Le Mans news

[Rob]

1000KM Spa – Free Practice 2 Report
By Marcel ten Caat ⋅ May 7, 2010 www.planetlemans.com

In the second free practice session this afternoon Peugeot was again quickest around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. This time the works cars secured the top three positions, with the number 3 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP setting the fastest time.

The session started on a dry track this time, but it was still very cold in the Ardennes region. As a result the lap times set by the fastest cars were 1.2 seconds quicker than the quickest times set last year.

Two red flags interrupted the second free practice session. The first was for the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R of Gabriele Gardel. The Swiss driver parked his car on the on the outside of the lefthander just after the Rivage corner. After the session the car was brought back to the pit lane with what appeared to be a left rear wheel failure.

Just minutes before the end of the session there was another red flag when Luca Moro went into the barrier at the top of Eau Rouge, causing considerable damage to the right front of the car.

The front-runners had no such problems though. The three works Peugeots topped the time sheets, with the first of the Audi Sport Team Joest, the number 8 Audi R15 TDI, in fourth place, 3 seconds clear of the leader. Oreca’s Peugeot was fifth, with the two other R15 TDI’s completing the top 6.

Quickest in the LMP2 class was the RML Lola HPD, almost a second and a half quicker than the Ginetta-Zytek 09S of Quifel Team ASM and the number 35 OAK Racing Pescarolo.

Tomas Enge, Christoffer Nygaard and Stefan Mücke were quickest of the GT1 cars in their Aston Martin DBR9. The car, which raced at Silverstone last weekend as well, lapped the track in 2:20.044. Second quickest in GT1 was the Matech Competition Ford GT at 0.8 seconds, with the Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT another eight tenths of a second further down.

JMW’s Aston Martin Vantage was a quarter of a second quicker than the Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche in GT2 and the number 94 AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT2 in third place.

[Rob]

2010/05/08 15:53

Peugeot has the advantage thanks to Sebastien Bourdais

After all the anticipation of the opening round of the Le Mans Series in Le Castellet one month ago, this weekend's second round is as eagerly awaited with many factory teams on the entry list.

Unlike the first two practice sessions, the qualifying session for the 1000Km of Spa was dry, and Team Peugeot Total's Sébastien Bourdais made the most of the conditions to take a well-deserved pole position.

The #3 908 HDi FAP put in a stunning performance at Spa being the quickest car in the second practice session yesterday and qualifying on pole position today from a field of 50 cars for tomorrow's second round of the Le Mans Series.

Sébastien Bourdais and Danny Watts bring the house down

Rain and cold in Friday's two practice sessions, allied to the usual set-up compromises required at Spa left many teams with mixed thoughts doing into qualifying. The drivers have been hampered by very difficult weather conditions in their quest of the best set-up, but fortunately, the last practice session stayed dry till the end this morning.

Will Audi continue their triumphal progress at Spa, or will Peugeot put an end to it? We now have a better idea of the answer as Sébastien Bourdais posted the best lap today, and the best time ever for a LMP1 car. The French driver was satisfied with the balance of the car: “I am very happy for Peugeot. I had a clear lap and the car was well-balanced. The qualifying session has been difficult because we didn't have the opportunity to prepare the session as we didn't have too many laps in the car before the qualifying. I cross the fingers for tomorrow and hopefully this is a taste of what the race will be tomorrow.”

All the drivers stressed that a markedly cool and/or rainy weather could have a significant result on the outcome, as Timo Bernhard said: “We didn't have a lot of time to adapt to the car because of yesterday's weather. I am quite happy with my lap time and front row is very positive for the Audi R15 Plus. But the weather will be a key player tomorrow.”

During qualifying Strakka Racing's advantage continued unabated in the LMP2 class, with Danny Watts pulling a stellar lap out of the bag to steal pole from RML's Tommy Erdos and OAK Racing's Mathieu Lahaye and give the British team their second pole start of the season with an amazing 2.5 second gap. The British driver explained: “In my first lap I was hit by Tom Kristensen at La Source corner, but my second lap was clear. The Michelin tires marry the car perfectly and the set-up was very good. The other cars will probably come back tomorrow so we have so stay focused. One point can make the difference at the end of the season.”

In the Formula Le Mans class, Nico Verdonck was delighted to chalk up the best time for Team Hope Pole Vision. The reigning champion is on pole for his home race: “One month ago I even didn't know that I would be here, so I am very happy. The car is fantastic and the qualifying session was great.”

Matech and AF Corse set the world alight

Following yesterday's good news of their second invitation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bas Leinders and Thomas Mutsch wrapped up the front row of the grid for the first time for Team Matech in the GT1 class. This result confirmed that the Ford GTs Matech are on top form and that the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette will be a strong contender.

If you were to look at the times from the qualifying session, you might form the view that virtually everyone in the GT2 class has a chance, with eight cars in less than one second. So who will scoop the jackpot at Spa tomorrow? Will Ferrari be better than Porsche in Belgium, or vice versa? As things stand after the eight-hour race at Paul Ricard circuit, Porsche starts the favorite in Spa from Ferrari, but today, AF Corse's Jaime Melo was the quickest in the Hautes Fagnes region to his biggest surprise: “It is great to be ahead of Porsche because they are very strong on this track. We are only two drivers, and with Gimmi (Bruni), our driving styles are getting closer and closer so we can have the same set-up.”

