Le
Mans Series 2008
Round 4. Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres. August 16th -
17th 2008
Qualifying Press Release. Issued August 16th 2008
RML
faces major challenge at Germany’s Nürburgring
It took a rare error to deny RML a strong
showing in qualifying ahead of this weekend’s fourth
round of the 2008 Le Mans Series at the Nürburgring
in Germany. During final practice ahead of Saturday’s
twenty-minute qualifying session the team’s MG Lola
EX265, with Thomas Erdos at the wheel, had demonstrated
excellent pace and every chance of a top-three start. In
the end an uncharacteristic mistake in tyre selection ahead
of those critical minutes, combined with unexpectedly high
track temperatures, placed the task beyond even the reach
of the talented Brazilian.
“We made a mistake in tyre choice,
simple as that,” conceded Phil Barker, team manager
of RML’s Le Mans sportscar programme. “We elected
to run on the softer compound after a good performance in
practice this morning. We knew that the ambient conditions
would play a part in how effective that choice became, but
we didn’t expect the track temperature to have risen
to such an extent by the time qualifying began.” During
the morning’s hour-long practice session, the MG had
run a strong fourth in class, and Thomas Erdos had been
confident of finding more pace given the opportunity. In
the four hours between that ending, and the start of qualifying,
the surface temperature of the track had risen a full fifteen
degrees. Relatively early during that same interval the
team had also needed to commit to their choice of tyres.
“Under those conditions it was very difficult for
Tommy to set a representative time. He was contending with
major oversteer and didn’t stand a chance,”
concluded Barker.
During the opening minutes Erdos had been
holding third in LMP2, but was seriously delayed by a much
slower LMP1 car on his second flying lap. Having missed
his best opportunity at a quick time he was forced to abort
the run. “After that the oversteer grew progressively
worse,” he suggested. “It caught me very much
by surprise. After the final session of practice, we expected
to be very competitive, and felt we could aim for a top
three, so it is very disappointing to be so low down the
grid. The team had done a cracking job in preparing the
car, and I felt we had things within our grasp, so I’m
totally gobsmacked by this outcome.” His best of 1:45.903
means that the MG will now start tomorrow’s race from
a lowly ninth in LMP2.
“It seems that our choice of tyres
was simply not suited to the conditions this afternoon,”
admitted Adam Wiseberg, motorsport director of AD Group.
“From this morning’s data, we thought we could
do well on the softer tyre, and were hoping for a low 44
or even better, but we were caught out by the rising temperatures.
Being more positive, we face a six-hour race tomorrow knowing
we have a reliable car with an excellent race pace, and
I am confident we can restore the balance before the start
at midday.”
The
race is scheduled for 195 laps, and with outright pole falling
to the #7 Peugeot 908 driven by Marc Gene and Nick Minassian
in a time of 1:39.492, it seems likely that the race will
run to the full six hours. The chequered flag is scheduled
to fall at 18:05 central European time.
Top
LMP2 Times - Qualifying
| Pos |
No. |
Overall |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
34 |
7 |
Van
Merksteijn M/s |
Bleekemolen/Verstappen
|
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:43.169 |
| 2 |
31 |
9 |
Team
Essex |
Nielsen/Elgaard |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:43.608 |
| 3 |
33 |
13 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia |
Lola
Bo8/80 Coupé |
1:43.981 |
| 4 |
32 |
15 |
Barazi
Epsilon |
Barazi/Vergers/Rees |
Zytek
07S |
1:44.013 |
| 5 |
40 |
17 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Lola
B05/40 AER |
1:44.682 |
| 6 |
27 |
19 |
Horag
Racing |
Lienhard/Theys/Lammers |
Porsche
RS Spyder |
1:44.828 |
| 7 |
45 |
21 |
Embassy
Racing |
Hughes/Kane |
WF01
Zytek |
1:44.928 |
| 8 |
46 |
22 |
Embassy
Racing |
Manning/Foster |
WF01
Zytek |
1:45.693 |
| 9 |
25 |
23 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
MG
Lola EX264 |
1:45.903 |
| 10 |
35 |
24 |
Saulnier
Racing |
Ragues/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Judd |
1:46.033 |
| 11 |
41 |
25 |
Trading
Performance |
Ojeh/Gosselin |
Zytek
07S |
1:47.106 |
| 12 |
44 |
26 |
Kruse
Schiller |
de
Pourtales/Noda |
Lola
B05/40 |
1:47.233 |
| 13 |
26 |
28 |
Bruichladdich |
Rostan/Petersen/Lueders |
Radical
SR9 AER |
1:48.580 |
| 14 |
37 |
33 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Roussel |
WR
Zytek |
1:54.370 |
For
in-depth coverage of all free practice sessions and qualifying,
see Friday and Saturday
reviews.
There are high resolution images posted in the
Nurburgring Gallery.
