The P1 Privateers At Silverstone
Not Motley I need to thank Autosport's International Editor-At-Large for the idea behind this feature. ".. the ALMS needs the factory heavyweights vying for outright victory, not a motley collection of privateers", he wrote last week. How ironic that Autosport sponsored the Silverstone 1000 Kms and that one of those "motley collection of (ALMS) privateers" had rushed across the Atlantic from Mosport, and was present in the UK last weekend: I must admit, I didn't have the gall to mention Gary Watkins' description of his team to Paul Drayson, but doubtless Paul will read this in due course. The Drayson, Dayton, Dyson and Pickett teams - what fantastic racing they've put on recently. With Audi and Peugeot present at Silverstone, the P1 privateers were always going to be racing for 'best of the rest' (unless something really unusual happened - Hungaroring?), but it is these teams that have supported the Le Mans Series throughout the year (in most cases). They really are the backbone of endurance racing, and so it was a pleasure for me to concentrate on six entries last weekend. Note that although the ACO regards the AstonMartin Racing entries as privateers (a Lola-built chassis powered by an Aston Martin engine), we at DSC don't. The six entries were: #008 Signature Plus Lola Aston Martin Pierre Ragues / Franck Mailleux / Vanina Ickx
#5 Beechdean Mansell Ginetta-Zytek 09S Greg and Leo Mansell
#11 Drayson Racing Lola B10/60 Judd Paul Drayson / Jonny Cocker
#12 Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Rebellion Andrea Belicchi / Jean-Christophe Boullion
#13 Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Rebellion Neel Jani / Nicholas Prost
#20 Team LNT Ginetta-Zytek 09S Johnny Mowlem / Tony Burgess / Chris McMurry Practice & Qualifying Rebellion team owner Alex Pesci was at home in Switzerland on Friday and Saturday, only flying in to Cranfield on Sunday morning, so it was Team Manager Bart Hayden's task to keep Alex informed as practice and qualifying unfolded. "I've got the texts I sent to Alex on my 'phone if you want to see them," revealed Bart, before qualifying. Free Practice 1 - Audi, Peugeot, Neel (Jani) P3
Free Practice 2 - Peugeot, Peugeot, Audi, Audi, Andrea (Belicchi) P5
Free Practice 3 - Audi, Peugeot, Audi, Andrea (Belicchi) P4, Neel (Jani) P6. Alex Pesci replied to each one, his third being the most enlightening: "Bravo, good luck for the qualifications". "We're in front of the works Aston Martins," pointed out Bart Hayden, "but I've no doubt they'll put in a good lap in qualifying" (er, no they didn't - not a good enough one anyway). "We've got to be targeting P1 and P2 among the petrol cars in the race, and if we can collect a scalp by demoting a diesel.." Which in unusual circumstances they duly managed.. So an excellent start to the meeting for the Rebellion Lolas - and their professional drivers were coping with the changing conditions much more confidently, as you would expect, than most of the drivers in our other four chosen entries. Vanina Ickx: "The weather! First practice was dry, wet, dry, and then we missed track time in the second session when Franck went off, and then in the Saturday morning session there was some rain again: I've only had five dry laps before the race." It was that old problem of insufficient track time before qualifying for three drivers to learn a (new) track, compounded by an 'off' and the weather. In the #20 Ginetta-Zytek, those problems were exaggerated for Chris McMurry and Tony Burgess, who were having to cope with the weather and the fact that everything about their entry was new. Chris's wife wasn't even sure which side of the stairs to keep to in the UK! I think we 'drive' on the left on stairs as well, Bobby. Johnny Mowlem was helping out the North Americans, as they sampled a Ginetta-Zytek for the first time, and after FP3 the Briton described the orange car as "awesome", as he set the seventh best time, without trying particularly hard. "New car, new team, new helmet, new race track - and it's raining," summed up Chris McMurry. "Every time I've been out it's been wet then dry." The American explained that "there's a lot of conversation about what we'll do next year, so we're here to try the Ginetta-Zytek. To me, our Lola feels a bit more 'go karty' and lighter than this car, but