Le Mans Series Nurburgring - Sunday Morning Notes

All 46 cars are out and circulating quickly in the morning warm-up session.  That means very good news indeed for Virgo Motorsport, the #96 Ferrari refettled and back in rude health, both Bell and Bruni having time behind the wheel after some ‘practice’ yesterday evening on the Nordschliefe in an eclectic selection of machinery – Bell chauffeuring teamowner Jim McWhirter and his lady aboard a not at all sporty Kia whilst ex F1 star and Ferrari factory driver Bruni entertained the dsc ed aboard a Skoda Fabia – More of that in a Postcard from the ‘Ring next week.  The Virgo car would finish the session fastest of the GT2 runners, a 1:58.808 from Bruni. The team plan to start from pit lane.

The only apparent drama of the session befell Lars Eric Nielsen in the #91 fFarnbacher Racing Porsche, the Dane left nowhere to go as Liz Halliday took her line into a corner, rather rudely chopping the Porsche in his braking as she did so.  Nielsen did well to avoid a collision but couldn’t avoid a spin into the gravel on the outside of the corner. 

One news strand that was resolved this morning was an apparent threat to Olivier Panis’s participation in the race today, the #6 Oreca man having fallen foul of the stewards after failing to stop for a mandatory pre-qualifying tyre check and then reversing up the pit lane exit when informed of his error!  The inclusion of Panis in the warm-up though means that the ‘discussions’ that were taking place yesterday evening clearly resolved matters.

Stop Press - Actually no, Panis has been excluded from the race and is racing under appeal.  The #6 car will therefore not feature in any of the results or the post-race podium ceremonies. 

The early part of the session saw the Audis fastest – not for long though – Those pesky Peugeots were all too soon out to spoil the R10s fun and they would top the times again, both 908s into the 1:41s, Sarrazin fastest with a 1:41.295.

John Nielsen topped the LMP2 order in the #31 Essex Racing Porsche, 1:46.852 the Dane’s best.

GT1 saw Jerome Policand the only man into the 1:55s in the #73 Corvette, 1:55.469 the Luc Alphand Aventures man’s time.