Le
Mans Series 2009
Round 3. Autodromo do Algarve 1000 Kilometres.
August 1st 2009
Saturday Review and Race Report
A
Great Day for Racing
At
the time we started the day by issuing an apology for the
erratic nature of our posting for the Algarve weekend, but
like everyone else at the new circuit, we were suffering
enormously from power outages and very intermittent Internet
access. The speed of the connection was woefully slow, and
connections dropped out without warning. With a single photograph
taking several minutes to upload, it was a frustrating process,
and with a 3G connection, we were the fortunate ones. Those
on the official connections were even slower.
Warm-up
After
two days of searing heat, Saturday's official Warm-up actually
came late in the morning on a day when things weren't actually
so warm. A light breeze had picked up overnight, and with
some very thin, wispy clouds, the air temperature had actually
fallen by several degrees. The heady heights of Thursday
afternoon's 36 degrees had dipped to a very bearable 27
or 28. It was enough to tempt a number of team members and
journalists to take to the pool. Pool? Yes, the Autodromo
is probably one of very few race circuits anywhere in the
world to feature a swimming pool in the Paddock!
Quite
why it's there hasn't been fully explained, although one
theory persists that the water is needed in case of a major
fire, but it was certainly appreciated on Saturday. At half
olympic proportions, it looks very tempting, although would-be
divers are warned that it's only about a metre deep.
Mike
and Tommy had no time to appreciate these unexpected facilities,
although with the air conditioning in the RML Lola working
overtime (but making little headway against the all-pervading
heat) they might have been grateful for a chance. The session
started at 10:50, and lasted a mere twenty minutes. Tommy
went out first, and completed a single flying lap before
returning to the pitlane for a full driver-change with Mike.
After two days of not very much daylight running, the plan
was to give Mike as much time in the car as possible, and
he stayed there until the chequered flag was waved.
Mike
completed his last lap and then headed for the pitlane,
where he and the crew executed a perfect pitstop simulation;
Mike hauled unceremoniously from the car and seemingly dumped
inelegantly on the ground as Tommy was shoehorned into the
cockpit. Phil was delighted. "Well done everyone, excellent!"
he said, as the team concluded a faultless routine, and
in a time they've rarely matched before. "If we can
do that every time during the race, we'll be doing fine."
The
drivers were pleased to confirm that the Lola was every
bit as compliant as it had been in practice and qualifying,
giving them the confidence to think they had a well-balanced
car for the race. "All we did was verify that the car
was race-ready. We'd made a few minor changes since qualifying,
including fitting the replacement engine, and it all looks
OK," said Phil. "It was also an opportunity to
give Mike some extra time in the car. He's been a bit deprived
of that, so every lap helps."
One
thing has to be said for the night-race event; the schedule
has been very relaxed. Unlike regular race meetings, where
everything is crammed into the shortest possible time, the
Algarve weekend featured late-starting mornings and generous
gaps between sessions. With warm-up starting at almost eleven
(instead of the usual eight-thirty) the teams had an easy
start to the day, and with the next obligatory duty being
the autograph session at 17:00, there was now plenty of
time to be hospitable with the team's guests, and even watch
some of the support races.
This
weekend's timetable included rounds of the Formula Renault
World Series, the Formula Le Mans Championship, Radical
European Masters, the Classic Endurance Racing series, the
Seat Leo Eurocup and the SuperStars saloon car series. The
World Series by Renault is about as close to F1 as you can
get without being there, and appears to offer a far more
enthralling spectacle that Formula 3. However, the number
of pace car periods that punctuated just about every one
of the support races did start to give rise to some apprehension
regarding the six-hour Le Mans Series race. Having heard
many drivers voicing their concerns over the nature of the
circuit - punctuated by blind crests, hidden apexes and
corners where the exit is obscured, there was a growing
expectation that the evening's feature race might not go
smoothly. Only time would tell.
At
five Mike and Tommy sat at a table beside the front of the
truck signing and giving away HeroCards. Just along from
them the last few scaffold poles were being secured on a
massive stage, where "The Fingertips" were booked
to play a live concert later in the evening. Reputedly one
of Portugal's top pop bands, the group was described as
the Algarve's answer to Coldplay. Mmm.
The
last of the support races - a somewhat chaotic Seat Leon
Supercup event - overran briefly after more carnage on the
track. It's amazing how enthusiastic drivers can get behind
the wheel of a car that appears to have the handling and
performance of a shopping trolley, but they evidently enjoy
themselves, and it is quite entertaining. With the debris
cleared away, the pitlane opened, and the Le Mans Series
cars began to stream out into the evening sun and take up
their positions on the grid.
