Le Mans 24 Hours 2007
Thursday - Second Qualifying Day. June 14th 2007

First Session

Second Session

First "Daylight" Session

The start for the first of Thursday’s two qualifying sessions was delayed by half an hour so that the track could be cleansed following the Legends’ qualifying session, where one or two competitors had lost fluid and rendered the track treacherously slippery. Even the marshals themselves were finding it hard to keep their footing, when drizzle came down on top of smeared oil. The extra thirty minutes also allowed a number of teams to haul their cars back to the garage so that settings could be adjusted to cope with what were expected to be full wet conditions. Few knew at the time, of course, just how bad it was going to get.

Andy was scheduled first out in the MG. He waited patiently while the mechanics replaced the car’s bodywork and rear wing to achieve a higher-downforce setting suitable for full-wet running. Finally, at half-past seven, the track opened and the session began. It didn’t really last very long.

Andy had not completed a single lap before he was on the radio. “I’m coming through the Porsche Curves and it’s pissing down with rain. I’m coming in!” he declared over the radio. Indeed, it was, and while it had yet to arrive in the pitlane, elsewhere the conditions were growing steadily more torrential. Ribbed about his poor lap time, Andy’s riposte came quickly. “You should have seen me down the back – I was cr@p past you, but I was really quick down the back!” Once parked up, he was keen to get out of the damp cockpit.

Clearly, few would be attempting laps in the prevailing conditions. “The track is undriveable, and there is no reason to go out. Even a ship could go faster, or a duck!” said one of the drivers being interviewed on the radio. There was even some discussion about the merits of sending out a safety car, to prevent cars trying to go too fast in these conditions.

During the worst of the downpour, only two cars ventured out. One was the #7 Peugeot 908, with Jacques Villeneuve, former world champion and Le Mans rookie at the wheel. At first this might have been thought a foolhardy move, but in point of fact, the 908 has never yet encountered any serious rain, and with every likelihood of a wet race, this is the perfect opportunity for Peugeot to discover hw the car behaves in monsoon conditions. The car following the Peugeot . . . and then overtaking it . . . was Allan Simondsen in the Autorlando Porsche. He completed his exploratory lap and was back in the garage again before Villeneuve reached the Porsche Curves – proof if it were needed that even GT2 cars are more manageable in the wet that the highly powered and lightweight prototypes.

Half an hour had ticked away before the rain eased sufficiently for others to think it was worth testing the conditions, and before much longer there was a steady stream of cars throwing up rooster tails of spray around the French countryside. Andy, the third most experienced driver at Le Mans with 18 previous starts (after Yojiro Tarada on 28 and Jan Lammers with 19), was not among the first batch. Then, at eight-twenty, the MG roared into life, and Andy joined the throng.

Andy’s first full lap was a 4:43.404, but the rain was still falling intermittently all around the circuit. His next was a fair bit quicker, at 4:34.925, but none of these was representative. He completed two more laps, and then returned to the pitlane at 8:46.

Mike Newton was next in. The priority at this preliminary stage in the evening was to ensure that the drivers completed their daylight laps – three each. Tommy satisfied his requirement on Wednesday, so only Andy and Mike needed to run theirs today. Under normal circumstances each driver must achieve a time that comes within 110% of the fastest time for their class, but what is often overlooked is that they should also set a time that falls no slower than 125% of outright pole. After Wednesday’s disrupted session, more than fifty drivers had yet to meet this requirement, including Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton, but the general understanding has been that the ACO will look favourably on those drivers who have raced at Le Mans before, or who managed relatively quick times during periods when conditions were poor. It is assumed, however, that first-time drivers and anyone not achieving a comparable time may be excluded from the race.

Mike was out for a fair while in the end, and was allowed an extra two laps on top of his original allocation. It was nearly the end of the session before he came burbling back to the garage, the engine stuttering on the pitlane rev limiter. His best time; a 4:31.102, was his last before pitting, and gained praise from Phil Barker for being “excellent!” Indeed, it was, and constituted third-fastest in class for the session, only bettered by the pole-sitting #33 Barazi Zytek and its sister car, the #32 Zytek.

The chequered flag was waved to end the session at just after nine-thirty.

Second "Night" Session

Only thirty minutes separated the two sessions, but this was time enough for the MG crew to re-set the car to a slightly lower downforce configuration. “It was pretty horrid out there,” said Andy Wallace, referring to his first excursion in the MG. “After the rain eased, I did three timed laps, but we’d put too much downforce on the car, and I was slower down the straights than the GT1 cars. We have to take a little of that off, reduce the drag, and find a bit more straight-line speed.”

