LMS Barcelona - Saturday Morning

The KSM Mazda Lola is fighting fit after a minor drama at the end of the pitlane, a little too much throttle on start-up after the end of a red flag period meant oil in the turbo and a James Bondesque smoke screen

Joao Barbosa was beaming broadly at Pescarolo Sport, the ex Rollcentre man was “Really delighted to get a very late call to be here.  At the moment it’s for this race only but of course I’d be interested in doing more.”

Over at GAC Racing there was another late addition to the order, Phillip Peter delighted to be back in an LMP car for the first time since Swiss Spirit in 2006 (and his first ever LMP2 run).

“I’m really happy with the team and with the car.  It allows you to find the limits very quickly and it’s very predictable and progressive.”

A quick analysis of the LMP2 times from yesterday meanwhile reveals that of the returning teams all were slower than 2008 apart from RML!   

Tom Coronel was another man happy to be returning to endurance racing, particularly after setting the fastest GT2 time of the day yesterday on the last lap of the session:

“We had new rubber and ran it in full qualifying trim – I still think everyone was surprised.  The timing guy certainly was, he came down to the garage after the session because he didn’t believe it!

“It was good to put some smiles on faces, I had a load of text messages from the factory too which was nice.  It’s a difficult time for everyone in the business at the moment and some good news can’t hurt can it?

“I think we’ll be around 4th or 5th in qualifying and then challenging for a podium in the race tomorrow.”

Steve Bunkhall at JMW reports that their mystery misfire meant that the team changed the wiring loom overnight – Hopes are high that the issue is behind them now, particularly as the competition in GT2 is “clearly much, much tougher than last year.”

No problems down at Virgo apart from a very ‘green’ track yesterday, Sean McInenrney reporting that the car was “very stable, good initial turn-in” but that the car was washing out thereafter.  That was a common theme elsewhere too.

The 90 minute morning free practice session was interrupted after around 60 minutes running after a clash between the #12 Signature Plus Courage Oreca and the #28 Ibanez Racing Systems Courage – Still that gave the organisers the opportunity to recover the #43 Q8 Lucchini, Fabrizio Marmetta (apparently you either love him or hate him!) bouncing along, still strapped into the car on the back of a flatbed on the circuit access road along the wrong side of the pit straight – There’s a theme rapidly emerging – Red Sky at Night – Shepherds Delight – Red Flag in the Morning (or for that matter at any time) – Time to tow in a Lucchini.

Again the R10s really didn’t impress in the session – a pair of 1:36s for Albers and Krumm were an improvement (the cars ending the session 7th and 9th quickest) but the consistency required in endurance racing and the strength in depth are not yet in evidence. 

The Kolles Team are clearly struggling, none more so than Charles Zwollsman in the #14 car, his times this morning were particularly poor and also particularly inconsistent, the best observed here was a mid 1:40 (a time which would have put him sixth – in LMP2!), the worst a 1:48.  A theme is emerging that several of the recently ex single seater boys in Audis and elsewhere too are really struggling in traffic, this view supported by several other drivers in LMP and GT machinery who report observing LMP1 cars exhibiting some very unpredictable behaviour indeed.  

Bruno Senna (on the change to sportscars from single-seaters)

“It’s quite a different style; a different philosophy. It’s not a case of pushing for 20 minutes – you’ve got to look after the tyres, save fuel and hand the car over to your team mate in good condition. It’s a very different challenge.

“But it’s a good way to get used to the future, for F1, where we will all need to have a more level headed approach to things.”

Senna tested the ’08 spec Oreca LC70 at the Paul Ricard LMS test and has since tried the ’09 wing, also at the HTTT; “It wasn’t a back to back test, but the new wing seems to be working well on the car and providing lots of downforce.

“We’ve got more aero coming for Spa, which will make us more competitive.  We’re not as quick on the straights here as we’d like – you always want to be quickest, obviously,” he smiled.

“But I’m enjoying the challenge. Looking in at sportscar racing from the outside, it’s easy to think that it’s relaxed; but there is no doubt that you have to be on top of your game – you have to sit in the car and learn before you can get to the front.”

Bruce Jouanny

“We’ve not had much time to test the car - a half day at Magny Cours; and that’s the only time I’ve sat in a car since a Superleague race in August – so we’re learning a lot at the moment.

“There’s a good balance on the car and the new wing hasn’t affected things too much – it seems to suit the car well. The new aero wasn’t ready for our car for this race, but we’ll have the new bodywork at Spa.”

The new #16 Pescarolo is clearly a very effective beast, much improved downforce from Henri’s now ageing earlier LMP1 paid dividends in the session with both Bouillon and Tinseau showing real pace aboard the #16 car.

It would be the Pescarolo that set the pace for the weekend thus far, a 1:33.250 straight after the red flag interruption eclipsing Enge’s early efforts in the #007 Lola Aston Martin DBR1-2  B06/80 Coupe (snappy huh!)

The #007 car would end the session fourth fastest, leapfrogged too by Andrea Belicchi in the #13 Speedy Sebah Lola Aston and Olivier Panis in the #11 Courage Oreca AIM.

In LMP2 Tommy Erdos’s early effort was good enough for fifth fastest overall at one point, the Mazda engined Lola Coupe though would end the session third in class behind a pair of Judd engined Lolas, Jonny Kane posting a 1:37.032 in the #33 Speedy Sebah car, edging out Filippo Francioni in the #29 Racing Box machine.

Olivier Pla was next behind the Lola trio, the Quifel ASM Ginetta Zytek also into the 1:37s.

GT1 saw a 1:44.681 from Peter Kox a second faster than the best that Yann Clairay in the #72 LAA C6.R could muster.

GT2 meanwhile saw some real pace emerging, Marc Lieb banging in a 1:48.145 in the #77 Felbermayer Proton Porsche, a mark only challenged right at the end of the session by Gimmy Bruni in the JMW Ferrari, albeit still more than half a second adrift.

Only the #76 IMSA Performance Porche (Patrick Pilet) was able to join the select group under 1:49 with Antonio Garcia next up in the #84 Team Modena Ferrari 430.

GG + MH