LMS – Spa 1000 Km – Hour 1 Pre-Race
We’re expecting it to be dry throughout the race (with rain perhaps arriving this evening), so it should be a five hour event, more or less. The crowd size looks to be on the small side, alas. Perhaps everyone is watching Motors TV? The Lavaggi’s problem was a crankshaft sensor this morning, and it’s sounding spot on in its garage… although after its out lap to form up on the grid, it was pushed straight into the garage…. This first hour report will be followed by two more, after three and five hours. Marc Basseng and Wolfgang Kaufmann weren’t here yesterday: both were racing in the VLN event, Basseng winning in the Land Porsche, Kaufmann finishing fifth in the Konrad car. Neither starts here today: Horst Felbermayr Jr. starts the #88 Porsche, and Lavaggi himself will start the Lavaggi. Hayanari Shimoda starts the #10 Zytek, not Stefan Johansson. www.lemans-series.com has live streaming of the race (for readers who are not in Europe). The Race
Sorry about the Johansson confusion – he did start the #10 Zytek. Cochet started the #12 Courage – and into La Source at the start, he locked up and hurtled into the back of the Charouz Lola, damaging it quite severely at the rear. Mucke was faced with a very, very slow lap back to the pits. Cochet made it back more quickly, but into La Source on his first flying lap, his r/front suspemnsion was in trouble. Another slow lap back. All this left, as expected, the two Peugeots to pull away at will, Gene leading lamy – from Boullion in the #16 Pescarolo. The gap back to the Pesca was 20 seconds after five laps, 33 after eight and 36 after 10. Boullion was chased by Gounon, JC-W and Johansson, the Swede having been delayed at La Source on lap 1. Tinseau and Barbosa were next, then the first of the LMP2s. Erdos led the class comfortably after 10 laps, from a very promising start for Embassy, then de Castro in the Quifel-ASM Lola. Ortelli was similarly dominant in GT1, 10 seconds ahead of Bouchut, up into second place in the #50 Larbre Aston, then the Alphand C6, then Cioci in the other Saleen. There was a ten second gap in GT2 too – but between the two leaders and third placed Lietz. So that was Lieb from Bell, the 77 and 96 cars only a second or so apart. This is going to be a great race in GT2. Lap 17, and Mucke rejoins – steaming mad presumably. The two Peugeots have just lapped the Embassy Radical, which is tenth overall, 11 seconds behind Erdos. JC-W pits after 39 minutes – and one of the Peugeots too. It’s #7, Gene at the wheel, after 18 laps. He lost the lead to Lamy at about lap 9. Gene stays in the car, with fresh rubber. LMP2s in trouble with early stops are the one-off cars, numbers 20, 26 and 44. The Barazi-Epsilon Zytek is 17th overall, Barazi having been tapped into a spin at La Source on the second lap. Lamy has lapped Erdos and is closing on Barbosa. Gene’s second and third sectors on his out lap were the fastest of the race so far. 908 times were 2:04s/05s from the start, until they met traffic, but typically then four seconds a lap faster than the rest. Lamy pits after 20 laps, 42 minutes. Gene retakes Boullion for second on his second lap of this stint, a 2:05 against a 2:10. JC-W and Gounon are lapping in 2:09.5. Lamy leads Gene by half a second as Johansson pits at 45 minutes. GT2 is still the same, Lieb from Bell (a second between them), with Garcia catching these two, having been beached on a kerb at Les Combes early on. GT1 cars are making their first stops. The Peugeots are still lapping in 2:05s/06s, with no else breaking 2:10 at the moment. 