The
promised crowd wasn't half bad. The other half might have
been better, and maybe even filled the stands, except they'd
decided to stay in the bars and clubs of the Algarve on
a Saturday evening. Hardly surprising really. The grid was
full to bursting though; thronged with guests, grid girls,
photographers, race crew and trolleys full of spare tyres.
That alone made quite a sight, and quite a challenge for
the marshals to clear. But clear it they did, and at about
seven-twelve, the pace car dipped down into Turn 1 to begin
the parade lap . . .
The
Race
Race
coverage was created "live" from approximately
one hour after the start, and then driver quotes and additional
observations added later. This process can lead to some
inconsistency with tenses, for which we apologise in advance.
Race
Start
There
was a fairly large crowd to witness the start of the first-ever
"night race" to feature in the Le Mans Series
calendar. The circuit has a capacity of around 100,000,
so any attendance for a sportscar race was likely to be
dwarfed by the facilities, but the main grandstand over
the starting grid looked as well packed as some seen at
the recent Formula 1 event in Turkey. Official figures won't
be released until after the weekend, but a guesstimate would
suggest about 6,000 turned out to enjoy the sunshine and
spectacle.
As
stirring music echoed around the hillsides, the cars moved
off the grid - well, most of them did. The unfortunate Danny
Watts encountered more throttle as he pulled away from the
grid than he'd anticipated, and next second he was nose-on
to the Armco, sending nearby marshals scampering for cover.
He recovered quickly enough and set off after the pack,
weaving through the traffic to regain his position on the
second row. (He came up with an intriguing explanation.
Apparently, just before the start, he'd hopped over the
wall to see to a call of nature, and while doing so, a Portuguese
bandit had stolen his helmet, leaped into the car, and tried
to drive off. Unfamiliar with the bite of a racing clutch,
he'd lost control, giving the returning Danny Watts chance
to wrestle the thug from the car, reclaim his helmet and
climb back into the Strakka Ginetta-Zytek!).
Tommy,
starting from the penultimate row, had no such problems,
but it must have been a strange sensation for the RML driver
to see thirty cars ahead of him, and know that he'd have
to pass most of them the hard way. No luxury of a wave-by
for the Brazilian.
With
immaculate timing, the pace car veered away from the pack
as they swept through Turn 16, releasing Nicolas Lapierre
in the pole-setting Oreca Matmut AIM #11 to control the
run down towards the start-line gantry. It was exactly seven-fifteen.
The
start at the front of the grid was remarkably clean, but
mid-way through the pack things turned ugly. Aiming for
a gap that really wasn't there, Francisco Martins in one
of the Felbermayr GT2 Porsches, #88, became sandwiched between
the fast-starting Patrick Pilet in the #76 IMSA Porsche
and Richard Lietz, his own team-mate, in the second Felbermayr
car #77. Pilet had shot through along the main straight,
followed by Martins, and Lietz was hanging back, but the
net result was a melée on the exit of Turn 1, which
Tommy - already three places up since crossing the line
- had to negotiate at speed. He was remarkably lucky to
find a gap, and threading his way between spinning Porsches,
sped off towards the first hairpin-right at Turn 4.
(If
you've looked at the circuit map (see here
for more detail) then please note that the LMS racing line
bypasses Turn 2, which has caused some confusion. The new
circuit currently only has one named comer, Turn 9, which
is named after the motorbike racer Craig Jones, who was
killed last year. This means that, officially, the turn
numbers are also the names of each corner, and don't change
even if a corner is missed out. Unfamiliar with this fact
some descriptions of the circuit have erroneously assumed
the first sharp righthander is the third corner - which
it is, when faced by an LMS driver - but is technically
referred to as Turn 4. Confused? We hope not. In this account,
we use the official nomenclature, as illustrated by the
plan.)
Tommy's
opening lap was a demanding one. Everyone hopes to exploit
the tight-knit nature of the first lap to make up ground
on others who may not be quite up to speed so early in the
race, but as a prototype in the GT end of the grid, Tommy
had not only to overtake much slower cars, but also be wary
of those within the class dicing for position. He managed
to keep out of trouble and regain a stack of misappropriated
places, and overtook nine cars.
That
meant he'd cleared the entire GT2 field in a single lap
and Tommy's next targets would be the two GT1 cars and the
tail enders in LMP2. By the close of the second lap, Tommy
was already mixing it with cars that were, on paper, not
a lot slower than he was, but he was dispensing with them
rapidly nevertheless. Next to fall was the Bruichladdich
Radical, flowed swiftly by the second Oak Racing Pescarolo
#24, which had endured a dire start and already lost five
slots. By the close of Lap 3, the RML Lola #25 was running
9th in class, behind the #40, followed by the numbers 41,
33, 35, 37, 30, 29 and the #43 Q8 Oils Lucchini Judd.
