Le Mans Test Day - Afternoon Session Report

The afternoon’s four hours of action had a sense of déjà vu about it

Audi were again quicker than the rest – though when pressed Peugeot had enough to close the gap, at least over a single lap!

For Aston Martin Racing the day went from bad to worse, the #007 car joining the #009 as a withdrawal, David Richards confirming that the problem was down to a failed cylinder coating, the team opting not to replace engines with others sharing the same inherent issue.

Audi should be delighted with their day, a nice 74th birthday present for Reinhold Joest, the cars continued to impress this afternoon seemingly able to lap at will around or below 3:30.  They finished the session with the #3 car atop the order, Kristensen with the best time of the day, a 3:27.687 ahead of Rockenfeller’s 3:27.818.

For Peugeot the news was better than this morning, the gap closed, and at the very end of the session Sarrazin might even have claimed the bragging rights for Peugeot, finishing the session a couple of tenths shy and third fastest overall but that lap looked like a one-off headline effort, traffic in the final sector probably robbing Peugeot of the headlines! 

The timesheets tell a tale of the top 4 cars separated by less than two tenths!  The top five by 0.6 – Somehow though that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Pescarolo Team again finished atop the petrol fuelled order – a 3:36.683 for Collard the best gas fuelled time of the day, albeit with Neel Jani closing in, in the latter part of the session in the #12 Rebellion Lola Toyota (3:37.809).

There were dramas though for the sister #13 car – Belicchi suffering a broken right rear toe link as the car came onto the start/ finish straight, the team lucky to be able to recover the car via the pitlane, and later Guy Smith suffering an off into the gravel – reason as yet unknown but reportedly something (perhaps the same thing?) broke.

There was no reappearance for the MIK Corse Zytek Hybrid in the session (clutch/ gearbox) but the Hope racing Oreca Flybrid did eventually emerge and, despite the team only opting to run the hybrid system at 20% capability, the #5 car got in amongst the LMP2s after progressive improvements – It would finish 21st in the overall order.

In LMP2 it was all about Nissan engines again, though Pierre Kaffer did break into the top three for a while in the Judd BMW engined Pecom Lola.

The Signatech Oreca finished at the top of the order – 3:42.992 for Franck Mailleux (we think!) and the #48 Oreca Matmut car less than a tenth further back, though that car’s session would end with an incident at Arnage that brought out a brief red flag.

Third quickest as the team squeezed in a 10 lap run for Alex Brundle, was the Greaves Racing Zytek with Jody Firth popping up fifth quickest (behind Kaffer) in the TDS Oreca.

In HPD land the #34 Lola posted a 3:48.174 with Tommy Erdos improving late in the session in the RML HPDs to break into the 1:48s too.

GTE saw Allan Simonsen always in contention in the #89 Hankook Farnbacher 458, eventually making it in the 3:59s (the only man to do so) in the final hour (3:59.966).

That put him clear of Toni Vilander in the lead AF Corse 458 and Jorg Muller’s best in the #55 BMWwith Fred Makiowiecki 4th fastest ahead of Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz in the #76 and #77 Porsches.

The Lotus team successfully got their driver squad through their rookie laps and continued to impress, and the Robertson Racing Fords overcame adversity too, both cars suffering contact, one with a BMW, the other the Corvette, but all drivers were qualifies ahead of a nervous wait.

Aside from the aforementioned #23 Zytek and #007 Aston there was no sign in the session of the damaged #24 Oak Pescarolo or the mission completed #52 AF Corse 430 – The Young Driver Vantage meanwhile completed a single out-in lap and took no further part in proceedings – presumably mission accomplished, another team that face an anxious wait.

All in all some real positives here to look forward to  - Audi and Peugeot both look quick and reliable – the petrol cars aren’t close enough but are close enough to each other to provide further entertainment.

In LMP2 the Nissan engine has a clear advantage – but a well driven Judd can come close against a gent in a Nissan engined car.

The HPD engined cars are still struggling though – this despite a suite of changes to adapt the cars to the new restrictor which Level 5 claimed cost 50,000 Euros per car.  

GTE looks set to be a multi marque dogfight – and whilst Lotus aren’t looking likely to be in the Ferrari/ BMW/ Porsche/ Corvette/ Aston sharp end yet they certainly aren’t going to get slower!

An intriguing day’s action and a mouth watering prospect awaits at Spa in a fortnight and, of course, back here in June.

GG