LMS, Silverstone – Second Practice Report
Pla Stands Out From The Crowd

The second free practice session began at the tail-end of a glorious late-summer afternoon, with the clouds still absent but with the temperature starting to cool off. Perfect conditions, then, for an upping of the pace? Not so, as it tuned out; with very few improvements being recorded over the course of the 60 minutes.

One man who did improve – and managed to get everybody’s attention in the process – was the ever impressive Olivier Pla; the newly crowned LMP2 joint champion taking his Quifel Ginetta-Zytek to the top of the timesheets after ten minutes and keeping it there for a remarkably long time. “I’m obviously very pleased to get the title,” he told DSC earlier, “but we’re still going all-out for the win this weekend.”

With the notable exception of the Le Mans 24 Hours, this season has been a highly successful one for the team. “It’s been a very good season,” agreed the Frenchman. “We had a couple of small issues at Barcelona that cost us victory and at Spa we got caught up in someone else’s accident, but the car was perfect at the Algarve and at the Nürburgring, and it should suit this circuit very well, also. Even at Le Mans, had we not hit trouble, we would have struggled to keep up with the Porsches, but a podium was definitely possible.”

His 1:36.550 kept the #40 at the top of the screen for more than five minutes, before Christian Albers went faster in the #15 Kolles Audi. Pla later shaved two thousandths of his time, but no other P2 would get within two seconds of the class leader.

In GT1, the two remaining cars (LAA seeking the assistance of DKR Engineering in Belgium in the quest for parts to repair the stricken Corvette) swapped places during the session; the Gigawave Aston leading for much of the session, and the Larbre Saleen going faster in the later stages.

As expected, GT2 saw a Porsche and a Ferrari heading the times for most of the session, but not the ones expected. Instead, the IMSA Matmut RSR was vying for top spot with the Team Modena 430; although the #77 Felbermayr Porsche sneaked to the top shortly before the end. Again, though, the Drayson Aston was fourth – a successful send-off in the offing for this popular car?

Activity in LMP1 was strangely subdued, with only infrequent bursts of speed enlivening proceedings.

Jean-Christophe Bouillon left it until the final minutes of the session before putting in his fastest lap – 1:35.096 – and finally demoting Albers; while Danny Watts left it similarly late to up the Strakka Racing Ginetta-Zytek’s pace and save the blushes by going faster than the P2 version of his car.

Nicholas Prost showed improvement towards the end also to take Lola honours, ahead of the three AMR cars; while Tommy Erdos claimed second in P2 for RML and Mazda.

The third of the free practice sessions takes place at 10:00 on Saturday morning, with qualifying beginning at 13:45. Only then will the significance of Friday’s times be revealed.

MH