Things
were getting steadily tougher now, as Tommy came up on behind
rivals that were only marginally slower than he was. It
took a lap and a half to get ahead of Cortes in the Q8 Lucchini,
and then two more to latch onto the tail of Bruce Jouanny
in the #37 Salini WR Zytek The much-improved car might be
a handful round the corners, but the Zytek engine gave it
a fair turn of speed along the straights, but eight laps
into the race and Tommy was through to seventh in LMP2.
Overall,
there had been a number of changes. After his bewildering
start, Danny Watts had risen to the challenge, and had moved
through to 3rd overall on Lap 5 after Bruno Senna misjudged
a corner and ran wide, and was closing on second.
Twenty
minutes gone and LMP2 had started to get pretty well strung
out. The #40 ASM Quifel Ginetta-Zytek had eased out a lead
of nearly five seconds over the #41 GAC Zytek in second,
with the Oak Racing #35 third, a further six seconds down
the track. The Speedy Sebah Lola #33 was fifth, narrowly
ahead of the two Racing Box Lola Judds, the #29 just having
a narrow edge over the #30.
19:42
The #29 Racing Box Lola has closed to within striking distance
of the #33, with Benjamin Leuenberger at the wheel. Tommy
Erdos has arrived almost under the rear wing of the #30
Racing Box Lola.
19:44
Filippo Francioni in the #29 passes the #33 on the exit
of Turn 5.
19:46
Tommy lapped by the leading Oreca Matmut AIM #11. The WR
Salini has pitted, reputedly with electrical problems, and
the Ibanez Racing Courage is in the garage.
19:48
Olivier Pla continues to stretch his advantage in LMP2,
and has extended his lead to more than ten seconds in the
#40 ASM Ginetta-Zytek. No change for second, with the #41
comfortably clear of the #35 Oak Pescarolo, followed by
#29, #33, #30 and then Tommy in the #25 RML Lola-Mazda.
19:52
Danny Watts up to second overall for Strakka and the #35
Oak Racing Courage has stopped unexpectedly out on track,
reason unknown
19:58
The second of the two Racing Box Lolas has got ahead of
the #33 Speedy Sebah Lola.
20:00
Tommy passes Leuenberger in the #33 Lola.
20:04
PITSTOP (Fuel
only, Erdos remains in)
Tommy makes the #25's first scheduled pitstop. Between entering
and leaving the pitlane, it's a slick stop of less than
a minute.
20:07
The LMP2 leader makes its first pitstop - Olivier Pla and
the #40 ASM Quifel car taking on fuel. The stop is nearly
five seconds longer than RML's. Out on track, the Bruichladdich
Radical has been involved in a collision , possibly with
the #29 Racing Box Lola. The Radical had only just emerged
from its own first pitstop.
20:09
The GAC #41 Zytek, having inherited the lead briefly from
the #40, now pits for the first time, followed soon after
by the #29 racing Box Lola.
20:10
The #30 Racing Box Lola is one of the later LMP2 runners
to make a first routine pitstop.
20:14
The #33 Speedy Sebah Lola pits, and Leuenberger hands over
to Jonny Kane.
Entries
from now were added "live" during the race. Tenses
may vary, for which we apologise.
Hour
2 (20:15-21:15)
20:17
Current position in LMP2 is that the #40 ASM Ginetta-Zytek,
which has been in the lead of the class since the start
of the race, is still there, with Olivier Pla into his second
stint behind the wheel. He leads by 49 seconds from Philipp
Peter, second in the similar (but slightly older) #41 GAC
Zytek (which predates the link with Ginetta). Third place,
having started from very nearly the back of the grid, and
now up to 9th overall, is our own Thomas Erdos in the RML
Lola Mazda, ten seconds off the tail of Peter's Zytek.
Looking
back down the field, fourth in LMP2 is currently occupied
by the #30 Racing Box Lola, the victor in a microcosmic
inter-team battle with the #29, which is falling back little
by little and now stands 35 seconds behind its twin.
20:22
A new fastest lap of from Tommy Erdos, who is steadily reeling
in the #41 GAC Zytek. The gap, which was more than ten seconds
at the end of the last lap, is now just over eight.
20:25
Peter responds with a new fastest lap of his own; 1:36.848.
Unfortunately, the timing system here is not retaining fastest
lap times, so can't offer a direct comparison at this moment
with Tommy's quick lap.
Towards
the back of LMP2, two cars are already unconfirmed retirements;
the #26 Bruichladdich Radical, which had a coming together
with the #99 JMB Ferrari, and both suffered, but the Radical
came of worse. Another garage-locked P2 car is the #28 Ibanez
Racing Courage.
