He ran a series of installation
laps, and then headed back out again after a brief pitstop
for adjustments hoping to set a few quick laps. He didn’t
get very far. Negotiating the high-speed Bridge Corner,
where the prototypes run flat through the right-hander before
braking hard for the start of the Brooklands-Luffield complex,
one of the GT2 Porsches cut in sharply across the back of
the MG. “He just turned in on me,” said Tommy
afterwards. “I was already past him running through
on the inside by the apex, and he hit me in the rear left-hand
corner. There wasn’t a great deal of damage, mostly
cosmetic, but I had to come into the pits for a check-up.
The
MG was drawn backwards into the garage so that the team
could examine the car. Although largely superficial, a brand-new
sidepod had only just been fitted to the MG, and this will
now have to replaced. The brand new undertray, also recently
fitted, also suffered some minor damage, but can be repaired.
With the MG given the OK, Tommy went back
out for a final run before handing the car over to Mike
Newton for the second half of the period. He enjoyed a relatively
untroubled seven timed laps before the chequered flag drew
the first hour’s practice to a close.
“We’re
not exactly where we’d hoped to be,” admitted
Erdos, looking at the times. These showed the LNT Zytek
as fastest in LMP2 with a best of 1:38.734, with the Embassy
Radical second on 1:39.355, and the RML MG EX264 third on
1:39.613. “I’m not at all surprised to see the
Zytek there at the top,” he added. “Danny is
a very quick driver, and so’s the car, so I'd have
expected them to be on the pace. It’s a well sorted
car, having been the ex-Fernandez car from Le Mans, and
with two very capable drivers, it should be fast.”
The
incident with the Porsche merely highlights two problems
that the LMP2 runners now face. On the one hand, having
nearly 50 cars running simultaneously on a circuit like
Silverstone, where very fast sections are punctuated by
equally slow ones, will inevitably lead to bottlenecks and
issues with traffic. On the other, the smaller prototypes
find that the faster GT1 cars are almost as quick as they
are down the straights, and overtaking is made doubly difficult.
“Traffic is a big issue here,” conceded Erdos.
“There’s also been an influx of new drivers
to the series this weekend. Some are big names, some are
not, but there are undoubtedly some big egos involved!”
Mike Newton readily agreed. “Some of the GT1s make
it especially difficult,” he said. “Even if
you’re two or three seconds a lap faster than they
are, once you’re stuck behind one of them, you often
have to wait until you’ve gone all the way round the
track to Bridge before you can get by. Once you’re
in front, it’s easy enough to pull away.”
This
has been an underlying concern all season, but with news
that the LMP2 category is to be penalised with another weight
gain in 2008, next season looks set to be even more of a
challenge for the Category Two drivers. “The regulations
will insist that the minimum weight of the LMP2 cars rises
from 775 kilos to 825,” explained Mike. “Bear
in mind that some of these cars started life as 675 kilos,
and you can see that we’re now driving around with
the equivalent of two passengers strapped into the car.
If we think it’s tough now, it’ll be even tougher
next year.”
Other
than being frustrated by the traffic, and having to brake
hard to avoid another errant GT2 Porsche, also through Bridge,
Mike’s session went well, but both RML drivers admitted
that their pace had not been representative. “Perhaps
we can lull the others into a false sense of security,”
joked Tommy. Phil Barker, team manager, was satisfied that
progress had been made, but was as critical of the traffic
conditions as his drivers had been. “It’s pretty
manic out there,” he declared, “and some of
the driving standards leave a bit to be desired, but we’re
in good shape, and the damage is nothing we can’t
deal with.”
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 1
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
46 |
6 |
Team
LNT |
Kimber-Smith/Watts |
Zytek
07S |
1:38.734 |
| 2 |
45 |
8 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Manning/Cunningham |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:39.355 |
| 3 |
25 |
10 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX264 |
1:39.613 |
| 4 |
40 |
14 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/de
Castro/Burgueno |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:40.706 |
| 5 |
21 |
15 |
Bruichladdich |
Moseley/Greaves |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:41.878 |
| 6 |
35 |
16 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Nicolet/Filhol/Jouanny |
Courage
LC75 AER |
1:42.312 |
| 7 |
32 |
17 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Vergers/Ojeh/Barazi |
Zytek
07S |
1:42.961 |
| 8 |
31 |
18 |
Binnie
Motorsports |
Binnie/Timpany/Buncombe |
Lola
B05/40 Zytek |
1:43.550 |
| 9 |
20 |
19 |
Pierre
Bruneau |
Rostan/Bruneau/Pullan |
Pillbeam
MP93 Judd |
1:43.975 |
| 10 |
27 |
27 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Van
de Poele |
Lola
B05/40 Judd |
1:50.097 |
| 11 |
26 |
28 |
Ranieri
Randaccio |
Randaccio/Lavaggi |
Lucchini
McLaren |
1:50.404 |
The
second session began at 3:30
Second
Session
Friday
Free Practice closed with Tommy and Mike both feeling much
happier with their standing in LMP2, but still concerned
by the density of traffic around the circuit.