although this one feels heavier it seems to turn in better and respond more quickly. It feels more like the Audi looks on turn-in, and I can feel the downforce earlier in this car." McMurry was clearly delighted to be enjoying a P1 entry prepared and run by the factory, whereas with the team's Lola "you're more on your own". Realistically, perhaps the Lola organisation hasn't placed the Autocon entry near the top of its priorities, but that Mowlem influence at Road America, for example, showed what a true privateer team can achieve. Along the pitlane at Beechdean Mansell, there was much intense discussion between Nigel Mansell and his two sons prior to, and after qualifying - would you interrupt that family gathering? - and the subject was apparently an imbalance that was causing an unpleasant feeling for the two sons on the fastest parts of the track. They didn't have it fixed for qualifying – but they did for the race morning warm-up. At Drayson Racing, the team had made a massive effort to both fly the whole ensemble to the UK after Road America and Mosport (on consecutive weekends), and then to convert the Lola Judd, at its Brackley base, from its E85 configuration to E10. "The last time we ran E10 was at Le Mans," revealed Paul Drayson, "and the guys have got through a huge amount of work since getting back to Brackley - and we obviously haven't had a great deal of time. For the traction control to work correctly, all the signals have to be right - and they weren't until race morning." For Jonny Cocker, that meant tackling qualifying without the t/c, Dale White describing what the young Briton achieved in the circumstances as "exceptional". He was third fastest of the petrol P1s, seventh on the grid, just three-tenths slower than Stefan Mucke in the faster Gulf Aston Martin - but the Drayson Racing story would need to be (heavily) updated on race morning. Faster even than Mucke was Andrea Belicchi in the #13 Rebellion entry, fifth on the grid with a 1:45.731 - only just over a second slower than the two Peugeots. "I think that's job done," summed up a very satisfied Bart Hayden. No doubt Alex Pesci thought so too. Neel Jani was eighth quickest in #12. It needs to be explained here that Rebellion had had something of an 'alleluyah' moment in practice in Hungary last month, and since then they've been showing their true 2010 form - helped by the fact that Andrea Belicchi has overcome two health/fitness issues, and was clearly at the top of his game at Silverstone. Franck Mailleux was ninth quickest in the Signature Plus Aston Martin, Vanina Ickx pointing out how well he'd gone in the Dunlop-shod privateer car, "only half a second slower than Mucke in the Gulf Aston Martin". With the other Gulf car not setting a time, tenth and eleventh in P1 were Greg Mansell and Johnny Mowlem in the Ginetta-Zyteks, and neither was happy - because neither set a representative time, the former with that aerodynamic issue, the latter with "traffic". "I didn't get a single clear lap," said a frustrated Mowlem. "I backed off three times to find some space and try and get the best out of the car and tyres, but each time I caught cars at the wrong places. The data shows that there's another second, adding up my best sectors." Raceday Race morning warm-up highlighted the race performance that might be expected from Jonny Cocker and Greg Mansell. Both of them were just about as fast as they'd run in qualifying - but with full tanks. Paul Drayson followed Cocker into the green Lola Judd - and when he 'bounced' out of the car ten minutes later he was ecstatic. "The car is the best it's been anywhere this year. The level of grip is a real step forward, and the car just wants you to go faster, go faster, go faster. The team has presented us with a car for the race which is wonderful - and it's very gentle on its tyres." So all six of our privateer entries were set for the 1000 km - everyone was happy with where they'd got to after three changeable practice sessions and the short qualifying session. This writer's gut feeling was that Belicchi and Cocker might be the ones to watch in the early going - and for once, I'd predicted something correctly. Belicchi lost out to a hard-charging Mucke at the start, but got the place back around the outside at Becketts (!). Incidentally, three of the diesels apparently