|
Le Mans Series - Interlagos - Hours 7, 8 & 9 Beretta is running some 5 1/2 seconds quicker than Fisken. The Corvette is a little less than 12 laps behind the Aston Martin. There is long way to go. Assuming that we’ve seen the fastest laps already, it is worth noting that pace picked up recently in GT2. That class’ fastest lap was set by the No. 99 Ferrari at about 5 1/2 hours elapsed time (Rob Bell). It is part of the reason that the trio of Peter / Aucott / Bell have moved into third in class. After hours of being outpaced by Porsches, Ferraris are now 2-3 in GT2 with the persistent No. 85 Spyker next. All of the other fast laps came very near the three-hour point. There are no surprises there with the No. 7 Peugeot, the Zytek (Vergers), and the Corvette quickest. We’ve had one of the few contact incidents in the race with the Creation tagging the No. 74 Ferrari into a spin. Neither car seems to have suffered any damage. The Farnbacher Porsche is back in the garage. Horst Farnbacher wants to swap out the gearbox, a tough task under the watchful eyes of the ACO officials. The now last place car of Horst Felbermayr, Sr. is ready to go after its driveshaft replacement. The Markland Corvette is in with generator problems. Warren Hughes has had a Radical suspension collapse. Fortunately, it happened under braking at a slow corner. He managed to keep the car off the walls and crab back to the pits. This gives Vergers / Barazi / Ojjeh a possibly unbreakable hold on the LM P2 lead. Meanwhile the Peugeot pair unreel another set of perfect stops. The all-Italian GPC Ferrari has been pushed into the garage. The crew is peering underneath and around several wheelwells. The car had a minor accident early on that damaged the front splitter. It had been steadily deteriorating and Fabrizio De Simone has now decided to call it quits. It and the No. 90 Farnbacher Porsche (gearbox) become the first official retirements at nearly seven hours. The Markland team nearly called it quits but then rose from the dead. The Perspective Porsche is still in the garage. While out on the pit road it was swathed in a wreath of smoke that came from small fire caused by escaping wheel bearing lubricant. The team is replacing it along with the shift mechanism and should be back in the race soon. After nearly an hour of work, Beretta has regained two of the laps lost to Fisken. Then the two GT1 cars stop simultaneously, precisely on the hour mark. There are problems in the Larbre as the team is working hard on the right front wheel area. There has been excess rubber pick up. The mirror was also damaged and Jack Leconte elected to replace the entire door. Otherwise the car is running well. Berville takes over but the team has lost four precious minutes. Gavin is taking the next stint in the Corvette. After about 30 minutes of work and 20 plus laps the Embassy team has wrapped up the task. Hughes completed an exploratory lap. The team seemed happy with the fix and sent him back out after topping up the tank. Assuming that the Barazi-Epsilon finishes the Zytek will have no trouble holding on to the LM P2 lead. In the overall standings the Barazi Epsilon team has slipped behind the recovering Pescarolo. Another Motors TV report via David Legangneux, Hughes de Chaunac has said that the ACO will make the new 2010 regulations official in two weeks. The JWA Porsche (gearbox) has joined the growing list of retirements. There’s no doubt about this retirement. At 7:20 elapsed time Pierre Bruneau hits the wall hard with the Pilbeam. The front of the car is destroyed but the friendly Frenchman climbs out unscathed. For the first time, we’re under safety car. This coincides with the onset of darkness.
The interruption lasts for about 17 minutes. The restart comes on lap 320, 54 more to go. The leading Peugeot’s lap times are in the 1:27 range (although Lamy just turned a 1:21 in No. 8). So we are about 3-4 seconds slower than in the daytime. Scratch what I said earlier about the end of fast laps. The No. 7 car turned a 1:21.027 at about the 6:45 mark while the Zytek (Vergers again) also improved the best LM P2 time with a 1:25.485 a few minutes earlier. That should do it though since we are into the night. The lighting conditions are quite spectacular. There are still a few tinges of daylight around the western clouds, but the circuit is set down below the surrounding walls and is partly in a bowl. Thus for the drivers, they are truly operating in the dark, while for those of us on high we see the flash of the headlights scurrying along, with a backdrop of city lights leading off into the distant horizon.
The 8-hour mark passes with 335 laps complete. The 1st-2nd place gaps are as follows; LM P1, 8 laps; LM P2, 43 laps; GT1, 9 laps; GT2, 3 laps.
The GT1 contest did generate some interest but now it seems to have stabilized. Berville has been turning some very good times with the Aston Martin while Beretta, back aboard the Corvette, has not been able to keep pace. Indeed at 8:10 the Alphand entry stops and there seems to be a hub problem at the right rear, specifically with the center mount setup. Beretta goes back out having lost a precious extra minute or more. We’ve had another repeat of the Peugeot pattern. That is, the No. 8 has had some problems. It was pushed into the garage, but it was truly a short visit, as after about 45 seconds of work Lamy was pushed back onto pit lane and sent off.
Ten minutes later and the chinks in No. 8’s armor grow wider. It is again back in the garage with work being done to the front suspension. This time 4-5 minutes are consumed. The gap to the third place Creation is now 3 laps.
The Zytek has run quite trouble free in the LM 2 lead apart from some minor body damage from Ojjeh careening off once or twice. The quicker pace during the late afternoon has meant that the brief safety car period has not caused much if any time extension. We should reach the 1000 mile target just one side or the other of nine hours. The Creation goes for another fairly harmless spin. Ortiz’s only concern was finding the proper path back to the circuit. He did. With four laps to go only two cars are effectively on the same lap. They are the contestants for 5th in GT2. Raul Boesel has a 15 second lead over Daniel Serra and it holds to the end. There are few other GT2 runners nearly a lap apart. Mark Gene completes No. 7’s untouched run, a flag to flag victory for the Peugeot. The title though goes to Lamy and Sarrazin. After all the concerns about the quality of the race, it was truly a worthy event. Sure the entry was disappointing and the result at the top was no surprise. But there were upsets, foremost being GT1 where the Larbre team did exactly what they had to do. GT2 may not have been an upset as far the main Felbermayr Porsche winning, but the ease with which they did was not expected. Rob Bell confirms his GT2 title, having finished on the podium at every event: no one else can claim that.
The race was by no means a thriller, but it had its moments. It definitely could be considered “of technical interest.” Perhaps that’s a backhanded compliment, but it was not all negative.
The organizers are to be commended. Every aspect of the race, including media facilities and accommodation, was well handled. Brazil is truly an emergent economy and society and can in no sense be considered Third World. The country, the people, and the race belong in the big leagues. Here’s hoping that all the numbers are in place in 2008. Time to raise a glass of Chopp and say Saude! Parabens to the winners. To all of you, Até Logo, Tchau, and Adeus.
LMP1 Driver
Points LMP2 Driver
Points GT1 Driver
Points GT2 Driver
Points
|