Mike Newton, however, was like the Cheshire Cat, grinning from ear to ear, having been told that he’d just set the third-fastest time in LMP2. “I’m delighted with that,” he said. “With only the two Zyteks ahead of me, I feel very pleased indeed. My fastest laps included traffic too, so I could have managed something even quicker. The car felt really well balanced, and if I’d had a bit more time out there I think I could have taken a lot more out of it. I didn’t feel I was anywhere near the limit.”

Mike’s only buttock-clenching moment (his phrase!) came early in his stint, when he followed the normal line out of the second Mulsanne Chicane and, as he moved over to the left, discovered a pair of very long, very deep puddles. Watching the on-board video (right), it was immediately obvious that he’d experienced a major twitch as the car aquaplaned across the water. He made sure to steer well clear for the rest of his stint.

After the break, it was Tommy’s turn in the MG, and he headed out three minutes after the green flag had signalled the resumption of play.

His initial feeling was that the adjustments had perhaps left the rear of the car a little “lighter” than he’d have liked for the conditions. He pressed on anyway, and set a best of 4:29.827, improving on Mike’s earlier time by just over a second. Even so, he came back into the garage at 10:20 for a minor aerodynamic adjustment, and then headed straight back out into the ever-worsening rain. A short while later Tommy was given the option to return to the pitlane, if he wished, but he continued for a few more laps before confirming that it was really getting too treacherous to be worth continuing. “I’m coming in now,” he announced. “It’s raining very hard, especially round Indianapolis,” and he returned to the garage once more. This was taken as an opportunity to make further adjustments to the rear of the car.

With the rain eased slightly, the MG appeared on track again, but Tommy’s out-lap was interrupted by the #7 Peugeot going straight on into the tyre wall at Arnage, Marc Gene at the wheel. Unable to re-start, the 908 was pushed behind the barrier. Tommy’s response was to go even quicker, slicing a considerable nine seconds off his previous best, and clocking an impressive 4:20.435. This was very close to the lap time required for automatic qualification.

The time required to meet the automatic qualification requirement is calculated as being the average time for the top three manufacturers or makes of car in LMP1, plus 125%. This year, that time works out at roughly 4 minutes and 21 seconds, and at the mid-point of Thursday qualifying, more than 30 drivers were believed to have fallen short, including Tommy and Mike.

At ten-to-eleven, Tommy returned to the pitlane to have another tweak made to the aerodynamics, although he comments that the car is already very stable, and faster on the straights than previously. During this stop, an adjustment was made to the rear of the car, and then he was off again. His first full lap, and not one he considered a genuine “flying” lap, was a 4:17.297, which was comfortably within the qualification requirement. He completed another lap, but was caught by traffic, so returned to the pitlane at 11:15. Phil Barker suggests one final adjustment before Tommy completes an out and in-lap, just to establish the situation, and then perhaps they would call it a day.

While Tommy was sitting in the garage, surrounded by the activity of engineers fe-tuning the aerodynamics, Kurosawa posted a new LMP2 best of 4:13.342 in the #33 Zytek, with Vergers second on 4:14.508 in the Gulf-sponsored sister car. With Tommy third fastest on 4:17.297, it was a comforting thought to believe that the RML MG EX264 was back where it should have been – near the sharp end of the class.

This time Tommy was only stationery for a handful of minutes, and he was blazing a trail through the darkness again, the MG’s additional pod of central headlights making the car easily distinguished in the night. Tommy readily confirmed that the car was now the best it had been all evening, but with fuel running low, he returned to the pits at half-eleven, and parked up.

The team faced half-an-hour of dilemma and debate. Mike’s time on Thursday, although good enough in itself for third fastest in LMP2, was still outside the qualification requirement. If strictly applied, he might not be permitted to race. However, the ACO is known to be flexible in regard to this rule, taking into account individual circumstances. Drivers who have raced at Le Mans before are rarely excluded – Mike has competed four times previously. Second or third drivers in cars experiencing technical difficulties or accident damage are often waived through as well. Weather conditions are taken into account, and a good time set in the wet will usually stand a driver in good stead. On rare occasions, novice Le Mans drivers who have not raced the circuit before have been known to be excluded, but even on this point the ACO is typically accommodating. So, after a final discussion, it was decided that it was not essential that Mike to go out again in conditions that suggested it was unlikely that he, or anyone else in LMP2, would be able to set a lap fast-enough to meet the break.

At ten to twelve, RML began packing up for the night, job done. Sixth in LMP2 on Wednesday might have been mildly disappointing, but third-quickest in wet conditions on Thursday was far nearer the mark. “Tonight was more typical of the performance that we expect to deliver,” said Adam Wiseberg. “In the end, we’re very pleased with the way the car has gone. This evening has given us plenty of opportunity to work on a wet set-up, and if the weather forecasts are correct, that’s what we’ll need for the race. I think we are where we wanted to be now, and we can look forward to the race with more confidence.”