20:30
Tommy
just remarkably lucky not to have been taken out by Stefan
Mucke in the 007 Aston Martin Lola, which just spun out
in traffic from the lead of the race, allowing Boullion
through to the lead, followed by Danny Watts in the Strakka
Racing Ginetta-Zytek. In the incident, Mucke caught the
kerb on the inside while trying to negotiate a backmarker,
and whipped across the track within inches of the RML Lola.
No comment from Tommy on the radio, but that was close!
While
narrowly avoiding being taken out by the erstwhile leader,
Tommy is pressing on and has restored the eight-second gap
that he'd found on Peter before, but had subsequently lost
in traffic. Elsewhere, the #28 Ibanez Courage has had an
off, and damaged the rear wing. It returns to the pits for
repairs.
20:35
Tommy narrows the gap on second place to just 4 seconds
after a slower lap from the #41 Zytek. Even the TV director
has picked up on Tommy's pace and is following him round
the circuit. The RML Lola has the onboard TV camera this
weekend, and the feed is providing entertaining viewing
as Tommy dices through the slower cars.
Tommy
has the tail of Philipp Peter's Zytek just a few yards ahead
of him as he narrows the gap to less than 2 seconds, but
he's light on fuel as he nears the end of his second stint.
Having been the first to make a routine stop at the end
of his opening stint, he looks set to be first again with
his second.
20:43
After a stop of almost half the race, the Ibanez car finally
rejoins. They'd had damage to the rear wing. The Radical
is still "under repairs".
20:45
PITSTOP (Erdos
out of the car, fuel & tyres, Newton in)
Tommy into the pitlane. Refuel, driver change to Mike Newton,
fresh tyres and Mike out into the race.
20:50
The pitstop has dropped the #25 car back down to 14th overall,
7th in LMP2. It will be interesting to see where Mike ends
up when others complete their pitstops. Olivier Pla continues
to extend his lead over Philipp Peter and is now 63 seconds
clear, and had briefly overtaken Miguel Ramos in the 009
Aston Martin Lola for 6th, but has now swapped back.
20:56
A slow lap for Jonny Kane in the not-so-Speedy Lola #33.
He was 11th overall, but has now lost the place to the #35
Oak car. Danny Watts has pitted from second overall in the
Strakka Racing Ginetta-Zytek, and is now into the garage.
20:57
Kane's problems persist, and Mike has now eased passed him
too. Moments later the #33 Lola enters the pitlane.
21:00
Officially "night"
On the hour . . . Watts still in the Strakka garage with
the engine cover off, and slipping rapidly down the order.
His was a scheduled stop, and others are also making them
on a regular basis. The #10 pits from second, and out again
(Monteiro driving). The #29 Racing Box Lola pits from third,
allowing through the #30. Olivier Pla also pits from the
lead of LMP2. It's all change, and difficult to follow.
21:03
Philipp Peter now leads LMP2 from Thomas Biagi in the #30
second, and then Miguel Amaral, who's taken over the #40
ASM Ginetta-Zytek. There are still several cars yet to pit
in this sequence, but MIke Newton now stands 4th in LMP2,
more than a lap behind Amaral.
21:05
First
and second in LMP2 into the pits. #33 nearly ready to return
to the race after repairs to the rear suspension.
21:08
The #16 Pescarolo now leads overall by 45 seconds from the
#10 Oreca AIM, with the first of the Aston Martin Lolas
third, a full minute behind the leader. The pitstops have
unravelled in LMP2 as well, and Amaral has the #40 ASM car
back at the sharp end, with a 90 second lead over Karim
Ojeh second in the GAC Zytek, and Matteo Bobbi third for
Racing Box in the #30. The gap to Newton in fourth is a
generous 47 seconds, but his pace is good, and the gap is
not changing much.
21:14
We notice that the Radical is running again after a very
lengthy stop for repairs.
Hour
3 (21:15-22:15)
21:16
The #24 Oak Racing Pescarolo made what looked to be a scheduled
stop in sequence with everyone else, but has now been static
in the pits for about five minutes. Having been well up
the class order, the car has now dropped to 20th overall,
and is about to drop off the first screen. Another car plummeting
down the order is the Strakka Racing Ginetta-Zytek. Having
looked so strong in the early laps, the LMP1 privateers
are now 23rd overall, but have rejoined the race with Nick
leventis in the cockpit. The car refused to re-start after
the last pitstop, and Danny had been aware of a misfire
for a handful of laps beforehand.
