ILMC/LMS, Silverstone - First Hour

Barry Gates confirmed prior to the pit lane opening that engine number four was currently being fitted to the RLR MG Lola.  “All three problems have been totally different, we had an oil pressure problem this morning in the warm-up.  All the engines have been brand new and this one is too.” 

Warren Hughes was “gobsmacked at how quick the guys are working.  (Gates chiming in with the fact that they had plenty of practice).  The pit lane closes at 11:05 and I doubt we’ll be out by then so we won’t be able to join the grid, but we should be ready for the start, but will have to go from the pitlane.  I’ve just found out that if we start from the pitlane we will have to wait for the others to complete a full racing lap which is news to me, so we will be a lap behind before we even start.”

Phil Quaife was confident of “the balance and pace of his car after this morning’s warm-up.  I think we will be pretty much on the pace.  The sister car blew an oil line but it hasn’t done any damage, although it did make the track slippery.  I think we should be in for a good race whatever the weather. 

“We all thought that Imola would be full of safety cars and danger but we didn’t see that, so I think here, where the complexes are higher speed than Imola, there should be less frustration for the prototype drivers, so things should stay clean.  The only thing is that when they do come past, they are going pretty quickly so we do still have to look out for them, stay out of trouble and keep it on the black stuff.”

McNish and Beltoise both had spins on the out lap, not the best thing for the Scot’s confidence as he prepares to take on Bourdais in a minute or so’s time…

RLR are ready to start at the end of the pitlane.

A green flag is given but the safety car stays out, but unlike the opening round at Ricard, everyone seems to be aware of it and most are still warming their tyres as the race starts and the clock begins to tick down.

A light skirmish for the Jani Rebellion and #15 Oak seem them run wide and lose a few places on lap 1.  The diesel procession is unchanged on lap 1, Pla is 5th not far off the back of the diesels.  Kimber-Smith leads P2 in 8th overall from two fellow Brits in 9th (Kane) and 10th (Firth).  A Brit leads FLM (Keen) and GTE Pro too (Priaulx).  Home advantage only spoilt by McNish not being able to make a move.

Jani begins to climb through the P2 cars in lap 2.  Very localised rain is reported.

At the end of lap 3 Bourdais’ lead is 1.4 seconds.  Jani takes 8th place with 9 minutes gone, so is back up to 8th, Ragues also recovers to 9th. 

Black and orange flag for the RLR MG Lola car which appears to be losing fluid, no respite for this team as yet then.   

10 minutes gone and Audi seem to be gaining speed, Bernhard setting the fastest lap as McNish has visibly gained on, and is troubling, the leader.

13 minutes gone and the cars catch traffic.  Brits lead three of the five classes, and are second in the others (P1 and GTE Am).

15 minutes gone and a daring move at the very start of lap 8 (understatement of the year) through traffic as McNish raises the dust over the start finish on the extreme right, managing to squeeze the Kessel Ferrari #70 momentarily between him and the now chasing Bourdais. 

Boullion takes Pla and the lead of the petrol cars.  Montagny pulls back onto the racing line for Copse despite not being clear of Moro’s #99 that he was in the process of lapping, a lurid spin and trip across the gravel with relatively light contact to the front left into the tyre wall.  Montagny checks the damage and tries to help the marshals push and lift the car out of the gravel, but he is already nearly last and lost 3 laps.

23 minutes again and Farfus seems to be in problems, losing time and places from his second place.  He falls to sixth but continues to lose time, though still lapping for now.  Montagny, whose problems are clear enough, is finally underway but the contact was harder than it seemed, bodywork missing and the car is jinking around as he tries to recover to the pits.  He does so and a snapped wishbone is the diagnosis, the mechanics set to work.

27 minutes gone.  The P2 battle continues to rage, Kimber-Smith holding off Kane and Firth through the traffic.  Vilander takes the lead in GTE as Mako passes Lieb and takes third and then Priaulx for second round the outside at Farm.  Ferrari 1-2.  Bourdais has caught McNish, the Scot having earlier built up a little cushion.