21 laps and Erdos leads Hughes by 15 seconds, with de Castro a second back in third. Buncombe, Moseley and vdP are fourth, fifth and sixth in P2. 22 laps and #17 is the first of the Pescarolos to pit, Boullion staying out for another lap, 10 seconds behind the Peugeots with a stop to make….. There’s a great wave of stops at about 50 minutes, including all the rest of the front-runners, except the LMP2 leader. Joost Custers tells us that the Charouz Lola had, unsurprisingly, rear bodywork and suspension damage. It’s now running with a black rear panel. Erdos pits from fourth overall, having just set a 2:10.8 before his in lap. 55 mins. gone and Lieb and Bell are 1.6 seconds apart. Lietz is 16 seconds behind them. Then it’s Dirk Werner in #90 Porsche, Zardo in #78 Ferrari and Peter Kox in the #85 Spyker. Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer has a big spin in the Jetalliance Aston Martin. Gene is in the garage in #7….. engine cover off. Kruse had a fuel leak in the cockpit of #44, de Pourtales getting a wet botty. The Pilbeam has had a gearbox oil leak. Michael Vergers confirms that the barazi Zytek was tapped by Bob Berridge at La Source, but has a rear light not working…. Gounon is in the garage, a long stop, he plummets down the order. Clutch – an hour’s job. The Peugeot was briefly on fire as it pitted, with a bearing gone – a ten minute job we think. Hour 1
1 8 Team Peugeot Total LAMY PedroSARRAZIN Stephane Peugeot 908 HDi FAP LMP1 ==27== 2:03.316
2 16 Pescarolo Sport COLLARD EmmanuelBOULLION Jean-Christophe Pescarolo Judd LMP1 1:44.541 2:07.865
3 7 Team Peugeot Total GENE MarcMINASSIAN Nicolas Peugeot 908 HDi FAP LMP1 ==26== 2:03.979
4 9 Creation Autosportif CAMPBELL WALTER JamieORTIZ FelipeNAKANO Shinji Creation CA07 Judd LMP1 1:57.586 2:09.033
5 17 Pescarolo Sport PRIMAT HaroldTINSEAU Christophe Pescarolo Judd LMP1 2:14.274 2:09.762
6 10 Arena Motorsport JOHANSSON StefanSHIMODA Hayanari Zytek 07S Zytek LMP1 2:20.377 2:08.502
7 18 Rollcentre Racing BARBOSA JoaoHALL StuartSHORT Martin Pescarolo Judd LMP1 2:26.850 2:10.213
8 25 RML ERDOS ThomasNEWTON Mike MG Lola EX264 AER LMP2 2:46.815 2:10.881
9 40 Quifel ASM Team AMARAL MiguelDE CASTRO Miguel AngelBURGENO Angel Lola B05/40 AER LMP2 2:56.711 2:11.984
10 45 Embassy Racing HUGHES WarrenMANNING Darren Radical SR9 Judd LMP2 3:03.264 2:11.575
11 31 Binnie Motorsports BINNIE BillTIMPANY AllenBUNCOMBE Chris Lola B05/40 Zytek LMP2 3:34.614 2:12.926
12 21 Bruichladdich Radical MOSELEY StuartGREAVES Tim Radical SR9 AER LMP2 ==25== 2:12.662
13 27 Horag Racing LIENHARD FredyTHEYS DidierVAN DE POELE Eric Lola B05/40 Judd LMP2 1.211 2:13.916
14 19 Chamberlain Synergy EVANS GarethBERRIDGE BobOWEN Peter Lola B06/10 AER LMP1 26.647 2:12.556
15 55 Team Oreca ORTELLI StephaneAYARI Soheil Saleen S7-R LMGT1 1:41.903 2:17.357
16 35 Saulnier Racing NICOLET JacquesFILHOL AlainJOUANNY Bruce Courage LC75 AER LMP2 1:45.094 2:14.211
17 50 AMR Larbre BOUCHUT ChristopheGARDEL GabrielGOLLIN Fabrizio Aston Martin DBR9 LMGT1 1:53.039 2:16.851
18 72 Alphand Aventures POLICAND JeromeGOUESLARD PatriceALPHAND Luc Corvette C6.R LMGT1 ==24== 2:18.842
