Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 1. Catalunya 1000 Kilometres. April 5th-6th 2008
Weekend Preview
Sun,
Sand and Sportscars
The
opening round of the 2008 Le Mans Series takes place this
coming weekend at the fabulous Formula 1 Circuit de
Catalunya, just outside Barcelona on Spain’s
sunny east coast. The weather forecast is good, and the
prospects for motor racing are excellent.
While
the situation for sports and GT racing in America hasn’t
been especially vibrant this past year, the European-based
Le Mans Series goes from strength to strength. No less than
49 cars are entered for this first race of the year, with
a full thirty of these being the top-flight prototypes from
LMP1 and LMP2. It will be like Le Mans itself, only compressed
into 1000 kilometres or about six hours of close-fought
motorsport magic.
This
isn’t simply strength in numbers either, since the
quality of this year’s grid is astonishing. Out at
the sharp end, the big guns are present in force, with Audi
and Peugeot set to battle it out for top honours in LMP1,
with both factories fielding paired squads. They're unlikely
to have all the running entirely their own way, thanks to
equally impressive competition in the form of the latest
Aston Martin powered and supported Lola coupé prototype
being run by Charouz Racing, together with entries from
2006 champions Pescarolo Sport. Add in the Creation team
to that mix, and things should be very tight at the front
of the grid.
If
anything, the same is even more accentuated within LMP2.
Current titleholders Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos in the
RML MG accept that their last three years of semi-dominance
of this lighter-weight and nimble category is going to be
very hard to carry forward into a fourth season. Erdos is
well aware of the challenge, not only for pole and the class
win, but also for track space alone.
“Looking
at the competition, the championship has changed dramatically,”
he suggests. “There are 15 entries in LMP2, and as
many in LMP1, so the first corner of the race is going to
have prototypes everywhere, and that’s my first concern
as we look ahead to the weekend. The start of any race is
always a difficult time, of course, but even more so now.
In the top 25 or so, there will be at least 20 cars trying
for that same section of track, and that’s an awful
lot of horsepower and adrenalin to channel through a single
corner! No doubt the excitement will extend for the first
few laps as drivers continue to jostle for position, so
we should anticipate the potential for incidents from the
moment the lights turn green.”
What
makes this even more of a factor than usual, aside from
the numbers, is the fact that the competition within LMP2
is so evenly matched. Of those fifteen entries, perhaps
a dozen could be considered as contenders for pole.
“There
are three Porsches (above), two Zyteks, the Sebah
Lola (below), two open-topped Lolas, the Radical,
and the two Embassy cars (left), and that’s
just the ones that come to mind straight away,” says
Erdos with a groan. “Then you have to consider the
quality of the drivers. Think of Pompidou in that coupé,
or Verstappen in a Porsche, or Nielsen and Elgaard and Lammers,
Guy Smith, or those two Embassy cars with Hughes, Haberfield,
Foster and Kane at the wheel . . . the list just goes on
and on. It’s almost endless! There are also likely
to be others ready to spring a surprise, so we know we’re
up against it, but that makes us even more determined.”
That
is one of RML’s strengths. The other is the experience
they have as a race team. With championships of one kind
or another falling their way almost annually for the past
twenty years, RML has experience in spades, and they’re
known for their ability to rise to a challenge. “We
have a great team now in RML,” insists the Brazilian,
“and Mike and I now have an opportunity to show well
against a host of very professional pairings. I’m
looking forward to it!”
On
the whole, preparation work has been going well, but many
of the other teams will be looking sideways towards the
RML pit garage and wondering quite what the guys from Wellingborough
have been up to these past few months. The official Paul
Ricard test did not get RML’s year off to the flying
start Mike and Tommy might have hoped for. With two engines
incapacitated almost before a serious time had been set,
the benchmark that their rivals might have been looking
for is significantly absent as they prepare for this weekend’s
first practice sessions.