Tommy
spent the majority of time in the car, performing a series
of out, one flying and then back in type laps, with the
team making minor adjustments to the car at each pitlane
visit. “It’s our normal approach,” explained
Phil Barker. “We give the guys equal time in the first
session, just to get a feel for the track, and then use
the second session to get the chassis properly tuned in.
It went exactly to plan.”
That
became evident when Tommy swept through, roughly half way
through the session, with a time of 1:38.217 to top the
times in LMP2. “It was the first time he’d been
able to string together a clear set of sectors, and not
run into traffic,” said Barker. It certainly put a
grin onto Tommy’s face – and even more so when
the chequered flag fell at the end of the hour and the MG
was still there at the top of the class. “We’re
chipping away,” added Phil Barker. “It’s
a combination of track conditions and traffic, but we’re
moving in the right direction, but we’re not quite
there yet. Perhaps we’ll need just a little more of
the Erdos magic tomorrow, just to make sure.”
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 2
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
25 |
6 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX264 |
1:38.217 |
| 2 |
21 |
8 |
Bruichladdich |
Moseley/Greaves |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:38.609 |
| 3 |
46 |
9 |
Team
LNT |
Kimber-Smith/Watts |
Zytek
07S |
1:38.584 |
| 4 |
32 |
10 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Vergers/Ojeh/Barazi |
Zytek
07S |
1:39.043 |
| 5 |
40 |
11 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/de
Castro/Burgueno |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:39.049 |
| 6 |
35 |
12 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Nicolet/Filhol/Jouanny |
Courage
LC75 AER |
1:39.212 |
| 7 |
45 |
15 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Manning/Cunningham |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:39.957 |
| 8 |
31 |
16 |
Binnie
Motorsports |
Binnie/Timpany/Buncombe |
Lola
B05/40 Zytek |
1:40.311 |
| 9 |
27 |
19 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Van
de Poele |
Lola
B05/40 Judd |
1:42.568 |
| 10 |
20 |
20 |
Pierre
Bruneau |
Rostan/Bruneau/Pullan |
Pillbeam
MP93 Judd |
1:43.416 |
| 11 |
26 |
23 |
Ranieri
Randaccio |
Randaccio/Lavaggi |
Lucchini
McLaren |
1:46.620 |
Paddock
Chat
Two
significant news items came out of the paddock today. The
first was the revelation that Paul “Chirpy”
Smallcorn is to leave RML after this weekend’s race.
After
more than twelve years with the company, Paul (pictured
left, at Valencia in May) has almost become part of
the fabric of the team, not only at race weekends, but also
as a member of the full-time workforce at Wellingborough.
It
was there that he was able to indulge his particular passion
for classic sportscars, and he worked on a whole succession
of restoration projects for RML, as well as assisting in
the development of their contemporary race cars. He leaves
RML to join a company of dedicated restoration experts,
where his skills with metal will no doubt breathe fresh
life into many historic cars over the coming years. He will
be sorely missed at RML, for his ready good humour, dedication
to the team, and unstinting hard work. Good luck Paul.
The
other news involves Embassy Racing, one of RML’s nearest
rivals in the Le Mans Series.
At
a press conference at 12:30 today Jonathan France, owner
of the team, confirmed the rumour that Embassy will not
only be committed to the Le Mans Series again in 2008, but
will do so with a two-car squad based upon a new chassis
of their own design. In partnership with Zytek, who will
provide the engine, Embassy has called upon the skills of
Peter Elleray to design the new car. His pedigree is exceptional,
having been the pen behind not only the current Radical
SR9, but also the Le Mans winning Bentley. Also a member
of the squad is Alastair Macqueen, who worked with RML at
Le Mans in 2005, and shares the Bentley link with Elleray,
having been Project Manager for the team.
The
car is currently in the early development stages, and scale
models (above) are undergoing rigorous wind-tunnel
testing. The first car, designated WF01, is expected to
make its test debut in late January 2008. Former RML driver
Warren Hughes is confirmed as one of four professional drivers
being appointed to the line-up by France, although Neil
Cuningham is also expected to remain a member of the squad.
For
full results of all races and events being staged at the
Silverstone 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 09:30 tomorrow.
There
are high resolution images posted in the Silverstone
Gallery.
Back
to Top
