Le Mans Series 2008
Round 4. Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres. August 16th - 17th 2008
Race Press Release. Issued August 17th 2008

Sixth at the flag belies a strong run from RML at the Nürburgring

Taking sixth place at the chequered flag fails to do justice to a strong showing from the RML driver pairing of Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton in Round 4 of the 2008 Le Mans Series at the Nürburgring in Germany. Having qualifying ninth on tyres that proved unsuited to the conditions – and having to start the race on the same rubber – Tommy drove a blistering triple stint that saw the MG rise through the LMP2 ranks to a peak of second.

It was an impressive performance from the Brazilian, who admitted later that the first fifty minutes on the softer compound had been “very tough”. This overlooks the fact that the team’s original plan had been to bring the car in ahead of schedule for an early pitstop and replace those tyres, but such had been his pace and competitiveness that Phil Barker, team manager at RML, elected to let him run the distance. “Tommy drove an absolute blinder and allowed us to maintain a regular pitstop schedule. That was very valuable to us,” he said.

After the pitstop, and fitted with fresh “medium” compound tyres, the MG was transformed. "It was like I'd climbed into a completely different car," said Erdos. "It was a revelation! I was able to settle down and really enjoy the drive, knowing that I had the car that was handling and performing perfectly." Such was his enthusiasm, and the evident improvement in pace, that he was offered a third successive stint. He took full advantage of the opportunity, and maintained a charge that lifted the car from that ninth place at the start all the way through to second in class. He completed two and three-quarter hours before handing over to Mike Newton for the middle sector of the race.

After the pitstops had unravelled the CEO of AD Group found himself running fifth, but also right in the middle of heavy traffic. “I think I came into a series of maybe eight or nine laps when I didn’t have a single clear run,” said Mike. “I was either baulked by slower cars, or encountering yellow flags on every second or third corner. It was very frustrating!”. Within half an hour he also discovered that the engine was losing some of its edge. “It was definitely not as strong as it had been, and I could almost run the whole of the main straight without getting into sixth gear. That also made tackling the GT cars much more difficult.” It also made defending Tommy’s hard-won positions an almost insurmountable challenge, and Mike did well to hold on to sixth before handing back to Thomas Erdos for the final seventy-five minutes.

Rejoining in seventh, Erdos picked up one place and two whole laps on the next cars in the class during those final stages, and had closed to within striking distance of fifth before time ran out. He took the chequered flag in sixth place. “I’m pleased to have finished, but disappointed that we could only manage sixth today,” admitted Phil Barker. “We ran a clear race, without problems, and although the engine was a bit flat towards the end, we deserved better from a trouble-free run. Even so, three points will do nicely, but with two or three more laps, perhaps Tommy could have given us something better.”

Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director of AD Group, was particularly impressed with Tommy’s triple-stint. “That was a very strong drive through to second,” he said, “The car ran reliably, the crew was fantastic, and there were no mistakes or problems anywhere. The team deserved more of a reward than sixth, but as always this year, we face a very competitive class in LMP2 and it’s a credit to RML that the MG remains in contention after nearly five years of development.”

The final round takes place at Silverstone on September 14th

LMP2 Result

Pos	No.	O/all	Team	Driver	Car	Laps/gap	Time
1	34	7	Van Merksteijn M/s	Bleekemolen/Verstappen	Porsche RS Spyder	188	1:45.697
2	35	9	Saulnier Racing	Ragues/Lahaye	Pescarolo Judd	184	1:47.652
3	31	10	Team Essex	Nielsen/Elgaard	Porsche RS Spyder	22 secs	1:46.391
4	46	11	Embassy Racing	Manning/Foster	WF01 Zytek	183	1:48.217
5	40	12	Quifel ASM	Amaral/Pla	Lola B05/40 AER	182	1:46.596
6	25	13	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	MG Lola EX264	181	1:47.445
7	45	14	Embassy Racing	Hughes/Kane	WF01 Zytek	180	1:47.904
8	32	15	Barazi Epsilon	Barazi/Vergers/Rees	Zytek 07S	56 secs	1:46.881
9	33	16	Speedy Sebah	Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia	Lola Bo8/80 Coupé	179	1:45.732
10	41	17	Trading Performance	Ojeh/Gosselin	Zytek 07S	4 secs	1:49.311
11	44	21	Kruse Schiller	de Pourtales/Noda	Lola B05/40	172	1:48.094
12	27	23	Horag Racing	Lienhard/Theys/Lammers	Porsche RS Spyder	170	1:46.459
13	26	34	Bruichladdich	Rostan/Petersen/Lueders	Radical SR9 AER	159	1:50.294
			NOT CLASSIFIED
14	37	43	WR Salini	Salini/Salini/Roussel	WR Zytek	126	1:53.612

For in-depth coverage, see Sunday review here.
There are high resolution images posted in the Nurburgring Gallery.