started on tyres that hadn't been heated, for some unknown reason, which helps to explain why Timo Bernhard spun on the warm-up lap - and perhaps why the petrol cars were so eager to take advantage into Copse on lap 1. But the four diesels duly led away, but Belicchi then holding off Mucke, the rest of 'our' privateers running in the order Jani, Cocker, Ickx, Greg Mansell and Mowlem. But Belicchi was 7.3 seconds behind race leader McNish after three laps. Lap 4 was a slow one for the Italian, a 1:49, and Mucke was through and pulling away in fifth - then on lap 6, Cocker also made up a place on a Rebellion, to go seventh, ahead of Jani. The race pattern was settling down. While McNish and Davidson were having a right old scrap at the front, so were Belicchi and Cocker for best of the privateers. Lap 15 and the gaps to (new race leader) Davidson were as follows: 6 Belicchi -47.3
7 Cocker -48.1
8 Jani -49.8
9 Ickx -66.1
10 Mansell -79.2
11 Mowlem -79.5 McNish then retired with no drive, so with the Peugeots running 1-2, and Timo Bernhard gamely giving chase, that was the end of any place changes for the podium. We'd have to look to the privateers for changes in the order, as they raced for what would turn out to be fifth place. What a contrast this race was with the Hungaroring. Belicchi and Cocker were really going at it - and #13 suddenly had a wonky looking 'box' behind its left rear wheel. "No, I didn't feel any contact from Cocker's car - I don't know how that happened," said the Italian later. Perhaps, as seems more likely, it was contact from Mucke? Greg Mansell was the first privateer to be delayed: "The team was monitoring the drop-off in pressure from the left front, and eventually I had to pit because the pressure dropped too far. I took on a new set of Dunlops – which were (also) really good. We were one of the quickest cars out there." Jonny Cocker never did get past Andrea Belicchi - but pitted quite early (lap 22), and stayed in the Lola Judd, on fresh Michelins. First stops really got underway around lap 25, and that juggled the order somewhat. Nicholas Prost resumed in #12 Rebellion, on fresh rubber, but an incident with the charging Cocker saw these two swap positions - which was for the lead in our class, because Bellicchi to Boullion in #13 saw new rear bodywork fitted to this one, because of that damaged 'box' (a 2 mins. 24 secs stop). Suddenly up into seventh overall (third in our class) was Johnny Mowlem, who had stayed in the #20 Ginetta-Zytek, and hadn't taken new rubber (everyone else in our class had). He was motoring along beautifully, 15 seconds behind Prost and ahead of Pierre Ragues in #008. Meanwhile Cocker was flying along in the Drayson Lola, and pulled out 21 seconds on Prost in just eight laps. Greg Mansell's pace was such that he caught right up with Ragues - while the delayed Boullion was catching them both, and all three were together when Mansell made his early second stop. JC-B then passed Ragues and stayed ahead on pace - but #13's woes took over in the third hour. Leo Mansell's pace isn't a match for his brother's, but the Beechdean Ginetta-Zytek had an almost perfect run, apart from that early puncture, and the brothers eventually came home in an excellent seventh overall, third in the petrol class. That was partly thanks to dramas also afflicting the orange Ginetta-Zytek and the Drayson Lola (as well as #13). Remember, Johnny Mowlem had been in a strong seventh during the second stint, until. "I caught the Hankook Ferrari (Farnbacher at the wheel) at Brooklands, and stayed right round the outside at Luffied, leaving him two-thirds of the track. Next thing I knew, I was spinning: he must have just tapped me round at the back. But that was enough to leave my back wheel that much (a foot) in the gravel." The orange car's fronts were off the ground thanks to the Luffield kerb, and it took an age for a rescue vehicle to get it underway - losing #20 eight laps, and putting Chris McMurry in 37th place. He and Tony Burgess both completed double stints to bring the Team LNT entry home in 22nd overall, ninth in P1 - and fifth in our class, 22 laps behind Minassian and Davidson. Jonny Cocker's lead of the P1 privateers lasted until lap 47, when a stop of almost five minutes with a cooling system issue dropped Paul Drayson to 12th overall, just ahead of Leo