LMS Silverstone - Hours Two and Three Hour two sees a trio of cars assessed a 1 second stop/go penalty the #5 Courage Oreca for an alleged (and strenuously denied by Hugues de Chaunac) use of the slave battery on the grid. The #34 van Merksteijn Porsche (LMP2 leader) and #14 Creation are both also assessed a penalty, all three serve the penalty quickly and continue, Verstappen's class advantage sufficient to allow him to retain the class lead. McNish is reporting that the leading #8 Peugeot is dropping profuse amounts of oil! The GT2 leading Virgo Ferrari has a slick and drama free stop just after the hour, Melo climbs aboard. The lead battle is suddenly much closer, McNish less than 2 seconds off the lead with Premat now closing back in on the 3rd placed #7 Peugeot. A Major incident on the Hangar straight and it affects the Championship leading Peugeot, Minassian was slipstreaming another prototype, one of the Epsilon Euskadi's and with Premat closing in, went down the right hand side of the #76 IMSA Perfomance Porsche, running second in GT2, at the top of Hangar straight, Minassian pulled out to the left but hadn't cleared the Porsche, It pitched the Peugeot into a spin and the car, again!, lifted off, and pitched both cars hard into the barrier on the outside of the circuit under the bridge. The Peugeot is out of the race on the spot, Minassian out of the car, physically fine but clearly distraught. Safety Car scrambled immediately, and as soon as possible the lead pair pit, the Joest team do the business and Capello rejoins ahead of the #8 car, Premat meanwhile stays out and takes the lead - It's an Audi 1,2 after a dreadful few moments for Peugeot's title hopes. The #76 IMSA Performance car is also out of the race Malcolm Cracknell, making a very welcome return to the track this weekend, reports that it was Fernando Rees that spun the #32 Zytek on lap One having left the door open for Pla in the ASM Lola, and then closing it again! Rees replaced usual starter Juan Barazi as the team principal hadn't completed enough laps in practice and qualifying. "I thought Fernando would appreciate the chance to start the race," said a perhaps rueful Michael Vergers. With the debris cleared the waveby begins, Premat still needs to pit but has taken track position and the race lead. There's very bad news indeed for the #77 Felbermayr Proton Porsche as Alex Davison is on track behind the race leader with Rob Bell ahead, now waved by and grabbing the better part of a lap's advantage as a result.  |
We're racing again and Premat has a 10 second advantage and plenty of traffic between the #2 Audi and the second placed #1 R10, Capello though has Sarrazin in very close attendance as this pair try to make their way through a group of backmarkers, Capello takes the inside line very early as they complete the lap, Sarrazin tries to go around the outside, there's contact at the apex and both spin out and make gentle contact with the barrier. Capello tries to rejoin but gets bogged down in the gravel. Sarrazin does manage to restart but theres front damage to the #8 car. It cruises around and is immediately in the garage, a front corner replacement seems to on the agenda. Capello is now released from the gravel and he's making his way steadily around, the car looks OK, it looks like just a puncture and the car rejoins - A bad day for Peugeot just got much, much worse! Dr Ullrich is clearly unamused, "We have put them under pressure and that move was really stupid." With Premat due to pit soon we should soon see a petrol fuelled car leading the race with the #10 Lola Aston Martin well in touch. Phew!! that leaves the order #2 Audi, #10 Lola Aston martin, these the last cars on the lead lap followed, one lap back by the #6 Courage Oreca. The next trio are all LMP2 cars, the #34 Porsche leads the #33 Lola by just under 20 seconds with the Essex Racing Porsche right on #33 tail. The remainder of the top 10 is made up of the #14 creation and then a trio of Pescarolos, the #17 and #16 Pescarolo Sport cars lapping together with Joao Barbosa well in touch in the Rollcentre Racing car, is a famous result on for the St Ives battlers? There's yet another incident as the #91 Farnbacher Porsche and #32 Barazi Epsilon Zytek get together on the exit of bridge, both cars into the barrier on the outside of the corner, the #32 rejoining and pitting, the #91 though looks to be out of the race. In GT1 Garcia leads the Rusinov pedalled Lamborghini by 20 seconds but the Corvette is plodding away at the task in hand, running in third. Peugeot are clearly uninterested in commenting on their woes, dsc's pit reporting crew