Le Mans Series - Nurburgring - Qualifying Report

Janos Wimpffen

Having near perfect conditions at the Eifel is a rare treat indeed. It was particularly nice to see qualifying run thus and be able to view the relative strengths and weaknesses of teams and drivers, with no extenuating factors.

The GT segment began rather sedately with only Guillaume Moreau out at the start among the handful of GT1 entrants. He improved from 1:55.9 to 1:54.2 in the No. 72 Alphand Corvette before Olivier Beretta emerged in the team’s other C6.R. They engaged in a few laps of spirited duelling. Moreau improved in increments to 1:53.604 but then the No. 73 car knocked off two quick laps, ending at 1:53.559.

Stephane Daoudi was the first to put in a flyer in GT2. It was a combination of ragged and smooth as the No. 99 JMB Ferrari took to the curbs several times in recording a 1:59.535. Others, such as Johan-Boris Scheier in the No. 98 JMB Ferrari, were also among the early runners, but the GT2 contest did not truly heat up until about 5 minutes into the session when Jean-Philippe Belloc showed the hand of the IMSA Matmut team. His 1:59.637 in the No. 75 car was the first time in the session that a Porsche was atop the class. This was followed quickly by a 1:53.080 from Marc Lieb. He had earlier claimed that the No. 77 Felbermayr Porsche was badly understeering, but that concern was moot for the moment.

The second of the GT1 / GT2 period started with the No. 59 Team Modena Aston emerging from the pits. Tomas Enge put in a single solitary flying lap. His 1:53.387 put the definitive stamp on the pole for the production cars. The Aston was parked and the other three GT1 runners were either already parked, or in the case of Peter Kox, gamely rolling out the string during the session. Kox’ No. 55 Spartak Lamborghini looked a bit nervous and never showed the speed that it had at the very start of practice yesterday.

It was far from over in GT2. Anthony Beltoise set fast time in class with a 1:57.922 on one of the first laps in the No. 90 Farnbacher Ferrari. He continued to improve over the next several laps and the major competitors such as Belloc and Richard Westbrook in the Farnbacher Porsche had no answer to Beltoise. Jean-Pierre’s nephew left the pole mark at 1:53.897 and with 90 seconds to go in the session nearly every car was parked. Only Benjamin Leuenberger remained out to the end, but his No. 94 Spyker was not all that speedy, unable to crack the 2-minute barrier.

Two LM P2 cars, Jos Verstappen (No. 34 Van Merksteijn Porsche) and Tommy Erdos (No. 25 RML MG-Lola) were among the first to take to the track in the Prototype portion of qualifying. Behind them there was a bit of kerfluffle as the No. 6 Courage stalled just past the pit exit. Olivier Panis was able to find reverse and back to his stall, to the accompaniment of some quite literal finger-wagging from officials.

Pedro Lamy was the first to the top with a 1:42.793 in the No. 8 Peugeot, improving to a 1:40.257 the next time around. There was some worry on the Audi front as Alexandre Premat could only muster a 1:42.228 in the No. 2 R10, while Dindo Capello sat stationary in the pits as No. 1’s engine cover was off.

Panis erased concerns at the Oreca team with a solid 1:42.292, good enough for third overall and best in petrol. Somewhat further back Jamie Campbell-Walter had a good 1:44.005 for the oft-troubled Creation team. The real fireworks at this point were being delivered by the faster LM P2 cars as first Casper Elgaard recorded a 1:43.970 in the No. 31 Essex Porsche, before Verstappen edged into the class lead at 1:43.169.

Andrea Belicchi spun the No. 33 SpeedyLola on the out lap. Although he got going again without harm the local yellow flags thwarted fast laps by several others, including Darren Manning in the No. 46 Embassy WF01 and Joao Barbosa in the No. 18 Rollcentre Pescarolo.

The two Epsilons emerged fairly late in the session and immediately showed the potential that many have hoped for all season with the friendly fledgling team. First Angel Burgueño in No. 20 and then Adrian Valles in No. 21 rapidly moved up to the middle group of the LM P1 runners.

The most significant late participant in the session was Stefan Mücke. He brought the No. 10 Charouz Lola-Aston Martin out well past the halfway mark and immediately moved to the top of the petrol-powered group with a 1:41.470.

By this time one Audi (No. 2) and one Peugeot (No. 8) had already parked. Capello was now circulating but the No. 1 Audi looked nervous from the start. This was the new chassis but the team had already reverted to a setup used in the older car. It did not help as the car bounced along with visibly problematic and chronic understeer.

Marc Gene was the fastest one now by a fair amount. He set the quickest time of the day on his first sector, only to slow through the second and then made it all up on the third. He stopped the timer at 1:39.492, ensuring a Peugeot 1-2 with the No. 7 908 on pole.

Capello could only meekly respond with a 1:41.027. There was some improvement from the Courage side as Soheil Ayari had a late 1:43.519 in the No. 5 Judd powered car, bettering an earlier time of 1:43.654 from Christophe Tinseau in the No. 17 Pescarolo.

However, by far and away the greatest late drama came from the No. 10 Lola-Aston Martin. Mücke’s 1:40.951 in the brand new chassis was not only good for fastest in petrol, but it was ahead of both Audis! Moreover, it was more than competitive against the might of the Peugeots. Are there even more surprises in store tomorrow?