LMS Monza - Post Race Part 1 Well where do you start with that one? Let’s start by thanking our lucky stars, and all of those geniuses that design modern racing cars that we still have four men with us that all suffered accidents that in an earlier age would have undoubtedly have had outcomes that were far more grave. Creation AIM Jamie Campbell Walter will be going home on Monday, ahead of a second medical assessment and a sizeable period of rest and rehabilitation. Two hairline fractures of vertebrae are of course a serious injury but with the car getting airborne, a substantial vertical impact and a huge head on impact to follow things could have been much, much worse. The response today from Ian Bickerton and from Stuart Hall paid full tribute to JCW’s contribution to the Creation AIM effort. To bring the second, brand new car to within a lap of an overall podium finish after the team’s weekend from hell is nothing short of miraculous. Stuart Hall is kicking himself that he ‘allowed’ the final podium slot to be taken away by Christophe Tinseau on the final lap, annoyed with Tinseau for the contact that he feels cost him the place and truly upset that he couldn’t take the silverware for the team and for his mate and mentor. “I guess it came down to a case of asking myself what Jamie would say. Do I settle for fourth or go balls out for third. I know his response would have been “Come on then Tinseau let’s see what you’ve got!”
“It was an awesome battle. I’ve been waiting for a chance to get stuck in in a battle that really mattered and this one landed just right. It came down to a case of whether I’d crack and settle for an easy fourth or whether I’d fight and get everyone on the team the podium they deserved. I reckon I had it until the entry into the Parabolica, the Modena Aston was ahead of me and turned in, compromised my line and allowed the Pescarolo to get a run on me. The Pescarolo is a little bit quicker than us down the straight and it actually got ahead of me I think (it did). Then it came down to a case of do I let him go or do I have a go at outbraking him – no contest really, I actually got around him and then got a tap when I tried to turn in at the second apex. That put me off so I’m not very happy about that really (a masterpiece of understatement judging by Stuart’s expression).” Ian Bickerton was looking over the #15 car post-race when dsc caught up with him, the car had stood up well to the 1000kms of live testing that the race had doled out and Bicks was fairly close to high emotion “It’s been a hell of a weekend. My best mate is in hospital, the second car was far from perfect coming into the race and the #14 car is in pieces. On the other side we came so close to a great result, if you’d told me yesterday we’d be fourth by a lap and within a breath of a podium I’d have laughed in your face, the tub of #14 is fine and Stuart Hall is an absolute star. I thought he was good but that race showed that he can be great.” Courage Oreca One of the most violent accidents you are ever likely to see resulted in the reduction of the #5 LC70 to more or less its constituent parts, Stephane Ortelli in hospital with a suspected broken ankle and a thoroughly shaken Oreca team, the mechanics sitting post race in a circle with stunned expressions and Hugues de Chaunac quietly explaining that the cause of the accident would be difficult to ascertain as “there is nothing left of the car.” “We will have a meeting tomorrow to look at the data and decide what to do next. We have made no decisions but there are of course lots of questions.” On the issue of aerodynamics de Chaunac observed: “There is not a problem until something unusual happens and than it seems there is too often a problem (Of the cars lifting off). That is particularly a problem when high speeds are involved and of course here that is very often the case. It should certainly be looked at very carefully.” After a weekend that started with much promise, the LC70 consistently the fastest of the open top petrol-fuelled cars the Oreca squad have been badly rattled. With Spa just two weeks away they have precious little time to regroup. Postscript: Stephane reappeared in the paddock late on Sunday evening in a car taking him home, thoroughly shaken but in remarkable shape considering the scale of the accident.
Audi On the weekend of Reinhold Joest’s 71st birthday this looked nothing like a race to celebrate even before the start. With a fuel system problem for Rockenfeller as the car went out to join the grid, the #2 car starting from pitlane, through the very scary incident for Capello as the Safety Car was withdrawn, the Audi’s attempted overtake of the Rollcentre Pescarolo resulting in major damage front and rear to the R10 and as near to a roll for Capello as was comfortable to get and onto the incident which ultimately cost the #2 car the race win it seemed that fate was against the Ingolstadt crews. However there was a whole lot of positivity to look back on. The fact that the #2 car came very, very close to a win despite its pitlane start says a huge amount for the strength in depth of the team and of the determination of its young driving squad in the #2 car. The astounding 14 minutes and 30 seconds it took to rebuild the #1 car after Capello’s accident, a full front corner, rear deck, Wing, lower bodywork and more, and then to put the car back out on track to run very, very hard to a solid points finish sixth overall really is the stuff of the R8 glory days.