Looking
Back to Ricard
Adam
Wiseberg, Motorsport Director for AD Group, the team’s
principal sponsor, takes up that story. “Our plan
for Paul Ricard had been to do some running on the first
day to assess the aerodynamic and mechanical set-up for
Le Mans, as Ricard has a significant straight (the Mistral)
which enables us to see how the car is likely to behave
on the Mulsanne. Once that had been achieved the
late afternoon and evening running would have enabled all
three drivers (Mike Newton, Thomas Erdos and Andy Wallace)
to run some race-length stints, probably in Le Mans configuration,
until midnight. This would also enable the crew to practice
and hone their pitlane skills. Monday running would then
have been split between tyre evaluation and probably some
higher-downforce running.”
The
test started well, with Tommy doing some initial set-up
work and then Mike having a short run. Unfortunately, towards
the end of that stint (above) the car experienced
its first engine failure. “This was the first time
we'd run on the new-for-2008 fuel,” explained Adam.
“We now suspect that the failure was related to the
different composition of this fuel.” The spare engine
was fitted during the lunch break and through into the afternoon.
At the same time the engine support team made some adjustments
to the related units in some of the other chassis - those
using a similar basic configuration and turbo boost pressures.
“Once our spare engine was fitted,” continued
Adam, “Andy went out for a stint, but within a short
time a similar failure was experienced, despite some adjustments
to try to compensate for the ‘fuel effect’,
and that was the end of our test!”
Since
then the engine manufacturer has assessed why the new fuel
caused problems with RML’s new MG XP21 engine, and
specifically, investigated why such issues were not experienced
by those using units similar to the one employed by RML
in the EX264 last year. “We have since run a series
of extended tests with absolutely no recurrence of the problem,”
said Adam. “We feel we're now in good shape for the
first round at Barcelona.”
Thomas
Erdos looks back on that Paul Ricard test with some regrets,
but only a few. “It’s a shame that we didn’t
have a more successful test,” he admits. “We’ve
had a tight schedule, and missing the full potential of
Paul Ricard was a disappointment, but we’ve since
had a good series of runs at Snetterton, and even if we’re
a little short on mileage, we know we have a well tried,
reliable car in every other respect, and it’s equally
possible that others haven’t yet been able to complete
as much of their preparation as we have. Consistency is
our strength, and other teams are arriving at a race with
new cars and new driver combinations, and almost anything
can happen in motorsport!”
As
for the engine, he has no qualms. “The engine is new,
I admit,” he says. “It has yet to be proven
for six hours, and then we have to look ahead to running
24 Hours in June, but it has shown excellent form in our
most recent testing. I’m confident that it will be
strong all the way, and I have absolute faith in AER and
Mike Lancaster [the boss at AER]. The way they reacted after
Paul Ricard, and the level of response, was simply superb.
We had a first re-run at Snetterton very soon after those
Paul Ricard failures, yet they’d achieved so much
in just a few days. The engine ran like clockwork, and that
gave us a lot of confidence, not only in the XP-21, but
also in AER’s capabilities and their commitment to
the project.”
The
Circuit
Barcelona
is another new circuit for the Le Mans Series, but one that
comes with an excellent pedigree, and is sure to meet with
widespread approval from drivers, spectators and media alike.
As a major Formula 1 venue, the Circuit de Catalunya
is well equipped and, after a major refurbishment only a
few years ago, is the perfect venue for this year’s
opening round.
“I’m
absolutely thrilled to be going to Barcelona,” admits
Thomas Erdos. “It’s a proper F1 track with all
the facilities you need. It’s where these cars are
supposed to run! Look at the circuits we’re at this
year, and you can see that the series is finally going in
the right direction. From here, to Monza, Spa, the Nurburgring,
and Silverstone – all perfect tracks for endurance
racing. Add in the food and the weather, and Barcelona's
an ideal place to start the season. I just love Spain!”
Being able to get by in the language must help to!