Mansell, from whom he pulled away convincingly. Drayson then made up places at the expense of the leading P2 cars, stopped at 14.16 (just about 2 hours 16 mins.into the race) without taking rubber - and headed towards what might have been a real drama at 14.47. which didn't seem to concern him in the slightest! We'll get to that in a minute. So back to our privateer leaders, and the 1-2-3 at two hours was Prost from Boullion and Ragues - these three the only ones not to suffer significant delays, or loss of pace. All three were by now into the second stint of a double - and JC-B's pace dragged him up onto the tail of the less experienced Prost. They ran nose to tail, were very close at Stowe on lap 76, and then touched at Woodcote - this was hard racing, among team-mates. They'd pitted on the same lap after 94 minutes, mid double stint, the radio not working in #13. But the JC-B / Belicchi car hit a third problem when the Italian was due to take over at almost two and a half hours. The Lola was a pig to get away from its pit - and was pulled back, for a 13 minute delay while the clutch was bled. Eight more minutes were lost at the next stop, for the same reason. At 16.03, Belicchi was down in 15th overall, when Pierre Ragues "didn't see me and turned in, on the new part of the track" - but this car's final delay was the most significant. "The third time the clutch wouldn't release, we decided to change the slave cylinder - and that meant taking the gearbox off," explained Hugh Hayden. That cost #13 45 minutes, but Boullion got out for the last two laps to ensure it was classified - in 37th overall, tenth in P1, and sixth among the privateers - with the #007 Gulf Aston Martin and McNish's Audi both unclassified. "At least all the team's guests could watch us perform as a team as we repaired it," said the always cheerful Hayden Snr. It was a real thrash to fix it before 170 laps were up for the #1 Peugeot. Right, back to sorting out who would win this privateer P1 class. At 15.27, while leading, Neel Jani came together with Pierre Ehret in the CRS Ferrari, and a 2 mins. 42 sec. stop for a new nose allowed the Signature Plus entry into fifth overall - but at 4 hours, #12 was back ahead, and then, as above, #008 had its delay after contacting Rebellion's other car. So fifth-sixth-seventh (or first-second-third) for #12 Rebellion, #008 Signature Plus and #5 Beechdean Ginetta-Zytek - but what happened to Paul Drayson's entry? Just after the mid-point of the race, Drayson was "really enjoying myself. My confidence in the car is improving all the time, and it's fantastic to race over 1000 km and be able to settle into a good rhythm. But then I turned in to the new corner after the new pits, in fifth gear, and it went straight on - so did the wheel!" It turned out that the wheel locking mechanism had failed, but the team owner got the car back to the pits on three, for an eight minute stop for the repair. Drayson's enthusiasm was undiminished though - is there a greater enthusiast in motorsport? "The car was really sweet through the fast corners: it's so exciting racing at this level, and I'm putting my all into it." Eighth place overall was still a good result for he and Jonny Cocker: a repeat of Road America's result, or even Sebring's pace, was asking too much - but endurance racing's biggest supporter is heading to Petit Le Mans and then the far east next. No doubt with a smile on his face all the way. Prior to this race, Rebellion had been in with a chance of taking both the Drivers' and Teams' honours in P1. They've supported the Le Mans Series with two cars at every round, and in the end, their best result was second in the Manufacturers' title, with 96 points for Lola Rebellion, compared to 112 for Peugeot. Not a bad result at all, for the Surrey based, and Swiss financed, team - and it's never been dull for a moment in 2010. But the best placed privateers in the Teams' title were Signature Plus, on their Dunlops, thanks to consistent points scoring at every round: they finished with 55 points, to Oreca's 63 and Rebellion's #12 car on 52. MC PS. If you're unhappy with references to 'petrol class' or 'privateer class', well, let's just hope that Aston Martin Racing has been sufficiently robust in its negotiations with the ACO as regards equality between diesels and petrols in 2011. | 
