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Le Mans Series – Interlagos – First Hour Perhaps 5,000 spectators are on hand. Although they are spread about the vast grandstands, the favorite area appears to be just prior to start / finish. From that vantage most of the back section, the twisty bits, plus the fast tricky entrance onto the straight are visible. Start / finish is located at the start of the front straight rather than midway as at many venues. The skies remain overcast, but not threatening at the moment. There is a breeze, from a direction with denser clouds. There is drama before the start as Lamy is unable to fire up the pole-sitting Peugeot. A few rocks back and forth by the marshals don’t work and the prototype coupe is pushed back to the entrance of pit lane, some 30 meters behind his position. The rest of the field gets a clean start and about a minute later Lamy finally manages to get going. He starts about 3/4 of a lap after Minassian takes the green in Peugeot No. 7.
Rostan brought the Pilbeam in on lap 1 with a bad misfire. It lost about 3 minutes before reemerging from the garage. Minassian rapidly opened up a 10 second lead on Boullion in the No. 16 Pescarolo. Then came lesser gaps to Campbell-Walter (Creation, -4 seconds on Boullion after 4 laps), then Michael Vergers (No. 32 Barazi Zytek) nearly 10 seconds further down. Warren Hughes also seems to have had a cautious start and is another 6 seconds down in the Radical. Xavier Pompidou (No. 77 Felbermayr Porsche) got one of the best starts in the field and jumped into the GT2 lead, about 4 seconds clear of Lars Nielsen’s No. 90 Porsche. Then comes a line-astern phalanx of GT cars, including Negrao, Sr. (No. 75 Ferrari), Philipp Peter (No. 99 JMB Ferrari), Richard Westbrook (No. 95 JWA Porsche), Fabrizio de Simone (No. 97 GPC Ferrari), No. 74 Ferrari of Daniel Serra and the No. 92 Porsche of Rob Barff. The works Spyker has fallen off the pace and Peter Kox brought it in. There was nothing more than a change of tires, apparently the wrong compound was selected at first. Johannes (almost typed Hans) Stuck brought in his Felbermayr Porsche (No. 79). There was a quick look at the engine and inside the cockpit before he returned to the rear. It took Lamy 5 laps to catch up to the rear of the GT1 runners (dutifully Beretta slightly clear of Zacchia), and then another 4-5 laps before he accepted fourth place for the time being. He’s running some three seconds per laps faster than JCW and Boullion and slightly quicker than Minassian. Lamy set the race’s fast lap thus far on Lap 16. At the half-hour mark Boullion suffers some type of problem but has continued. He completed a lap about 10 seconds off the pace and lost second place to JCW (spin?). Minassian’s lead over the Creation is a monstrous 50 seconds. Lamy is fourth and the last car on the lead lap. Vergers is next, some 14 seconds clear of the Embassy Radical. Beretta has an enormous lead over Zacchia while GT2 is getting tighter. Negrao is some 8 seconds behind Pompidou. The rest of the small production cars remain in close formation, with Jonny Kane joining them in the No. 94 Spyker. Both of the earlier problem children, Rostan and Stuck, are back into the pits. Guido reports that the Porsche’s problem is a mysterious intermittent slide of the rear end. At 48 minutes Minassian dropped out of the lead. Not only is it the car’s first stop, it initiates the first round of stops. Thanks to not swapping drivers the No. 7 car never lost the lead. The Creation was next in with Bolivian native Felipe Ortiz taking over. Just behind him came Lamy. Although he also double stinted, the stop took a tad longer than for No. 7. The Aston Martin is the first of the production cars to make a routine stop. Roland Berville has stepped aboard the green Larbre entry. A lap later Beretta stops in the only other GT1 entry, and the English Ollie takes the wheel of the Corvette. The only change in GT2 has been some dropping down the order by Nielsen. Boullion was the last of the Prototype leaders to stop and is double-stinting. His stop was also a bit lengthy and he returned to the track to what is now the vaunted Peugeot 1-2. Negrao, from 3rd in GT2 is the first of that class to make a scheduled call and hands over to his son. Pompidou is next and the GT2 lead passes to the often unheralded JWA Porsche with Richard Westbrook at the helm. Discounting the troubled Pilbeam, the P2 cars seem to be getting the best fuel efficiency of the whole lot. The hour ends with Minassian a lap clear of everyone including Lamy. Boullion is third and dropping about a second per lap behind the diesels. Ortiz is another 20 seconds down. Hour 1 Positions |