Considering the two day’s qualifying as a package, Adam was able to draw positives, even from Wednesday’s less than perfect outcome. “Taking the conditions into account, and the problem we had to cope with, I think sixth will do us fine. We’re ahead of the GT1s, and we’re just behind the other LMP2 cars that might be going for a quick start.” RML’s strategy is to aim for as few problems as possible throughout the race, and staying clear of the over-exuberance that occasionally marks the start of even a twenty-four hour race is part of that plan.

Phil Barker agreed with that perspective. “The bottom line is, we now have an aero package that we can change very quickly, for any conditions. It’s safe, comfortable, and gives us a very good balance whatever the circumstances. What we need now is a dry warm-up to confirm the set-up, but I doubt we’ll get it.”

Andy Wallace looked back over the previous two hours and admitted that the conditions had been “very challenging,” but “Tommy and Phil worked on achieving a balance that’s as good a compromise between downforce and drag as we could have hoped for. Tommy’s 4:17 was actually just an out-lap, so I’m sure he could have gone a lot quicker.” His Brazilian co-driver shrugged an agreement. “If we’d had to push, and given the chance, we’d have been up there with the Zyteks, I’m sure of that,” he said.

Michael Mallock, on behalf of RML, was “very pleased with the end result. We’ve had a good evening’s running and achieved an excellent balance for the race.” Mike Newton agreed. “We’re in as solid a shape as we could have hoped for. I feel very comfortable in the car now. The balance is good, and we’ve been able to refine the set-up towards what we believe will be a wet race. We’re now in a position where we can face wet or shine, feel confident in both, and feel sure we’ve come up with a car that can last the distance, whatever the conditions.” Setting third-quickest in LMP2 during his own stint was “the highlight of the day, and made up for being outside the official qualifying time.”

The news regarding Marco Apicella, involved in the accident on the Mulsanne yesterday, is that he has been retained in hospital, having suffered internal bleeding, but his condition is not believed to be critical.

Top LMP2 Times (Thursday)

Pos	No.	Team	Drivers	Car	Time
1	33	Barazi Epsilon	Fernandez/Kurosawa/Kerr	Zytek 07S LMP1	4:11.296
2	32	Barazi Epsilon	Vergers/Barazi/Ojeh	Zytek 07S LMP1	4:14.508
3	25	RML	Erdos/Newton/Wallace	MG Lola EX264	4:17.297
4	24	Noel Del Bello	Petrov/Halliday/Ianetta	Courage LC75	4:24.793
5	35	Saulnier Racing	Jouanny/Nicolet/Filhol	Courage LC75	4:32.963
6	21	Bruichladdich Radical	Liddell/Moseley/Greaves	Radical SR9	4:37.507
7	20	Pierre Bruneau	Rostan/Pickering/Macallister	Pilbeam MP93	4:39.787
8	40	Quifel ASM	de Castro/Amaral/Hughes	Lola B05/40 AER	4:47.127
9	31	Binnie Motorsports	Timpany/Binnie/Buncombe	Lola B05/40 Zytek	4:48.127
10	29	T2M Motorsport	Yamagishi/Longechal/Terada	Dome Mader S101	4:54.729
11	44	Kruse Motorsport	Siedler/de Pourtales/Burgess	Pescarolo C60 Judd	5:00.117

LMP2 Qualifying (Times as Wednesday)

Pos	No.	Overall	Team	Driver	Car	Time
1	33	15	Barazi Epsilon	Adrian Fernandez	Zytek 07S LMP1	3:44.158
2	40	17	Quifel ASM	Miguel de Castro	Lola B05/40 AER	3:45.838
3	31	18	Binnie Motorsports	Allan Timpany	Lola B05/40 Zytek	3:48.173
4	21	19	Bruichladdich Radical	Robin Liddell	Radical SR9	3:48.322
5	32	20	Barazi Epsilon	Michael Vergers	Zytek 07S LMP1	3:48.935
6	25	21	RML	Andy Wallace	MG Lola EX264	3:49.217
7	35	22	Saulnier Racing	Bruce Jouanny	Courage LC75	3:49.621
8	20	25	Pierre Bruneau	Marc Rostan	Pilbeam MP93	3:51.342
9	44	28	Kruse Motorsport	Norbert Siedler	Pescarolo C60 Judd	3:52.552
10	24	36	Noel Del Bello	Vitaly Petrov	Courage LC75	3:57.566
11	29	54	T2M Motorsport	Yamagishi	Dome Mader S101	4:53.983

A high resolution gallery is now posted.

Track photos this page courtesy of David Lord (Dailysportscar) and Robin Thompson (Art-Racing)