21:23
The impressive run from the #40 ASM GZ continues, and Amaral
has now moved through to 5th overall, but he's only 9 seconds
ahead of Olivier Panis in the #11 Oreca AIM, recovering
from a lengthy pitstop. The #33 Speedy Sebah Lola is up
and running again, and has returned to the #1 screen in
20th position overall.
21:25
Mike has lost one position to the #29 Lola, and is now 11th
overall, 5th in LMP2. The rest of the class, after Amaral
in the lead, has Karim Ojeh second (#41) and Bobbi third
(#30) by a minute from his team-mate in the #29.
21:29
A major spin for the GT1 leader. The Corvette does a semi-graceful
spin of several revolutions before shuddering to a halt
in a cloud of dust and gravel. It does, however, resume
after a few moments, Yann Clairay in the cockpit.
21:37
PITSTOP (Fuel
only. Newton stays in)
Mike into the pitlane for a routine pitstop for fuel, but
the team also check the car's intakes for debris. He leaves
the track from 12th overall, but loses 5th in class to Matthew
Lahaye in the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo as he heads for the
pits. It's a very slick stop by the RML crew, and Mike's
back out again very swiftly.
21:45
Just seven of the original twelve LMP2 runners are still
in genuine contention, and Jonny Kane is making up good
ground in the #33 Speedy Sebah Lola, having had a lengthy
pitstop for reasons as yet unknown. He's now back up to
14th (from a low of 22nd) but four laps down on the RML
Lola #25, which holds 12th overall, 6th in class.
21:50
Spin into the gravel and well buried for the #24 Oak Racing
Pescarolo. Nicolet had only returned to the track a couple
of minutes earlier after a battery change - perhaps the
tyres weren't quite up to temperature.
21:56
Confirmation that the #33's problem and extended pitstop
was the result of a collision with an LMP1 car, unidentified.
Both
LMP1 leaders into the pitlane for what must be scheduled
stops. So too the #40 LMP2 leader, with Amaral exiting the
track from 7th overall. The stop not faultless - the crew
seen to be rocking the car backwards and forwards, as if
stuck in gear, but then it gets going again and Amaral speeds
away.
21:59
Both Racing Box cars into the pits at the same time! A bit
of a logistic nightmare there for the team, bringing the
#29 are in before the #30, and then having to hold the #30
for some time before Ceccato could get away in the lower-placed
car.
22:02
Karim Ojeh into the pits in the #41 Zytek. Routine, and
away again.
22:05
We get confirmation that the Strakka Racing #23 is a retirement.
22:08
Jonny Kane pits the #33. In terms of race positions overall,
Christophe Tinseau retains the overall lead for the #16
Pescarolo, with Jan Charouz second in the 007 Aston Martin
by 70 seconds. The two Oreca Matmut AIM cars are third and
fourth, with the second Aston #009 fifth, who pits at 22:10.
The #33 returns to the track with Pompidou aboard.
22:12
A spin for the WR Salini and he ends up broadside across
the track, and then reverses across it just as one of the
racing Box Lolas comes through. It's another near miss at
Turn 4.
Hour
4 (22:15-23:15)
22:19
Into the fourth hour of the race and it remains an impressive
run of reliability in the top fifteen or so. The overall
leader, the #16 Pescarolo, has now completed 112 laps, with
215 laps the published total for this 1000 kilometre race.
Tinseau does now have a full lap's lead over Charouz, but
that may change as the French car makes a routine pitstop
and driver change and dropping to third.
22:22
We have a solid block of six LMP2 cars between 7th and 12th
overall; Amaral (#40) leads by XX seconds from Bobbi (#30)
second, Ojeh (#41) third and then the second Racing Box
(#29) fourth. The #35 Oak Racing is fifth, and then Newton
in the RML Lola sixth, two laps adrift.
22:32
PITSTOP (Fuel
only. Newton stays in)
Mike into the pitlane for his second scheduled stop, but
this will be a quick one. The plan is to give Mike a half-tank
of fuel, or enough for about ten laps, so that he can complete
enough tracktime to leave Tommy with the final two hours
of the race. He mustn't exceed four hours in total. The
team also remove a length of Astroturf that has become wrapped
around the car's suspension, causing an unnerving vibration.
The
pitstop goes well, and Tommy is quickly back out and on
track
22:42
Oak Racing's #35 pits for fuel, followed a couple of minutes
later by the Bruichladdich Radial still running but way
down the order.
22:50
PITSTOP (Fuel,
tyres and driver change to Thomas Erdos)
Mike makes his final pitstop, handing back the RML Lola
to Thomas Erdos for the rest of the race. Tommy resumes
from 6th in class but more than a lap down on Andrea Piccini
in the #30 Racing Box Lola, although the Italian car is
in the pits for five minutes while the crew attend to a
cooling problem, allowing Tommy to close. The class is still
being dominated by the ASM Ginetta-Zytek, with current occupant
Olivier Pla lying 7th overall.