are, together with other media, refused access to any team personnel as the repair to the #8 car continues. Premat pits, Charouz lead the race, when was the last time a petrol fuelled car led in the Le Mans Series? Answers on a postcard to.............. Capello dropped down the order to 19th place overall after the earlier incident but is now back into the top ten. There's trouble for the Essex Racing Porsche, the car, in Elgaard's hands loses a left front wheel at Becketts, the third placed LMP2 car gets back to the pits though, the car though is pushed into the garage, there seems a worse issue than just finger trouble, RLM's Nick Damon reporting that the hub has snapped off. Yet another LMP on GT incident as the #20 Epsilon makes contact with the JWA Porsche, de Castro sideswiped by Peter Bamford, both go off into the very wet infield, the Epsilon suffering front end damage, spinning across and onto the track once again and again making contact with the Porsche, this time with the rear of the car. de Castro seems to want to 'discuss' the incident with Bamford, he's not keen on the 'discussion' makes to leave the scene in the relatively undamaged Porsche but gets bogged down in the wet grass. The marshals on the scene meanwhile are ensuring that a very annoyed Spaniard and a very stuck Brit are kept apart. Positions at two hours: 1 10 Run "LM"P1 Charouz Racing System Lola Aston Martin CHAROUZ Jan 66
2 2 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI ROCKENFELLER Mike 66
3 6 Run "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd PANIS Olivier 65
4 34 Run "LM"P2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS - Spyder VERSTAPPEN Jos 65
5 33 Run "LM"P2 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 Coupé - Judd POMPIDOU Xavier 64
6 14 In "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim SIMPSON Stephen 64
7 16 Run "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd BOULLION Jean-Christophe 64
8 17 Run "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd TINSEAU Christophe 64
9 18 Run "LM"P1 Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo - Judd BARBOSA Joao 64
10 5 Run "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd AYARI Soheil 64
11 27 Run "LM"P2 Horag Racing Porsche RS - Spyder THEYS Didier 64
12 15 Run "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim HALL Stuart 64
13 1 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI CAPELLO Rinaldo 64
14 40 Run "LM"P2 Quifel - ASM Team Lola B05/40 - AER PLA Olivier 64
15 31 Run "LM"P2 Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder ELGAARD Casper 63
16 25 Run "LM"P2 RML MG Lola EX 265C - MG ERDOS Tommy 63
17 45 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek HUGHES Warren 63
18 35 Run "LM"P2 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd RAGUES Pierre 63
19 41 In "LM"P2 Trading Performance Zytek 07S - Zytek OJJEH Karim 62
20 4 Run "LM"P1 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd HEIN Richard 61
21 44 Run "LM"P2 Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola - Mazda NODA Hideki 61
22 26 Run "LM"P2 Bruichladich Radical Radical SR9 - AER LUEDERS Jan-Dirk 60
23 59 Run "LM"GT1 Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 GARCIA Antonio 60
24 55 Run "LM"GT1 IPB Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT RUSINOV Roman 59
25 32 Run "LM"P2 Barazi - Epsilon Zytek 07S - Zytek BARAZI Juan 59
26 20 Run "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd DE CASTRO Miguel-Angel 59
27 72 Run "LM"GT1 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R GOUESLARD Patrice 58
28 61 Run "LM"GT1 Strakka Racing Aston Martin DBR9 HARDMAN Peter 58
29 96 Run "LM"GT2 Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT 58
30 21 Run "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd VALLES Adrian 58
31 77 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR DAVISON Alex 57
32 90 Run "LM"GT2 Farnbacher Racing Ferrari F430 GT KAFFER Pierre 57
33 99 Run "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT DAOUDI Stephane 57
34 85 Run "LM"GT2 Snoras Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R CORONEL Tom 57
35 88 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR RIED Christian 56
36 75 Run "LM"GT2 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LECOURT Michel 55
37 95 Run "LM"GT2 James Watt Automotive Porsche 997 GT3 RSR BAMFORD Peter 55
38 8 In "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP SARRAZIN Stephane 54
39 93 Run "LM"GT2 James Watt Automotive Aston Martin Vantage V8 SUGDEN Tim 53
40 98 Run "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT BASSO Maurice 53
