LMS, Silverstone – Prototype Previews
The Decider LMP1 15 LMP1s will contest the season finale this weekend but realistically the race win will be contested by four and the drivers’ title by just two. And if ever there was proof positive that endurance racing isn’t all about raw pace, here it is. The title battles for teams, drivers and manufacturers are still remarkably close, despite the overwhelming dominance of the Peugeot 908s on pure pace. And, more remarkably still, the Audi crew challenging the #7 Peugeot pair of Nic Minassian and Marc Gene isn’t the quicker of the two; Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello suffering more than their fair share of bad luck to leave Alex Premat and Mike Rockenfeller lying within points reach of the Peugeot.  |
So what will it take to turn the tables on the French factory team? Iron clad reliability and some consistent pace will be needed to keep the #2 R10 in touch and a dose of misfortune and/or the arrival of poor weather might just give us a grandstand finish to the season. A check of the long range weather forecast for Sunday won’t be any comfort whatsoever to Michel Barge and co, but the #2 car will still need to finish three points ahead of the #7 car to take the win in the teams and drivers contest, and that despite not taking a win so far this season. Three second places and a third, though, have shown that consistency still counts. Peugeot have it all to lose, but, if things go according to plan, they should win this at a canter to defend their 2007 titles; or could Audi pull it out of the bag at the death for their very first diesel powered European title? The only other car to show anything close to diesel pace has been the Charouz Lola Aston Martin. Expect to see more similar cars around in 2009 and that’s a strong indication of the confidence in the marketplace in the big V12 engined Lola. At times mighty, at others hobbled by niggling new car faults, the debut of the team’s second chassis last time out saw a very strong run indeed – if they can maintain that form amidst a nervy diesel duel, almost anything could happen! And just behind the Lola is the season-long battle of the Technoparc tusslers. Pescarolo Sport vs Courage Oreca, Henri Pescarolo’s plucky band featuring the return to the fold of Romain Dumas this weekend as Manu Collard is on FIA GT duty with Prospeed’s Porsche GT2 squad. Behind the diesels, this battle has been closely fought all season as the two French teams fight both for results and for the form that might grab them the attention they need from backers for a bigger-budget 2009 effort. Creation AIM, too, brings a pair of cars to the fray and another new addition to the fold, as Ryan Lewis transfers his LMP1 efforts from the written off #30 Intersport Lola in the ALMS to the #14 car alongside Stephen Simpson. A precursor to the young Englishman joining the team for PLM? Time will tell. The #15 car meanwhile sees the return of the Hall/ Campbell-Walter combo. Either of these could feature in a battle for petrol-powered honours if things go well for the Creation boys. The final two-car effort comes from Epsilon Euskadi with their duo of beautiful EE1 Coupes looking to take another step forward. It is a programme that has run late, but is gathering pace. Silverstone’s wide open spaces should suit the slippery #20 and #21 cars. Sunday could see them join the garagistes on pace. A pair of solo campaigners with Pescarolo Judds round off the entry; Jacques Nicolet’s Saulnier Racing example isn’t expected to shine, but the other car, the #18 Rollcentre Racing car, will surely be a crowd favourite on home ground. Young Brit Charlie Hollings joins the regular Barbosa – Ickx combo and the tactics will be the predictable and successful Shorty-patented norm of a fast and steady pace. It’s been a frustrating year for the team, and for the Guvnor. Rollcentre’s backroom boys, though, are as able as ever and they’ll be looking to end their endurance racing season on a high (though they’re busy elsewhere with both their Mosler in the Mosler Challenge and in support of a high profile single seater effort, too). There’s an uncertain future ahead for the team in the Le Mans Series and that’s a mark of the toughness of the economic situation at the moment; and of the pace of change in the sport (and therefore the budget required to remain competitive). There are those out there that don’t value the contribution of the privateer. We’re happy to join the thousands of others that love to see Rollcentre and a select group of others giving their all in pursuit of the rest. One final word on this team, or, more particularly, on João Barbosa; if ever there was a man that has shown that he deserves a shot in a factory car, it is surely the Portuguese Warhorse. Consistently fast, brave and controlled. Would anyone out there be really surprised if Dr Ulrich announced Barbosa aboard an R10 at PLM? LMP2 The one class