Le Mans Series - 8 Hours Of Le Castellet - Free Practice 1 Report

Prior to practice Tim Greaves remarked that he had set a 61 second lap at Snetterton recently when the air temperature was just 3 degrees.  “I’m looking forward to driving the Zytek in warm weather – but it felt really good even in the cold.”

We understand that someone very well known drove a Zytek at Snetterton in November and couldn’t believe how well it rode the kerbs, how good the traction is and how impressive the whole car is.  “This is why Miguel Amaral likes it so much” remarked a Zytek spokesman.

Allan Simonsen (and Dominik Farnbacher) raced the same (as here) Farnbacher-Hankook Ferrari at the Nürburgring two weeks ago and finished second in class “despite a long stop to add some camber late-on.”  The Ferrari had more suspension travel for the ‘Ring and will doubtless go even better in the team’s next VLN race, prior to a run in the ‘Ring 24 hours, with a couple of well-known drivers making up a foursome.  Hankook is making progress with its rubber but the Dane couldn’t tell how much at the cold test days.  But that’s what practice is all about...

It was the first time public eyes could gaze on the R15 Plus out on track and McNish didn’t disappoint them, his first flier was a 1:44.412.  It was the same story for the HPD powered RML Lola, Erdos’s frist flier a 1:49.551 to head P2.  Andy Wallace didn’t go out in the session but had expected a congested track.  “The FLM cars accelerate at the same speed as the GT2s and we can only edge past both classes of car.  At Sebring, starting from the back in an FLM car I came across the battling GT2s and had to pick them off one on each lap.”  AWOL was mightily impressed with the RML Lola HPD’s brakes though, so perhaps that’s where he’ll be picking them off.

Quickest times for reference from the test day were 1:42.963 in P1 and 1:46.174 in P2.

GT2 looks like it will live up to the almost inevitable expectations if practice is anything to go by (and why shouldn’t it, even if it doesn’t necessarily who will have the best race pace).  Aston Martin (Bell), Ferrari (Bruni) and Porsche (Lietz) were initially separated by just 0.03 (yes) seconds. BMW and Spyker were having a steadier start, the BMW dropping to the bottom of the class, but only just.  This is in effect the shaking down of a brand new car for the Germans however.  Bruni was first to get within a second of the GT2 best from the test (1:59.213) as Holzer brought the #75 Porsche into the 2:00s to make a lead quartet rather than trio in GT2.

The Oreca Oreca AIM (as opposed to Oreca Peugeot) was the next P1 to get into the 44s in the hands of Loic Duval, followed by the Peugeot which went quickest overall with a 1:44.154.  Shortly afterwards the Oreca AIM pulled up at the side of the track, needing recovery at the end of the session on a flatbed.  Initial indications are that it is an engine or gearbox issue, possibly a serious one.

Red 5 was reported to have had an early spin on the outlap (Greg at the wheel) and the #24 Oak Pescarolo and KSM Lolas appeared to have maladies on their first laps.  #39 did emerge for the last 15 minutes, but Oak spent the rest of the session with just one of its cars circulating.

#5’s first real lap was a 1:48.272, so Greg did more or less catch up with the rest of the P1s in the hands of Greg Mansell.  ‘More or less’ because Danny Watts became a P2 interloper in the P1s, pushing Strakka’s HPD ARX-01 up into eighth overall by the end of the session with a 1:48.610.

Prost took the #12 Lola Rebellion within 7/10ths of the Peugeot’s leading time and 4th overall so it was looking nice and tight right at the front. P2 appears to be a 3 horse race as predicted, Quifel’s Ginetta Zytek versus the HPD powered Strakka and RML cars.

In the closing moments Tim Mullen popped up to top GT2 with a 1:59.390 and the other GT2s within spitting distance were increasing in number.  Not one car in GT2 could be counted out of the possibility of a podium by the end of the 8 hour race so whilst times in practice would be unlikely to serve as an indicator of actual race prospects, the teams that could learn the most over the three hour-long sessions would be bound to be those that would go into Sunday looking strongest.  This was encouraging though for CRS, even if they were the only ones on new tyres at the end.  Tim Mullen was very happy to be told he was ahead of Alesi, Fisichella et al in this fiercest of classes. 

Those others may boast Ferrari F1 experience but only Tim can claim to be a genuine Ferrari ‘TestaRossa’.  Team-mate Andrew Kirkaldy explained “we started on used tyres then put on new (for Tim).  We had quite a lot of fuel in the car and we had an imbalance, so we can go considerably faster than that, but it gives them something to chase!”  Mullen “There are so many different types of corner that it’s difficult to get the car mega everywhere.  I did two laps on the used tyres, then put on new ones.  We wanted to do a longer run but ran out of time.”

PS & MCC