41 91 Run "LM"GT2 Farnbacher Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR NIELSEN Lars Erik 51
42 46 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek FOSTER Joey 51
43 94 Run "LM"GT2 Speedy Racing Team Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R CHIESA Andrea 49
44 7 Run "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP MINASSIAN Nicolas 45
45 76 Run "LM"GT2 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIETZ Richard 38
47 37 Run "LM"P2 WR / Salini WR - Zytek GOMMENDY Tristan 3 Charlie Hollings is in the Rollcentre Pescarolo for the first time and Fredy Lienhard is in the Horag Porsche for the very last time as we head into the third hour. There's a second stop/go for the #5 Courage Oreca, that will drop the car out of the top ten. The car reportedly failing to observe a yellow flag. The #8 Peugeot has rejoined, 14 laps down. There's a problem for the #14 Creation, Stephen Simpson handing the car over to Ryan Lewis but then struggling to restart the car with clutch trouble. It's a great period of the race for Lola fans, Charouz still leads, and he's holding a 10 second gap to a conservative Rockenfeller, Pompidou and Pla are running second and third in LMP2. But Pompidou has an incident as he completes a lap, clashes with the second in GT1 Lamborghini and he's off, in to the wall and with a lost wheel, the #33 car is out on the spot, Pompidou is furious but in truth it's difficult to see what Rusinov did wrong. It seems that something may have broken on the Lola after the initial contact. The Safety Car is scrambled. Capello is now back up to seventh overall, fifth in LMP1, that will provide further help in Audi's currently successful battle to take all three titles. Shinji Nakano on the Esilon Euskadi team progress: There is good pace in the car now. I joined the team after Le Mans and since then we have worked really hard on the package. The team has good investment and there will be good things for next year. The team has good vision and wants to be at the top. We tried our best to get past the Courage in the first stint, but we had a problem with the starter during the stop which has affected us. Right now we are looking to find a comfortable race pace with the Courages and Pescarolos. Nothing is confirmed for me for next year, but I hope I can secure the drive with this team. I like working with the Spanish guys, they are good people and are focused on long term success. Alan McNish at the end of his first stint in the car: With the first corner incident, to be honest the Peugeot blocked the inside and I went round the outside and I was pretty much faster and I don’t think he actually saw me, moved to where he thought he should be and because I was fast he hit my right rear . It spun him around think we both had to recover the cars. Without the extra tarmac on the outside I think we’d both be out of the race – you use whatever is available. I probably could have kept the car on the track but there was no requirement to do so. I don’t think we’ve necessarily found any extra pace this weekend, I think it’s more that everyone else has struggled to get the set up right with such limited time on Friday and Saturday. My qualifying lap was my 5th dry lap since 2005. I think we just guessed more in the right direction than them. The first set of tyres were too high pressure, we’ve regulated that for the second set so we could attack. The lead Peugeot is blowing oil out the back as you can see (pointing to oil on his visor) which has made things difficult, things are quite slippery, but we’re in pretty good shape. On the news that the #7 car was in the wall: I didn’t know that was the reason for the safety car. We‘ve obviously been putting them under pressure – I was able to get past one of them at the start and put the other one under pressure, and there’s a championship at stake and that’s when mistakes happen. It could easily have been someone else hitting Nic; it’s unusual for him to make a mistake. Miguel Amaral spins under the Safety car under the safety car, Great news meanwhile for Embassy Racing as the #45 car is up to third in class, the spin from Amaral leads him right on the tail of the #40 car in the queue, there are two cars between them, one of them the second Embassy WF01! The second in GT2 Felbermayr Porsche makes the pitstop it owed, it stays on the lead lap. The lead has changed after pit stops under the safety car and the #2 Audi leads the way. There's a couple of incidents yet again, Amaral loses the place to Hughes but then, on the run into Club corner Amaral, falling back rapidly, mistimes his braking and t-bones the sister #46 WF01. At almost