Ralf Juttner’s response post race to a question as to whether Audi would protest the contact from the Peugeot was encouraging – A clear expression of disappointment and concern but an equally clear decision that the matter would be taken no further. Mike Rockenfeller’s response was one of frustration over a misunderstood radio call, he had heard that the Peugeot would get a Stop Go but misinterpreted the reason and felt that the defence of his position was necessary. It wasn’t and the broken wheel that resulted would settle the matter in favour of the Peugeot – A sad way to finish what was an absolutely enthralling contest. Pescarolo Sport An apology is due here, to Emmanuel Collard, our text and the dep ed’s commentary on Radio Le Mans implying that Manu had made a mistake under braking which had caused his race ending accident. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The #16 Pescarolo man had actually suffered a total brake failure as he approached the first chicane at full speed resulting in a wild ride along the barrier, across the track and finally eending with a sizeable impact backwards into the Armco, ironically very close to where Ortelli would eventually stop. “That was a very scary moment, I had no control and the final impact was quite a big one too.” Without that incident the #16 car would have been well set for a dominant third place. As it was that would fall to the team’s #17 car, Christophe Tinseau fighting a late race duel with Stuart Hall. “It was an excellent fight, every time I got close enough we would find traffic and the other car would pull away a little. It was very clean, the only contact was at the very end in the chicane when he would not give way even though I think the corner was already mine.” Said Tinseau later. A good result for the team, another that will no doubt be dissecting their machinery to find out what went wrong.
Rollcentre Racing Martin Short was a reasonably happy man post race. Seventh place a far better result than he was perhaps expecting after a trying weekend. “That’ll do. Vanina was excellent. She did four stints and was only three tenths off Duncan’s best time. She was a rock when we needed her and it is fantastic to see her so happy after a difficult couple of years. “Duncan was very fast, very committed and considering what the event threw at him he had a very cool head indeed. Whatever we threw at him, different engine mapping, problems to work around, he just soaked it up and got on with it. He will make a great sportscar driver. I’m delighted to have been able to give him this chance. I hope someone picks him up now and runs with him.
Charouz Racing Systems The Lola Aston Martin had no real answer to the ultimate pace of the diesels at Monza for much of the race but it did stay close enough to the leading cars to take advantage when things went wrong in diesel land, the #10 car leading the race after around an hour and fifteen minutes of racing had elapsed before electronic problems intervened, dropping the car almost to dead last at one point. The team’s fightback was impressive, an eighth place in LMP1 grabbing the final point for Jan Charouz and Stefan Mücke with the lap times towards the end of the race eclipsing even Mucke’s qualifying mark.. Antonin Charouz, Team principal: “The problems with the fuel system dampened down our high, and I think justified, ambitions for the race. It is a big shame but it is part of motorsport. George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing: “Obviously we are disappointed in not getting a better result today, however small teething problems are expected so early on in the programme. We will be persevering and working hard to rectify the small issues we experienced today ready for the next race.”
Essex Racing John Nielsen couldn’t have been happier post race with the first race win from his new team in only their second outing. The fact that this also marked a very rare LMP class win for Dunlop just adds to the mix – It can only be a good thing that Michelin need to look over their shoulder at this level! “My guys are brand new to sportscar racing so for them to deal as well as they did with all the strategy, pit stops, fuelling and other things that normally don’t happen in sprint races is a real plus. I just hope we haven’t peaked too early!”
Embassy Racing The dsc Deputy Editor bet Jonathan France that one of his cars would finish on the podium here and against the odds that wager looked for quite a while as if it might pay off. “Electronics we think,” was the quick assessment of the reason why Joey Foster pulled off the track whilst lying in a very strong fourth place in class whilst the sister car also suffered either electrical or electronic issues which delayed the car substantially, a eighth place class finish though was at least some reward for the team’s highly encouraging weekend’s labours. “Oh and its double or quits at Spa” said a happy Jonathan France post race! You’re on!
Kruse Schiller Motorsport Kai Kruse had a race to forget at Barcelona with the first outing for his new car, new engine and new partner. The start of the race at Monza too didn’t bode well with the #44 Lola Mazda starting from pit lane after needing last minute attention to a gearshift sensor, de Pourtales and Noda then having to fight their way back through the pack to a strong sixth place finish in the hotly contested LMP2 class. The result though was an almost entirely trouble-free run for the team, now with their new engineer Johannes Gruber aboard. Kai Kruse: ”The team worked very well together, there were no mechanical problems at all and the engine was faultless and very strong. That’s good news for all concerned, perhaps particularly so for AER who now have regular data coming from both sides of the Atlantic on the MZR-R.
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