Tommy
and Mike were last at Barcelona for the FIA GT Championship
of 2003, but that’s five years ago, and the track
has changed quite a lot since then. “The main difference
we’re going to notice is the surface itself,”
clarifies Erdos. “It used to be known as a very abrasive
surface, and horrendously hard on tyres Not only that, but
there were ripples and bumps everywhere that upset the balance
of the car, shook the car to bits, and made your teeth chatter.
Now it’s much smoother, and I’m so looking forward
to that. They have also changed a couple of the corners,
so we’ll have to learn those before we really start
pushing.”
With
the exception of one lengthy straight, the circuit is characterised
by a succession of tight, twisty, high-G corners, and some
pundits have suggested that this configuration may favour
the LMP2 cars. Indeed, one of the LMP1 drivers has already
predicted that an LMP2 car might even be on pole for Sunday’s
race. With LMP2 Porsches having dominated the results sheet
at the Sebring 12 Hours last month, albeit thanks largely
to problems encountered by the leading LMP1 entries, speculation
must allow for the trio of Spyders to be somewhere near
the front, although the RML MG cannot be discounted. Mike
and Tommy finished an unprecedented third overall in the
Spa 1000 kilometers last season (on the podium, right)
and while considerably shorter, the characteristics of the
two circuits are not a million miles apart.
Predictions?
“No
doubt, the Porsches are very, very reliable, and with three
on the field, at least one or two will keep on going all
the way to the flag,” said Erdos. Of his other predictions,
he doesn’t rule out the continued challenge from the
ASM Lola. The Portuguese team’s driver line-up is
changed for 2008, with Miguel Amaral now joined by the single
pro-driver, Olivier Pla. “Olivier is a very quick
guy, and you don’t win GP2 races unless you’re
on the money,” points out Erdos. “Dunlop also
appear to have made good progress with their rubber, so
I’m sure ASM will be a tough customer again this season.”
Other
Issues
Aside
from the general mêlée of Turn One, called
“Elf”, Thomas Erdos’s other concern for
the coming weekend is the revised qualifying format. In
the past, the prototypes have always headed out for the
first twenty minutes of the official qualifying period,
but for Barcelona the sequence has been reversed, and the
GT cars will take to the track first. “GT cars historically
tend to ride the kerbs and go across the grass much more
than we do, especially in qualifying. That’s sure
to mean that the track is more likely to be dirty by the
time we get out there. The prototypes simply don’t
use the track the same way. In the past the GTs have always
had the benefit of a clean track when we’ve been out
first, but this change may make things far more difficult
for us.” Qualifying is scheduled for 14:15 on Saturday.
In
Our Thoughts
One
aspect of the weekend that will be bearing heavily on many
minds is the absence of David Leslie. His tragic death last
Sunday has hit the motorsport fraternity especially hard.
He was an enormously popular figure, and the thought that
his warmth and humour will now and forever be absent from
the pressroom, the paddock, and the racetrack, is difficult
to comprehend. Arriving at Barcelona, where he would have
been expected to carry out his duties as a commentator,
will bring this home to everyone with a strength and reality
that reading reports and tributes cannot convey.
“The
whole weekend will be very difficult,” said Thomas
Erdos. “David will be on everybody’s mind, and
especially here with us at RML. You couldn’t help
but like him. It’s truly tragic. I feel sad, not only
because of David’s passing, but also for those others
who knew him so much better than me. Phil [Barker, RML Team
Manager] was David’s race engineer in the BTCC, and
they had a close friendship that had carried on ever since.
David and Ray [Mallock, RML Team Principal] raced together,
shared the podium, and had been together as families. Those
kind of thoughts will be around us each and every day that
we’re in Barcelona.”
Harry
Handkammer, in a statement released on Tuesday, has confirmed
that Apex Motorsport will be pressing on with its Jaguar
XKR GT3 race programme and its entries in the 2008 FIA GT3
European Championship. “We were racing before to win;
now we will be racing with an added purpose – in memory
of Richard, David and Chris.”
Such
inspiration will be felt just as strongly by other teams
to which these men meant so much, and no less so than by
those at RML, to whom David Leslie was one of their own.
