LMS – Nürburgring – Sunday – Snippets
And Revised Grid

Manu Collard on his return to the prototype fold (on Saturday afternoon): “The car was not so good on old tyres on Friday and if I am honest, I was not so happy with it.  The Pescarolo has always been difficult to drive here anyway; we always seem to have a fight at the Nürburgring.  I didn’t drive the car [on Saturday] so I’m not sure how we are but it seems quick on new tyres and good on fuel laps but we’ll have to see for the race.

“Christophe has some pain from his rib but not much and for sure he will be able to do one stint which should be great for his championship points.  It would be best if he can double-stint otherwise we will lose a driver change to everybody else but we will have to see how he is feeling before we know if he can do it.”  And an update after his stint in the warm up, said through a grin “yes, the car was much nicer to drive.”

Marc Lieb went over on his ankle yesterday evening whilst walking across the car park.  “I am not alright, it’s my right ankle, if it was my left it wouldn’t be a problem.  But don’t worry, it hurts, but I will drive.”

In other injured driver news, Christophe Tinseau is confident he “can do a double stint but we will have to see.  For one or two laps it has been fine but a full stint will be different.  I want to do two.  Jean-Christophe [Boullion] will start then I will be next.  I will have to see how I feel after the first stint.”

Starting driver Jonny Kane was happy with the re-built Speedy Racing Sebah Lola Judd, having set some good laps in the warm-up.  “There was a lot of traffic around to be honest, which I guess is good practice for starting right at the back!  After Xavier’s crash we have changed all four tyres to be on the safe side.  It was a fairly extensive rebuild and I didn’t drive at all yesterday so I wanted to try and get on with things this morning to allow us to make a couple of changes.  The grip levels do generally build up as the race goes on, it’s all about the balance and I think we can be running at low 1:48s which should put us in the mix.  There don’t appear to be any ill effects from the off.”

FBR have also been moved to the back of the grid, new tyres being needed after Montermini’s gravel excursion in qualifying.

Another six cars drop 10 places on the grid due to the new engine rule: #30 Racing Box, #24 and #35 (both Oak Racing), #76 IMSA Matmut, #85 Snoras Spyker and #87 Drayson Racing.

Carmen Jorda was coming round to our idea of racing ‘proper’ cars.  “This is my second race now in LMS and I am beginning to like it.  It is very different to F3 and I feel that I am now improving myself.   I hope not to have any problems here and hope to finish the race.  I will race at Silverstone as well and I want now to make the Le Mans 24 hours next year.  I am really liking the change from F3.”

A relaxed Wolfgang Kaufmann was impressed by aero changes on the Lavaggi, which had been putting in some trouble-free runs and had been consistently closer to the other P1s through the sessions than before.  “We have changed the rear completely and we also have fantastic downforce on the front.  Getting the balance between the two is difficult and we don’t have the budget to check all the changes in the wind-tunnel but this will be a big improvement for the car.  We are trying to improve step by step and now that the handling is better we can probably make more improvements.  I only had one set of new tyres in qualifying so I had to be careful, always thinking of the budget we have.  Personally I wish that Giovanni will start and we will have a regular race with just regular stops, nothing unexpected, keep the car running and running and take the flag.  This will be the best thing for the team, they work so hard and are often the first team here in the morning and the last team at night, it would be so good for their motivation.”

Chris Buncombe and Stuart Hall on their respective debut and return to the AMR fold.  CB: “It’s great to be back in a prototype after 18 months, especially this one and it’s my first time with carbon brakes.  We’ve not really changed anything on our car.  With three drivers and one hour sessions we have all had a fairly limited time in the car, probably no more than 10 or 12 laps each in free practice.  It’s all about getting our heads back into it and getting seat time in.  We have made some small changes at the rear to help with the balance and it’s a good step.  For me I want this to be a ‘low-key’ return to the series, with a nice, clean race and effectively using it as a test in preparation for Silverstone.  We all managed to get out in warm-up so we’re pretty good at the driver-changes now, which have been going really well.  I think our race pace should be good and we will settle back into that and aim for consistency.”

SH: “It’s all going reasonably well so far, it’s always difficult to come straight back in without much driving recently but already our race pace is certainly not too bad...  [As for adjusting the balance] being in a closed car can make you feel a bit detached from the rear and it’s a bit hotter than an open one but our car has been pretty good from the off and we’ve not done a great deal to it.  Our priority has been to get as many miles in before today.”

Nicolas Prost did not appear remotely surprised to be quickest in warm-up.  “It was my first clear lap of the weekend!  It was a good lap and the car was feeling good.  We have been strong all weekend, the first session we were fast and the second session we were working on race set-up with old tyres and heavy fuel.  Marcel [Fassler] did a very good job with qualifying and I think we have everything we can ask for right now.  We’ve always had a good car from the beginning of the year and only at Algarve did we go backwards.  Even there in the race we were fine.  For the first year for our team to be in the first three or four cars is good and I think we can be strong here during the race with the standard of our drivers.  It can be difficult with traffic and we have to make sure we don’t make mistakes, even a spin costing a few seconds could lose the race.  We are not sure what will happen with double-stinting the tyres but we will run at our pace and then when we get to four to five hours we can see where we stand and adjust things from there.”

Grid Revisions 
 
1) Engine changes = move back 10 spaces:
 
30, 35, 24, 76, 85, 87,
 
2) New tyres (to back of grid) #33, #91 (both due to offs in qualifying)
 

New grid, with starting drivers:

Mucke
Turner
 
Bellichi
Watts
 
Boulion
Ragues
 
Meryck
Mondini
 
Pla
Ramos
 
Peter
Erdos
 
Francioni
Gommendy
 
Sini
Cortes
 
Cavailhes
Lavaggi
 
Schell
Biagi
 
Groppi
Clairay
 
Lahaye
Kaffer
 
Garcia
Lieb
 
Bruni
Hein
 
Beltoise
Sheier
 
Griffin
Felbemayr
 
Plati
Pilet
 
Coronel
Cocker
 
Kane
Rosa

PS