Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 3. Spa 1000 Kilometres. May 9th - 11th 2008
Friday Review
Friday
Practice
Gorgeous
warm sunshine, crystal clear blue skies and a sizzling heat
haze rising off the tarmac - surely this can't be Spa? But
it is, and more amazing still, the forecast for the weekend
is for "more of the same", with perhaps just a
touch of cloud tomorrow, but expected to clear again for
raceday on Sunday. Even so, this is the Ardennes, and it
might still be raining on the other side of the valley .
. . .
Forty-four
cars took part in Friday's free practice sessions, with
only a small handful of "significant differences"
since Round 2 at Monza. The long-anticipated second Epsilon
LMP1 Coupé has still not arrived in LMP1, but the
Lavaggi is back again, having missed the Italian race. One
absentee in LMP2 is the Racing Box Lucchini, but restoring
the numbers is a new entry in GT1, with the Strakka Racing
Aston Martin DBR9 (Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis) making
a series debut.
First
Free Practice
First
free practice started at 13:00, but Tommy was caught on
the hop. "I was sure it was half-past!" he insisted,
as he strode purposefully through the garage towards the
waiting MG EX265. Rapidly strapped into the cockpit, he
was despatched to the pitlane only seven minutes late.
The
modest delay didn't affect RML's strategy unduly, and after
a single installation lap, Tommy completed half-a-dozen
flying laps before pitting and handing over to Mike for
the remaining half-hour. "It was important that we
got Mike into the car as soon as possible," explained
Erdos. "This is a far more technical circuit than Monza,
so it's vital that Mike gets his eye in as soon as he can."
Tommy's
quickest time had been a relaxed 2:10.076 on his penultimate
tour. "One or two of the others have set quicker times,
but they're not quicker than us," he said. "We're
perhaps not as fast in a straight line as we should be,
but I'm not unduly concerned at the moment. We've got some
set-up issues to address, but the car feels good for a first
session."
Mike
ran through to the chequered flag without problems, although
commented again on the difficulties of negotiating traffic.
"We made a small aero change between the two runs,"
he added. "The adjustment was a definite improvement,
but I never got a clear run, so it's hard to see exactly
where we are with the car."
Phil
Barker took a relaxed lunch at the Smoking Dog. "That
was a busy session, but we worked through our initial balance
checks and gave Mike as much track time as we could. There's
a general feeling that we're still down on power. Even though
we're running very little drag compared with last year,
we're still significantly slower - both ways, up the hill
and down again." The official speed trap clocked the
MG at 265 kph, eighth quickest in class, compared with 277
kph for the lead van Merksteijn Porsche. "We'll just
keep chipping away and hope to pick up the pace a bit this
afternoon."
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 1
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
34 |
6 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Merksteijn/Verstappen |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:05:013 |
| 2 |
31 |
10 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:08.658 |
| 3 |
32 |
13 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
2:09.127 |
| 4 |
40 |
14 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
2:09.287 |
| 5 |
27 |
16 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:09.654 |
| 6 |
25 |
17 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
2:10.076 |
| 7 |
45 |
18 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
2:10.102 |
| 8 |
46 |
19 |
Embassy
Racing |
Kimber-Smith/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
2:11.252 |
| 9 |
33 |
20 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
2:11.928 |
| 10 |
44 |
21 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
2:12.297 |
| 11 |
26 |
22 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
2:13.376 |
| 12 |
41 |
24 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen |
Zytek
07S |
2:15.485 |
| 13 |
35 |
29 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
2:19.894 |
| 14 |
37 |
35 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
2:23.571 |
Second
Free Practice
While
Friday's second session offered more of the same in terms
of the weather, it was a significantly better hour for Mike,
Tommy and RML. After a series of ranging laps, Tommy went
for a determined flyer, and crossed the line in 2:08.385,
1.8 seconds faster than session one.
That
was good enough for third fastest in LMP2. "I think
the Essex car had problems," shrugged Erdos later.
Indeed, the #31 Porsche RS Spyder had endured a troubled
session, having been hit up the rear no less than twice
by the Horag Porsche, and Elgaard managed a less than representative
2:10.600 before retiring hurt for repairs. That shouldn't
detract from the fact that Tommy's time was still a significant
improvement, and placed the MG nearer the top of the pile.
"It's obviously a lot better," he agreed, "but
we've still got an ocean to cross if we're ever going to
catch the Porsches. It's early days yet, but in the wider
context, it's an encouraging improvement."
"We've
made some progress," agreed Phil Barker. "We made
some chassis changes between sessions, and also during that
last hour, and at least we're heading in the right direction."
Top
LMP2 Times - Session 2
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
34 |
6 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Van
Merksteijn/Verstappen |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:05:742 |
| 2 |
27 |
16 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:07.613 |
| 3 |
25 |
17 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX265 |
2:08.385 |
| 4 |
33 |
20 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
2:08.873 |
| 5 |
40 |
14 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
2:09.362 |
| 6 |
45 |
18 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
2:09.399 |
| 7 |
46 |
19 |
Embassy
Racing |
Kimber-Smith/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
2:09.713 |
| 8 |
32 |
13 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
2:10.299 |
| 9 |
31 |
10 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
2:10.600 |
| 10 |
35 |
29 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
2:10.741 |
| 11 |
44 |
21 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
2:12.002 |
| 12 |
26 |
22 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
2:12.265 |
| 13 |
41 |
24 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Schroyen |
Zytek
07S |
2:13.904 |
| 14 |
37 |
35 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
2:20.561 |
There
are high resolution images posted in the Spa
Gallery.
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