Le Mans Series – Spa 1000kms – Free Practice 2

49 of the 50 runners were out for the second 60-minute free practice session on a dry track but still in cold conditions.  The #49 Applewood Seven FLM car was the no show this time around after being recovered on a flatbed post session this morning.
 
The session saw several cars hit trouble, or more precisely to hit something reasonably solid, Gabriele Gardel in the #50 Larbre Saleen early on in the session at No Name corner (damage to a rear corner) and Luca Moro in the #47 Hope Polevision FLM car late in the session, the Oreca into the tyre barrier on the inside at the top of Eau Rouge with six minutes of the session remaining, the impact appeared to have removed the car from the entry for the remainder of the weekend but the team did a fine job in rebuilding the car overnight – Luca Moro was fine, if somewhat angry.  The incident also brought out a red flag and brought the session to a close after 54 minutes.

The Signature Plus Lola Aston also went missing during the session with Vanina Ickx at the wheel, again TV seems to indicate that the car was off into the gravel on the run down to Rivage with no apparent peripheral damage.

Vanina Ickx on a day in the life of Signature Plus:
 
“We are struggling with the balance. The springs and the brakes are just not where they should be and I span and went backwards into the gravel at the Rivage turn. With the weather in the first session we have really been chasing the set-up. We have not enough seat time in settled conditions. Last year here we were doing 2:04’s with the Pescarolo, this weekend we can only manage 2:08’s.
 
The other guys have been working hard, Franck is more comfortable with the set up, so we have to allow him time to lead the development – it’s important for the team that he gets the seat time.
 
We are not looking for too many laps tomorrow, it’s important for us to learn from the weekend rather than to expect too much.”
 
As far as times were concerned a quick look at the qualifying times from this race in 2009 brought some interesting comparisons.
 
The running at the front was set once again by the Peugeots, the factory cars this time looking the pacier with Simon Pagenaud setting the ultimate pace in the first half of the session with a lap in 1:59.826.  That time was over 1.2 seconds faster than the 2009 pole time set in the Peugeot by Pagenaud last year – It seems that a well resourced factory team can still stay some way ahead of the rulemakers!

An additional point of interest is that the Peugeots are not listed on the speed trap sheets provided by the official timers!
 
The Peugeots finished the session 1,2,3 or more precisely #3, #1, #2 but with the second fastest car (Anthony Davidson who suffered a brief but harmless spin at Les Combes) some 1.5 seconds off Pagenaud’s pace and the fastest Audi (Andre Lotterer in the #8 R15 Plus) a full 3 seconds off, Audi reporting that they were suffering from a lack of grip.

The fastest petrol-fuelled LMP1 by comparison was the #12 Rebellion Lola, Neel Jani setting a 2:04 compared to the factory Lola Astons 2:02.4 last year.
 
In LMP2 it was the Strakka HPD setting the early pace before Danny Watts’ 2:08.950 was bettered by first Guillaume Moreau, then Olivier Pla and finally Tommy Erdos, the RML man making light of a Lola HPD suffering with a braking issue to post an impressive 2:06.858, another mark bettering the 2009 class pole time (that was set by the Essex Racing Porsche Spyder – 2:07.9)

Nico Verdonck performed to expectations in the #48 Hope Polevision FLM car posting a 2:18.228 to hang on to the coat tails of the LMP2 pack.
 
GT1 was headed by the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin, Tomas Enge setting an early 2:20.044, almost 8 tenths clear of the #60 Matech Ford (For comparison with the pre-grandfathered GT1s the 2009 pole was set by the Jetalliance Aston Martin, Alex Muller setting a 2:17.3).

Finally GT2 and Rob Bell setting a series of lap times late in the session good enough to oust Marc Lieb from the top of the class timing sheet, a 2:21.318, that pair heading the order ahead of a quartet of Ferraris.  Bell’s session best meanwhile was yet another mark to best the 2009 class pole position (That was set by Marc Lieb in the #77 Felbermayr Proton Porsche with a 2:21.8).