where the title has already been won – and deservedly, too – by the Dutch run and crewed van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder, Jos proving to be ‘The Boss’ here and the Verstappen / Bleekemolen combo dominating not only the LMP2 field at the Nurburgring, but also much of the petrol fuelled LMP1 entry too! Whilst the Dutch will be looking to finish the year on a high, they’ll do so this weekend without Jeroen Bleekemolen. He’ll be contesting the Porsche Supercup at Monza. Instead, Peter van Merksteijn is, rather unexpectedly, back for a final run aboard his baby; the Equipe Verschuur team keen to advertise their abilities ahead of the close season. The Dutch team, though, will be chased very hard indeed by the Danish crewed and run Essex Racing Spyder. John Nielsen and Casper Elgaard have chased very hard all year, with a race win to show for their troubles. They’ve enjoyed their year, but don’t like to be beaten. Expect some edge to their attack this weekend. Third of the Porsche posse is the Horag Racing car and the efforts of Messrs Theys and Lammers have been a joy to behold once again in the #27 car; Jan’s ever-present edge being readily apparent when an almost assured podium finish was ripped from his grasp at the Ring by, of all things, a broken brake fluid reservoir. Will the team be back in 2009? Check out the ad about to appear on dsc! So who else might challenge that little lot on pace? Well, for starters, there’s the pretty little Lola Coupe. But hold on a moment, we now have to add a letter to that season-long statement – the pretty little Lola Coupes, as RML spring the surprise of 2008 by fielding their brand new EX265C for the final round after a very trying season so far. The lack of a roof-mounted air scoop on this car makes this car, if anything, a much prettier looking package, and the addition of dscer Marcus Potts’ excellently translated livery surely makes this the looker of the grid. Here’s hoping they’ll gather enough data and experience with their very new baby to carry the effort forward. The Speedy/ Sebah car, meanwhile, has massive latent potential, but still suffers from niggling electronics woes. It’s been a frustrating season for all concerned. The pace is there, lots of it, but a clean run has evaded the Hugh Hayden led squad for most of the season. There’s plenty of pace on show, too, from a trio of the Zytek powered cars. The #32 Barazi Epsilon car is potentially a podium challenger, but again the team need to prove their ability to stay out of trouble and cash in on the raw pace that the car has shown again and again. The gap to this the most consistently quick Zytek-powered challenger is being rapidly closed by the Embassy Racing WF01s. Jonathan France’s squad have been methodically chipping away at the potential of their very new package all season, and the Nürburgring saw another big step forward; and without a couple of niggling, time consuming issues their double points haul could have been much, much greater. They’ll have plenty of home race support to cheer them on this weekend, with an announcement also due about their 2009 plans. Expect the unexpected on this one! The Trading Performance squad have been finding more speed as the season has progressed. Julien Schroyen left the squad after Le Mans, but Adam Sharpe is added to the team for a one-off at Silverstone. Another team subject to a great deal of speculation as to their future plans, is the Quifel ASM squad; their Lola now beginning to struggle against the new generation in LMP2, despite the efforts of Olivier Pla. They’ll be back in 2009, either with an 09 spec Zytek, or a Lola Coupe. For now, though, they too will need bad luck for much of the competition to allow them to nail a good result. At KSM, the team are beginning to unlock the potential of their AER-built Mazda MZR-R engine. There’s a way to go yet, but there’s undoubtedly some grit behind this team. The Saulnier Racing LMP2 Pescarolo is probably the real dark horse of the class - consistently quick, with its new Judd proving very reliable; and the car all too often royally embarrassing the sister car in the team, an allegedly quicker LMP1 Pescarolo! It was good to see the Bruichladdich Radical team out testing at Snetterton. 2008 has been a trying year here, too; the SR9 needing development to help close what has become a widening gap to the class leaders. It’s difficult to see, though, what will allow them to have made significant strides this side of the close season.
Finally, there’s the WR Zytek, stepping slowly forwards but still with a long way to go. The addition of Tristan Gommendy to the squad this weekend will show what pace the package really has thus far and there are announcements to come that will show that WR are serious about pushing forward in 2009. Silverstone, though, will be too early for anything spectacular for the least conventional looking package in the class.
GG | 