22:55
Fuel stop for the LMP2 class leading AS Ginetta Zytek. A
few minutes later and the #41 GAC Zytek also pitstops.
22:08
Pitstop for #33 Speedy Sebah Lola.
23:10
Massive spin and gravelly ending for Pompidou in the #33
Speedy Sebah Lola, perhaps on cold tyres. The car has had
an eventful race, but has consolidated well in 13th overall,
two laps behind RML. Pompidou makes a precautionary pitstop
at the end of the lap.
23:12
Pitstop for the #35, currently running 10th overall, and
4th in LMP2.
After
roughly two hours, Tinseau retains the overall lead by 73
seconds from Tomas Enge in the 007 Aston
Hour
5 (23:15-00:15)
The fifth hour, and despite the darkness and limited illumination
around the circuit, several drivers are now pushing their
cars into new personal bests. Giacomo Piccini in the #29
Racing Box Lola has just set a new fastest lap for his car,
and so too Pompidou in the #33 Speedy Lola - evidently not
fazed by his spin of only a few minutes ago.
23:20
Tommy moves through to 5th in LMP2, passing the #35 Oak
Racing Pescarolo as the purple and black car pits for fuel.
In LMP1, Tinseau pits from the lead, handing over the Pescarolo
to Boullion and allowing Enge through to the lead.
23:26
After some discussion over the radio, Tommy is instructed
to pit this lap
23:27
PITSTOP (Fuel
only. Tommy stays in)
Tommy into the pits and pulls up smartly outside the garage.
The guys refuel the car, clean the screen and top up the
water, and then Tommy's straight back out again. The #35
Oak Racing car also pits - which can't be on schedule either.
23:34
New fastest lap for Andre Piccini in the #30 (1:36 dead).
23:43
PITSTOP (Fuel
and water. Tommy stays in)
The team has confirmed an issue with fluctuating water temperatures,
and have decided to bring Tommy in for a precautionary top-up
of fluids. They'll see how the car responds. Tommy returns
to the track with the minimum of delay.
23:45
Routine pitstop for #40.
23:47
The #29 Racing Box Lola is into the pits for a refuel and
a clean-out of the ducting. Many cars have had problems
with the astroturf that has been used to border some sections
of track, but after several hours of racing in the dark,
sections are being ripped clear and left in flapping chunks
just off the racing line. As Piccini discovered, it can
end up in the most awkward places, and risk causing overheating.
23:52
Philipp Peter pits the #41 GAC Zytek from second in LMP2.
Routine and efficient.
00:02
PITSTOP (Fuel
and into the box. Tommy stays in)
Having radioed in to complain about a misfire, Tommy returns
to the pits for a third visit in half an hour. This time
the team completes the refuel, as they would for any routine
pitstop, and then hauls the car back into the garage where
they refit plugs and coil. The car is stationary for seven
minutes in total, including entering and leaving the pitlane.
00:04
The #33 Speedy Sebah Lola also in the pits, but appears
routine.
00:10
Tommy given the OK, pitlane clear, and heads back out again.
00:15
Just before the start of the final hour, a run of new fastest
laps from Andrea Piccini in the #30, who's evidently on
a charge to catch Giacomo Piccini (are they related?) in
the sister #29. The gap is now down below 20 seconds, and
we have the real prospect of a battle in LMP2, where Giacomo
is only 17 seconds behind Philipp Peter, second in class.
With
all his various pitstops, Tommy has dropped down to 14th
overall, and is the last of the genuinely "running"
LMP2 cars.
00:22
The #30 Lola is into the pits, so Andrea drops back from
Giacomo, who pushes on to narrow the gap on Philipp Peter
to 14 seconds. Tommy meanwhile is pushing on, and his last
few laps have been very representative; 1:38 or quicker
is among the fastest in the class at present, and has allowed
him to return to the same lap as Karim Ajlani, currently
in the cockpit of the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo.
00:28
Tommy now 26 seconds behind Ajlani, but Tommy will still
have to make another pitstop for fuel. There are 24 laps
still to run.
00:30
Tommy continues to eat into the gap to Ajlani, and it's
down to 21 seconds already, suggesting that Tommy is eating
into Ajlani's advantage by between 2 and 5 seconds each
lap.
00:33
The gap dips below 20 seconds with 22 laps to go. It would
be nice to pick up a place before the end, but that will
only work if Ajlani also has another pitstop ahead of him.