GT Am is Long from Armindo and Mullen.  Lieb and Bruni are now past Priaulx, it seems given the drop-off in pace of both M3s that the BMW’s tyres are not at the ideal place in their cycle at this point of the race.

Mako’s charge continues and he is with Vilander for the lead.  In P2 the lead has changed, Kane passes Greaves with 33 minutes gone, important for Strakka’s championship push.

A replay suggests that Montagny cut his left rear on the FLM car, pitching the car into a spin that starts with a swerve to the right.

35 minutes gone, Kane has damage to the left rear bodywork and a puncture, he loses the lead to Jody Firth, who has passed Kimber-Smith, but then that position reverses and Firth has a spin on his own.  He drops from the lead as does BMW are now 5th and 9th from first and second.  Bell is 10th in the other Dunlop-shod GT car. 

Strakka recovers to the pits but the damage to the left rear is significant, the car is pulled into the box.

39 minutes gone and Bourdais retakes the lead out of Vale, although he uses all of the run-off area to stay pointing in the right direction to do it.  Mako has taken the lead in GTE Pro too.

RML receive a one minute stop and go penalty from 6th in P2 (Erdos).  This is for an irregularity at the start, possibly late working on the car. 

McNish pulls the same move again, exactly, is baulked by an FLM car, so Bourdais takes track position as they run side by side but Bourdais takes the racing line onto the hangar straight and takes the lead again.  Bernhard in third is catching due to the duelling going on at the front. 

13 pits from 4th with 43 minutes gone. 

45 minutes gone and #2 is the next surprise pitter.  McNish has clobbered a hole in the front left of his car as the Kessel Ferrari turns in on him.  Fortunately the car appears OK so it is sent, but this is a mistake, McNish can’t keep the car on track.

47 minutes gone and Firth has a big shunt on the start finish straight.  Rather than running onto the exit kerbs onto the start-finish straight the car keeps turning right, swaps end and then hits the pit wall hard with both ends.  #35 has a spin too and the safety car is called to recover the TDS wreck, back through the gap in the wall.

McNish has limped back to the pits, this time the car is pulled into the box and it is very apparent that there are some loose parts that shouldn’t be loose on the R18’s front left.  Ullrich tells the TV cameras that they thought it was a tyre issue only, hence sending McNish away first time around.

The safety car brings about the first routine stops so as the cars enter the pitlane P1 is now Bourdais, Bernhard, Pla.  P2: Kimber-Smith, Ordonez, Meichtry.  FLM: Keen, Simon Grogan.  GTE Pro: Mako, Bruni, Lieb (though Mako chooses to make a stop and drops to sixth).  GTE Am Long, Mullen, Armindo.

With an hour gone the safety car is due back in. 

Hour One Summary

An hour of incident, accident and wheel to wheel action.

In LMP1 we’ve seen a substantial off for Franck Montagny in the #8 Peugeot, a clash for McNish with the Kessel Ferrari which saw the Audi pit with a puncture, the car released, only to immediately suffer front suspension failure, this after a pair of wonderful overtaking moves by the Scot to twice take the lead from Sebastien Bourdais!

Bourdais though ends the hour on top, tracked closely by Bernhard in the undelayed R18.

LMP2 saw an early British 1,2,3 – Kimber Smith fending off Kane and Firth – The Strakka car though was nerfed from behind by the Larbre Corvette prompting a lengthy stop to replace the rear left corner of the HPD, this just after Kane had taken the class lead.

Firth though was in bigger trouble still in the TDS Racing Oreca, an incident on the start finish straight pitching the car into the pit wall and out of the race.

GTE Pro saw the BMWs lead the way early on – Priaulx ahead of Farfus but by the middle of the hour both M3s seemed to see their performance fall off a cliff, both tumbling back down the order with the Ferraris and later the Porsches very much to the fore.

Vilander, Makowiecki and Bruni took turns at the front of the pack during the hour.

In GTE Am it was Pat Long leading the way throughout the hour from Nicolas Armindo and Tim Mullen, Mullen grabbing second before the end of the hour.

Phil Keen meanwhile held off the FLM competition throughout the hour in the #92 Neil Garner Motorsport Oreca.