The warm-up is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, and the race will start at 11.30

[Rob]

08/05/2010 www.afcorse.it
Spa 2010 Qualifying
Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni are in pole position with the time of 2.20.336. They made a very good job. Luis Perez Companc and Matias Russo got a very good time (2.20940). Alesi, Fisichella e Vilander are thirtheenth. They have some problem

[Rob]

Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella: their feelings after the free sessions (from yesterday sorry)
Sportscars racing is a new challenge for ex-Formula One drivers Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella as the Italian driver explained: “It is not easy to share the cars with two other drivers. We only ran ten laps each in both practice sessions so it is not easy to find the limits of the car.”

Last year the driver from Rome was on pole for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix, but this year, “it is not really important to be on pole – it is more important to finish the race,” Giancarlo said. “The race will be tough because the weather is always unpredictable here at Spa. Of course, it would be better for everyone that the track stays dry, but this morning I was the quickest on a wet track so rain would not be a problem.”

Both drivers are delighted to be on the 24 Hours of Le Mans entry list. Jean Alesi: “I drove at Le Mans in 1989, but I didn't finish the race because of a mechanical issue. I was very impressed before my first stint because the track is very fast and at that time, there was no chicane in the Hunaudières straight. Last year I drove one lap with Luca di Montezemolo and I could notice that the track safety is now much better and more fun, which is very important for a 24-hour race.”

[Testarossa6000]

08/05/2010 www.afcorse.it
Spa 2010 Qualifying
Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni are in pole position with the time of 2.20.336. They made a very good job. Luis Perez Companc and Matias Russo got a very good time (2.20940). Alesi, Fisichella e Vilander are thirtheenth. They have some problem

Our boys are back on form Should be good race. Shame about the Alesi Fisico Vilander team, but the race is long, so fingers crossed. It's showing on Eurosport on and off throughout the day (as is Superbikes) Can't see me moving from the telly today.

Forza Ferrari!

[Testarossa6000]

Ah well, the pugs beat the Audis - hopefully this will be reversed at Le Mans. And GT2 - details from Ferrari

LMS – Two Ferraris on the podium

Maranello (Modena), 9 May – Two F430 GT2 cars finished the Spa 1000 Km, the second round of the Le Mans Series, which has only just ended on the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on the podium. The race win went to the Porsche 997 of Marc Lieb-Richard Lietz, while two of the three F430s entered by the Piacenza based AF Corse team came second and third. First of the Ferraris was the one driven by Gimmi Bruni and Jaime Melo, while second went to the crew of Giancarlo Fisichella, Jean Alesi and Toni Vilander. “We are really happy with this result, which was totally unexpected after an unlucky qualifying which meant we had to start from the thirteenth row,” said Fisichella after the race. “I got a good start and immediately picked up some places. Me and my team-mates were able to manage that advantage, before getting past the BMW M3 of Priaulx-Muller-Farfus in the final stint to end up again on the podium. It was a great race.”

The next round of this prestigious series takes place over the weekend of 17 July at the Portimao track in Portugal.

[Rob]

09/05/2010 www.afcorse.it
Spa 2010: the race
Jaimne Melo and Gianmaria Bruni gained the second place. Fisichella, Alesi and Vilander are third.

[Rob]

Jarvis joins Kolles Audi for Le Mans

By Matt Beer Wednesday, May 26th 2010, 09:25 GMT www.autosport.com

DTM frontrunner Oliver Jarvis is to make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut in one of the Kolles team's customer Audis.

The factory Audi driver had his first LMP outing with the same squad in the Asian Le Mans Series races at Okayama last autumn, where he took third and fifth places. He is testing with Kolles at Paul Ricard this week, and will line up with Christian Bakkerud and Christophe Bouchut in the team's #15 R10.

"It will be a huge honour to compete at Le Mans driving an Audi," said Jarvis.

"I raced the Audi R10 TDI for the first and only time in two Asian Le Mans Series races at Okayama last year, finishing third and fifth in the three-hour races, but racing at Le Mans will be a massive challenge for me. It will be a completely new experience because the races in Japan were staged on a short, twisting track which is completely different to the ultra-fast, flowing Le Mans circuit."

He admitted his expectations for the race were moderate, as he believes the Kolles package is unlikely to be a frontrunner.

"My aim for Le Mans will be to finish the race," said Jarvis. "The factory Audi and Peugeot cars have taken a real step forward so it will impossible to fight with them while the petrol engined cars of Aston Martin, ORECA, Acura [Honda] and Rebellion will all be very quick so to make the top 10 will be a very tough challenge although the Kolles Audi cars achieved seventh and ninth positions last year."

Jarvis added that he is interested in a long-term future as part of Audi's hugely successful sportscar programme, and hopes the Kolles Le Mans seat is a step in that direction.

"I'm fully focused on the DTM but in the future the sportscar category, and in particular Le Mans, is what I would like to be involved in so this opportunity, although coming very late in terms of this year's event, will be a valuable experience for the future," he said.

"A number of Audi drivers have done both [DTM and sportscars] including of course Le Mans record race winner, Tom Kristensen, in recent years. I love racing so the more races I can take part in the better.

"Coming through the junior single-seater categories, I didn't follow Le Mans closely but after joining Audi, I soon realised its importance. I went to last year's race as a spectator and that in itself was a great experience but to be racing there this year will be an absolute thrill."

[Rob]

Wow cannt wait for this years Le Mans 24hr. Hope Audi can ruin the Pugs parade and beat them this year. Risi win the GT2. Bit early Got my Corona and Peroni in already for the big 1.