00:35
Tommy is currently at the helm of one of the fastest, if
not the fastest, cars in LMP2. Philipp Peter pits
from second and Giacomo Piccini gets the place he's been
promising to gain for the last half hour or more, so it's
a Lola up into second in class. Tommy's target gap is now
down to 16 seconds.
00:40
Another three seconds gained on that last lap. The gap stands
at 13.4 seconds. The lead LMP2 car, the #40 ASM Ginetta-Zytek,
comes in for what will probably be the car's final pitstop.
00:41
Lap after lap, Tommy eats his way into Ajlani's advantage,
and its now down to 10 seconds, and then seven on the next
lap. Tommy can probably now see the Oak's tail lights down
the main straight.
00:45
It has been an impressive stint from the Brazilian - of
course - and one can only wonder where the #25 RML Lola
might have been if it hadn't needed to make those extra
pitstops in the middle of Tommy's last stint. There's one
more of those yet to come, but he's taken some forty seconds
out of Karim Ajlani in about twenty minutes. The gap between
the two can now be measures in feet, or maybe inches, as
Tommy arrives under the rear wing of the fluorescent pink
and black Pescarolo.
00:48
Next lap through and Tommy takes Ajlani for 12th overall,
6th in class. That, however, is probably as good as it's
going to get, as the gap to Jonny Kane in the #33 in 5th
is two full laps.
00:53
PITSTOP (Fuel
and water. Tommy stays in)
Tommy into the pitlane for a splash and dash - fuel, windscreen
clean and a splash of water, and then he's away again. Unfortunately,
by making the pitstop he's lost that hard-earned 12th place,
and with only 8 laps remaining, there's little chance now
of recapturing the scalp.
All
else in LMP2 looks fairly well settled. The ASM Ginetta
Zytek has lead the class form the start, and now has almost
two laps in hand over Giacomo Piccini. Philipp Peter is
42 seconds adrift in third, with Bobbi fourth.
00:57
Jonny Kane makes a final pitstop for the #33.
00:58
The #35 has a spectacular spin, but recovers after a brief
delay, but is it enough to allow Tommy to close the gap?
The cross the line, and the gap was 40 seconds, but has
now narrowed to 19 seconds. Four laps to go.
01:00
The leader overall makes a final splash 'n' dash pitstop,
but probably has more than enough leeway to play with at
this late stage. Tommy's gained another three seconds.
01:04
Two laps to go, and Tommy has to find ten seconds. It's
a tall order. Of the 35 cars that started, thirty are still
moving, even though some are many laps behind their respective
leaders. It's doubtful that the same could have been said
if the race had been run in the heat of the day.
01:06
Tommy is told he's minus nine with just one lap to go.
01:07
Chequered flag. Several cars set their fastest laps right
at the end of the race. Tommy crosses the line 13th overall,
7th in LMP2, 11 seconds behind Ajlani. A great effort, and
the first one home all season for the RML Lola Mazda.
Olivier
Pla takes the class win for the Ginetta-Zytek, two laps
clear of the #29 Lola Judd, and then third for the second
Zytek (#41) with the #30 Racing Box Lola 4th.
Post
Race
For
a concise rundown of the race and the most salient points
raised by team and drivers, please see the Press
Release.
LMP2
Result
Pos |
No. |
O/all |
Team |
Driver |
Car |
Laps/gap |
Best
Lap |
1 |
40 |
6 |
Quifel
ASM |
Amaral/Pla |
Ginetta-Zytek
GZ09S |
207 |
1:35.316 |
2 |
29 |
7 |
Racing
Box |
Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
205 |
1:36.632 |
3 |
41 |
8 |
GAC
Racing Team |
Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter |
Zytek 07S |
205 |
1:36.848 |
4 |
30 |
9 |
Racing
Box |
Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
203 |
1:36.000 |
5 |
33 |
11 |
Speedy
Sebah |
Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane |
Lola
B08/80 Coupé |
198 |
1:36.140 |
6 |
35 |
12 |
Oak
Racing |
Ajlani/Lahaye |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
132 |
1:37.420 |
7 |
25 |
13 |
RML
AD Group |
Erdos/Newton |
Lola
B08/86 Coupé |
195 |
1:36.740 |
8 |
24 |
21 |
Oak
Racing |
Nicolet/Hein |
Pescarolo
Mazda |
179 |
1:39.104 |
9 |
37 |
24 |
WR
Salini |
Salini/Salini/Jouanny |
WR
Zytek |
171 |
1:39.104 |
10 |
26 |
25 |
Bruichladdich |
Bruneau/Greaves/Sini |
Radical
SR9 AER |
165 |
1:41.832 |
|
|
|
NOT
CLASSIFIED |
(Not running or less than 150 laps) |
|
|
|
11 |
28 |
28 |
Ibanez
Racing |
Ibanez/da
Rocha/Cavailhes |
Courage
AER |
124 |
1:41.840 |
12 |
43 |
31 |
Q8
Oils Hache |
Jorda/Cortes/Nieto |
Lucchini
Judd |
90 |
1:40.332 |
Post-Race
Comment
Such has been the frustration of the 2009 season for RML
AD Group that just seeing the car take the chequered flag
was almost as good as gaining a podium . . . almost, but
not quite. There's every chance that a podium was within
the team's grasp in the Algarve. Had it not been for the
20-place penalty on the grid, Tommy would have started the
race from the sixth row. It took him nearly two hours to
work his way up through the field to reach second in LMP2
- the position where he should have started.