the same time Charlie Hollings is in the gravel in front of the BRDC stand, the Rollcentre pescarolo has lost a wheel. Actually the wheel has broken, Hollings brings the car in with the hub intact but the spokes broken, Martin Short reports no contact was made with any other car. To top an eventful few minutes the Avro Vulcan bomber passes over the circuit - Lovely! Look for a piece on this fantastic flying machine on dsc ahead of its appearance at the Britcar 24 Hours next weekend! Warren Hughes makes a routine stop in the #45 WF01 from second place in LMP2, Jonny Kane climbs aboard and rejoins fifth in class as Lienhard, Amaral and Newton take advantage. Kane is flying though, he passes Newton on his first flying lap, Mike seemingly had a problem on that lap, and is closing in on Amaral. Positions at three hours: 1 2 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI ROCKENFELLER Mike 100
2 10 Run "LM"P1 Charouz Racing System Lola Aston Martin CHAROUZ Jan 100
3 6 Run "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd LAPIERRE Nicolas 99
4 1 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI CAPELLO Rinaldo 98
5 34 Run "LM"P2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS - Spyder VAN MERKSTEIJN Peter 98
6 16 Run "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd DUMAS Romain 97
7 17 Run "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd TINSEAU Christophe 97
8 5 Run "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd ORTELLI Stephane 97
9 15 Run "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim HALL Stuart 97
10 27 Run "LM"P2 Horag Racing Porsche RS - Spyder LIENHARD Fredy 95
11 40 Run "LM"P2 Quifel - ASM Team Lola B05/40 - AER AMARAL Miguel 95
12 45 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek KANE Jonny 95
13 25 Run "LM"P2 RML MG Lola EX 265C - MG NEWTON Mike 95
14 35 Run "LM"P2 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd RAGUES Pierre 95
15 41 Run "LM"P2 Trading Performance Zytek 07S - Zytek GOSSELIN Claude-Yves 94
16 4 Run "LM"P1 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd NICOLET Jacques 94
17 44 Run "LM"P2 Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola - Mazda NODA Hideki 93
18 32 Run "LM"P2 Barazi - Epsilon Zytek 07S - Zytek BARAZI Juan 92
19 18 Run "LM"P1 Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo - Judd HOLLINGS Charlie 92
20 26 Run "LM"P2 Bruichladich Radical Radical SR9 - AER LUEDERS Jan-Dirk 92
21 59 Run "LM"GT1 Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 ENGE Tomas 91
22 55 Run "LM"GT1 IPB Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT RUSINOV Roman 91
23 21 Run "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd NAKANO Shinji 90
24 31 Run "LM"P2 Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder NIELSEN John 90
25 72 Run "LM"GT1 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R MOREAU Guillaume 89
26 96 Run "LM"GT2 Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT BELL Robert 88
27 61 Run "LM"GT1 Strakka Racing Aston Martin DBR9 LEVENTIS Nick 88
28 77 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIEB Marc 88
29 90 Run "LM"GT2 Farnbacher Racing Ferrari F430 GT EHRET Pierre 87
30 99 Run "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT AUCOTT Ben 86
31 85 Run "LM"GT2 Snoras Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R VASILIEV Alexei 86
32 88 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR FELBERMAYR HSr 84
33 75 Run "LM"GT2 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR BALANDRAS Richard 84
34 8 Run "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP SARRAZIN Stephane 84
35 46 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek FOSTER Joey 82
36 98 Run "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT GILBERT Julien 82
37 93 Run "LM"GT2 James Watt Automotive Aston Martin Vantage V8 SUGDEN Tim 80
38 94 Run "LM"GT2 Speedy Racing Team Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R CHIESA Andrea 79
39 33 Run "LM"P2 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 Coupé - Judd POMPIDOU Xavier 75
40 14 In "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim LEWIS Ryan 67
41 20 Run "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd DE CASTRO Miguel-Angel 59
42 95 Run "LM"GT2 James Watt Automotive Porsche 997 GT3 RSR BAMFORD Peter 55
43 91 Run "LM"GT2 Farnbacher Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR NIELSEN Lars Erik 51
44 7 Run "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP MINASSIAN Nicolas 45
45 76 Run "LM"GT2 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIETZ Richard 38
47 37 Run "LM"P2 WR / Salini WR - Zytek GOMMENDY Tristan 3 | 