19 61 Racing Box PERAZZINI Pier GiuseppeCIOCI MarcoMOLLEKENS Kurt Saleen S7-R LMGT1 17.225 2:18.590
20 32 Barazi Epsilon BARAZI JuanVERGERS MichaelOJJEH Karim Zytek 07S Zytek LMP2 1:04.494 2:13.097
21 77 Felbermayr-Proton LIEB MarcPOMPIDOU Xavier Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 1:22.852 2:24.803
22 51 AMR Larbre FISKEN GregorZACCHIA SteveFRANCHI Gregory Aston Martin DBR9 LMGT1 1:23.285 2:20.907
23 96 Virgo Motorsport BELL RobertSIMONSEN Allan Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 1:24.250 2:25.289
24 73 Alphand Aventures BLANCHEMAIN Jean-LucDUMEZ SebastienVOSSE Vincent Corvette C5-R LMGT1 1:40.225 2:20.746
25 65 Jetalliance Racing LICHTNER-HOYER LukasWENDLINGER KarlGRUBER Thomas Aston Martin DBR9 LMGT1 1:49.340 2:21.080
26 76 Imsa Performance NARAC RaymondLIETZ Richard Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 1:50.385 2:26.569
27 90 Farnbacher Racing WERNER DirckEHRET PierreNIELSEN Lars Erik Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 1:57.285 2:26.360
28 13 Courage Competition GOUNON Jean-MarcMOREAU GuillaumePETROV Vitaly Courage LC70 AER LMP1 ==23== 2:09.074
29 59 Team Modena GARCIA AntonioFITTIPALDI Christian Aston Martin DBR9 LMGT1 5:57.684 2:18.017
30 78 Scuderia Villorba CAFFI AlexZARDO Denny Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 7:31.658 2:27.701
31 85 Spyker Squadron JANIS JarekKOX Peter Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R LMGT2 7:37.481 2:28.274
32 97 GPC Sport BONETTI AlessandroDE SIMONE FabrizioHERNANDEZ Sergio Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 7:51.371 2:26.994
33 82 Team LNT TOMLINSON LawrenceDEAN Richard Panoz Esperante GTLM LMGT2 8:14.615 2:29.801
34 83 GPC Sport DRUDI LucaMOWLEM JohnnyROSA Gabrio Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 8:48.582 2:27.459
35 94 Speedy Racing Team BELICCHI AndreaCHIESA AndreaKANE Jonny Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R LMGT2 8:57.649 2:28.285
36 81 Team LNT KIMBER-SMITH TomWATTS Danny Panoz Esperante GTLM LMGT2 9:00.656 2:29.405
37 98 Ice Pol Racing Team LAMBERT YvesLEFORT ChristianLEMERET Stephane Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 9:07.065 2:29.140
38 88 Felbermayr-Proton RIED ChristianFELBERMAYR Horst JrBASSENG Marc Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 9:36.201 2:29.553
39 99 JMB Racing BASSO MauriceMcCORMICK BoKUTEMANN Peter Ferrari F430 GT LMGT2 9:37.637 2:32.065
40 79 Felbermayr-Proton FELBERMAYR Horst SrRIED GeroldCOLLIN Philip Porsche 996 GT3 RSR LMGT2 ==22== 2:34.303
41 84 Chad Peninsula Panoz HARTSHORNE JohnMcINERNEY Sean Panoz Esperante GTLM LMGT2 9.668 2:30.346
42 89 Markland Racing THIIM KurtTHYRRING Thorkild Corvette C6 Z06 LMGT2 26.109 2:35.789
43 95 JWA DANIELS PaulCOX DaveCAMATHIAS Joel Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 34.258 2:27.715
44 80 Prospeed Competition PENDERS RudiLAMOT FranzCOUWBERGHS Bart Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT2 44.066 2:29.492
45 26 Ranieri Randaccio RANDACCIO RanieriCOLLINI Gianni Lucchini McLaren LMP2 1:37.025 2:21.953
46 20 Pierre Bruneau ROSTAN MarcBRUNEAU PierrePULLAN Simon Pilbeam MP93 Judd LMP2 ==21== 2:16.546
47 44 Kruse Motorsport DE POURTALES JeanSIEDLER Norbert Pescarolo Judd LMP2 ==12== 2:13.766
48 15 Charouz Racing MUCKE StefanCHAROUZ Jan Lola B07/17 Judd LMP1 34.127 2:09.505
49 12 Courage Competition FREI AlexanderCOCHET Jonathan Courage LC70 AER LMP1 ==4== 2:13.995 | 
