LMS - Valencia- Preview
A Very Different Track The Circuito Ricardo Tormo is the venue for the second round of the 2007 Le Mans Series: it’s not exactly a classic European track, but a trip to Spain certainly beats another visit to Istanbul. Valencia is a popular testing circuit, so the initial advantage ought to go to those teams which have had a run-out there. It’s very different from Monza – and may not suit the Peugeots quite as well. The twisting infield is apparently rather narrow, and with 46 cars on the track, traffic (and perhaps contact) are going to be features of the event. It hasn’t much relevance to the next event for most of the teams (Le Mans), but it will be fascinating to see the Peugeots navigate their was round a tighter track. Relatively few cars dropped out (from the Monza entry), and with two new LMP1s making their maiden appearance, plus an LMP2 or two, the entry is actually even better than at Monza. The two, new LMP1s are of course the Swiss Spirit Lola Audi and the Arena Zytek: both could play significant roles this weekend. Jean-Denis Deletraz is “so excited to be going to Valencia” (he’s also racing at Silverstone this weekend, with Mike Hezemans in the Carsport Holland Corvette). Testing of the Audi-engined Lola at Ledenon went very well, and there are suggestions that the car was showing very impressive pace compared to the lap times of, say, the Oreca Saleen at the same track (for FFSA GTs last weekend). We’ll soon find out if those rumours are correct: Valencia ought to suit this car-engine combination. How will it compare to the Peugeots – and the other LMP1s? The Arena Zytek was running at Paul Ricard on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week. Thursday was its first run on a track, but by Saturday it was piling on the kilometres, with Stefan Johansson, Hayanari Shimoda and Tom Chilton all driving. The latter is on BTCC duty this weekend, but the Johansson / Shimoda combination is a strong one: the Swede was on great form, of course, at the end of last season (LMS and ALMS) in the hybrid version of the Zytek, and has been this year in the Higcroft Acura. Shimoda has a known record in the Le Mans Series of course (almost a champion in 2005). Still on Zyteks, Michael Vergers admitted that he didn’t show the true pace of the Barazi-Epsilon LMP2 car in qualifying at Monza – and then the fuel leak prevented the car from starting. He’s sure that that problem won’t recur. “All three of us (Vergers, Juan Barazi and Karim Ojjeh) tested at Val de Vienne last Wednesday, and the mechanical grip of the car was fantastic,” comments Vergers. “We tuned the traction control a little bit – and we’re really looking forward to Valencia, although not the width of the track, particularly in the infield.” Still with new cars, the 2007 Creation “will have its basic build finished next week,” says Mike Jankowski. Expect a dramatic livery for this one in due course – in time for Le Mans of course. JC-W and Shinji Nakano will head the line-up for the 24 Hours. No Lavaggi this weekend, and just one Courage Competition LC70 AER (the other is in the wind tunnel), but otherwise the LMP1 entry, with the additions above, is as at Monza. Henri Pescarolo’s cars should feature the 2007 updates that weren’t ready for Italy. Henri has been making his feelings known about the diesels again: Monza was the first non-Pescarolo LMS win since the Nurburgring in 2005 (Chilton / Shimoda). Romain Dumas replaces Emmanuel Collard (at Silverstone), while Harold Primat says that “there is only one line for certain corners (at Valencia) and very little space for overtaking. I think the LMP2 cars might spring a few surprises there because they are 200 kilos lighter and that will be a big advantage.” Racing for Holland is heading into its second event with its new Dome (and ace no. 1 Davy Lemmens does still work for the team!). Rollcentre’s Pescarolo will be raced by Joao Barbosa and Stuart Hall, the Chamberlain-Synergy Lola has its usual trio, who will be hoping that they’ve got their only non-finish out of the way for this season – and that leaves the Charouz Lola Judd as the last LMP1 to mention. This team is “really up for it” in Spain, after a sparkling debut last month. Alex Yoong will race it for the first time. At least Mucke, Charouz and Yoong won't have Jean-Marc Gounon in an LMP1 car to contend with this time: J-MG races the del Bello LMP2 car this week (although Primat might be right about P2 pace). The T2M Dome makes its debut this weekend in LMP2 – in a class that has a point to make in round 2. With three highly competitive cars stationary within a lap or two at Monza, the race was between two or three – two of which have developed a habit of winning: the #40 ASM entry and the RML MG version of the Lola. Neither took the flag first though, beaten by a troublefree run by the Horag Lola Judd. Can Bruichladdich Radical (with Robin Liddell this time), Embassy (below) and Barazi-Epsilon split / beat the recognised winners? Bill Binnie’s team secured another podium at Monza, and the blue and white car is always there or thereabouts. “We did a couple of test days at the circuit last month so I think we are going into the weekend with a good starting point in terms of set-up,” says new man Chris Buncombe. “It’s going to be a very tough race with so many cars of differing speeds on such a short twisting circuit, which will be interesting.” Buncombe expects to have to “fight our way through the slower GT cars without losing too much time”. GT1 comprises the same seven cars as at Monza, five of which finished there. Jack Leconte’s team found a fault on an upright on the #51 Aston Martin, but new parts have fixed that, and he also says that “we know they (the Alphand Corvettes) have a technical advantage (due to a bigger air restrictor, a rule break handed out because they run air conditioning in the car) and whilst we are sure that that is a big help at high revs and at full power, we also think there might be an advantage to the torque of the engine. However, whilst it’s an advantage, we are not talking about them being in a different class.” Air conditioning in the GT cars isn’t an area we’ve delved into - yet. Oreca’s Saleen was a surprising, early retirement at Monza (engine - Stephane Ortelli, Hugues de Chaunac and Steve Saleen, above), but the pace of this entry (in FFSA GTs too) is very much a known quantity: Ortelli / Ayari drive as usual. Christian Fittipaldi gets ready for Le Mans in the Team Modena Aston Martin – and the GT1 win in Spain could go to a DBR9, a C5-R, a C6.R or a Saleen. GT2 still features a very strong 16 cars. Prior to Monza we failed to pick out Sergio Hernandez as a single-seater hot-shoe moving into GTs, and he played a significant role in helping Fabrizio de Simone and Alessandro Bonetti to the class win for GPC's #97. Valencia ought to be more suited to the Porsches though, than was Monza. Narac / Lietz for IMSA Performance and Lieb / Pompidou for Felbermayr-Proton lead the charge of the 997s, but the 430s feature talents such as Bell / Simonsen, Caffi / Zardo, and Mowlem / Drudi (with Rosa). Then there’s the Panoz Esperantes and the Spykers, and all five will be more suited to Valencia than Monza. Dutchman Sandor van Es replaces Peter Kox in the factory Spyker, with Jarek Janis. Tom Milner, like Janis, switches to the LMS from the ALMS (at Houston) to form a very strong line-up in the #82 LNT Panoz (with Richard Dean): Watts and Kimber-Smith were immensely strong anyway in the other car. It’s quite a challenging circuit with a high speed corner at the end of the front straight, and a mix of high and low speed corners in the mid section," says Virgo's Rob Bell, "but it’s fairly narrow, so not easy to overtake here.” John Hartshorne has been on penicillin since Monza, owing to an infection that got into his healing blisters: the Chad Peninsula Panoz was a very hot place to be in Italy, but will be cooler this time. Markus Palttala joins Lefort and Lambert in the Ice Pol Ferrari. 46 cars round Valencia is an absorbing prospect – so absorbing that Janos Wimpffen is flying in from Seattle to help us with our coverage. With so many events going on at Silverstone too, it’s going to be an exceptionally busy weekend. Spain or Silverstone to have the better weather?
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