That
he achieved such a position at all is remarkable, and an
enormous testament not only to his skills as a driver, most
notably through traffic, but also to the team, who put together
a car that handles so well and can offer such performance
potential.
The
issue with the Astroturf was a bizarre one. At the time,
Mike was convinced he'd collected an enormous amount of
spent rubber "pick-up" on the tyres, but as soon
as he came into the pits the team was able to identify the
true culprit. With hindsight, RML's encounter was tame.
The GT1 Saleen also had a run-in with the Astroturf, catching
a loop of the stuff on part of the undertray that then ripped
away a huge chunk of the floor. After a lengthy stop for
repairs it would still manage to finish second in class,
but then again, there were only two runners.
What
really put paid to RML's hopes of a podium was the misfire.
Replacing the plugs and coil was a relatively easy fix,
and took only five minutes (plus one more for each in and
out down the pitlane, making seven in total) but in a category
that is now so fiercely competitive, any delay can be costly.
The
stops for the RML #25 were as follows:
Time |
Delay |
Purpose |
Driver
in |
Driver
out |
Total |
20:04 |
0:57 |
Fuel
only (Scheduled) |
Tommy |
Tommy |
0:57 |
20:45 |
1:37 |
Fuel,
tyres and driver change (Scheduled) |
Tommy |
Mike |
2:34 |
21:37 |
1:13 |
Fuel
and tyres (Scheduled) |
Mike |
Mike |
3:47 |
22:32 |
0.54 |
Fuel
and clear Astroturf (Scheduled half-fuel) |
Mike |
Mike |
4:41 |
22:50 |
2:00 |
Fuel,
tyres and driver change (Scheduled) |
Mike |
Tommy |
6:41 |
23:27 |
1:05 |
Fuel
and water (Scheduled) |
Tommy |
Tommy |
7:46 |
23:43 |
0:58 |
Fuel
and water (Extra) |
Tommy |
Tommy |
8:44 |
00:02 |
7:00 |
Fuel,
tyres, water, plugs and coil (Early) |
Tommy |
Tommy |
15:44 |
00:53 |
0:52 |
Fuel,
water (Scheduled splash ‘n’ dash) |
Tommy |
Tommy |
16:36 |
From
the total time spent in the pits of 16 minutes and 36 seconds,
just over nine minutes can be assigned to "extra"
time spent carrying out additional work, from extracting
lengths of Astroturf, to replacing plugs and coil and pressure
filling the cooling system. That's equivalent to about six
laps of the Algarve circuit, and would have placed the RML
Lola fourth. "All things being equal, a top-four was
certainly achievable today, even starting from the back
of the grid," observed Mike. "Had we been able
to run cleanly from our true qualifying position, and given
no water leak, who knows where we could have ended up."
The
immediate concern after the race was the extent to which
the water leak and temperature fluctuations might have affected
the engine, but Mike was confident that the Mazda unit had
survived unscathed. "That's one very positive note
to take away from the Algarve," agreed Mike. "We
can arrive at the Nürburgring without facing any fresh
penalties, and we’re now back down to single-figures
in our total of negative points, having picked up two points
today to give us minus 8 in the series."
Tommy
was pleased to have taken the chequered flag, but there
was no denying his sense of frustration. "We worked
very hard today for very little return," he said. "I
was pleased with the opening stint, and to have got us back
up to third, and be challenging for second, certainly demonstrated
the underlying pace of the car. The guys put together such
a good car for the race – it was simply delightful
to drive - and that’s all credit to the team. They
gave me the tools for the job, but fate denied us."
And
a final footnote about The Fingertips. The band tried to
start their session at ten, but nobody could hear them above
the noise of the cars, so they postponed their concert until
after the race. The music finally got under way at about
two o'clock, and lasted about an hour. Surprisingly, quite
a few spectators stayed behind to listen. The following
day, Sunday, there was a very reduced schedule of support
races, and everything was wrapped up by two in the afternoon.
For
high resolution digital photographs, please visit the Algarve
Gallery.