Le Mans Series - Nurburgring - Race Report Hour One

We have two oddities at the start. The first is the continuation of the unusually delightful weather we’ve seen all week in the Eifel. The other is the sight of the No. 73 Alphand Aventures Corvette of Olivier Beretta at the back of the pack. The team had a very strange failure at the post-qualifying scrutineering when an air pressure hose at the rear of the airbox came undone. Besides being relegated to the back of the grid they’ve been assigned some weird qualifying time that the car never even recorded.

Beretta’s fellow camper on the last row is a bit happier. The Virgo Motorsport team achieved success in repairing the fire-damaged No. 96 Ferrari and the car started, together with the Corvette, from pit lane.

The Courage-Oreca team continues their dramatic weekend with a spin on the pace lap. This time it is Soheil Ayari in the No. 5 Judd powered car. He got partially sideways at the chicane and managed to straighten out before anyone else arrived on the scene.

The start itself foes smoothly with quite a few of the pairs of cars nearly fender-to-fender as everyone jostles for a good entrance to Turn 1. Juan Barazi indeed gets a bit too close and spins the No. 32 Zytek, again with no contact but with the loss of a small piece of the wing.

Tim Sugden will be happy to know that the timing screen showed his No. 95 JWA Porsche as first overall. That is because he, along with Beretta, started from pit row. The real leaders were of course the Peugeots, in grid order with Nicolas Minassian (No. 7) ahead of Stephane Sarrazin in No. 8. Another one in trouble early was Lars-Erik Nielsen, as his No. 91 Farnbacher Porsche was tapped into a spin by a Ferrari.

The lead Peugeots began a period of formation running while the leaders in both LM P2 and GT1 had a wide berth to those behind. Jos Verstappen was first in the junior prototypes with the No. 34 Porsche, while Tomas Enge had it easy in GT1 with the No. 59 Aston Martin. GT2 was a bit closer with Marc Lieb, chronically complaining about the chronically understeering No. 77 Felbermayr Porsche, strongly but closely holding off the No. 76 IMSA Porsche of Richard Lietz.

Rinaldo Capello had an Audi heart-stopping moment when he went wide at a paved escape area, recovered and continued. A few laps later the No. 2 Audi of Alexandre Premat usurped third place from Stefan Mücke’s No. 2 Lola-Aston Martin. Gimmi Bruni was off to a steady if not blazing start from the rear and steadily moved up the GT2 order. The No. 44 Lola-Mazda of Hideki Noda was the very first pit caller, with attention to the rear of the car. Another early one in the box was the WR of Stephane Salini with anxious peeks at the brakes.

By lap 8 Bruni had moved to fourth in class, easily the fastest car in GT2. Olivier Panis was up to sixth overall and second in the unofficial sup-LM P1 petrol class.

By Lap 12 there was a 20 second gap between the Peugeot pair and the first of the Audis. Mücke was another 10 seconds back. There was also the next bit of on-course drama when Billy Moreau had a puncture and struggled a long way back with the No. 72 Alphand Corvette.

At the half-hour mark the Peugeot battled tightened considerable and indeed changed hands on lap 15. Another close fight was for third in LM P2, between Andrea Belicchi (No. 33 Lola-Judd) and Olivier Pla (No. 40 ASM Team Lola-AER}. The coupe and the spyder were alongside each other at one stage and made it a threesome with Tomas Enge. The GT1 Aston proved nearly as fast and it took some time to sort them out. At some point there was contact as Belicchi Speedied into the pits to have the rear deck replaced. The on-board camera showed the Italian driving in the old Mille Miglia style of rolled up sleeves—a definite no-no these days.

Further back Bruni had moved up notch-by-notch, taking the GT2 class lead on lap 21. Ahead of him Verstappen had some traffic delays and was caught up by Casper Elgaard (No. 31 Essex Porsche) in the now very hot LM P2 battle. A short time later the Dutch entered Porsche made its top, handing the class lead to the Danish team. A few spots further back in the overall order, third in this class fell to Didier Theys, with the third Porsche, No. 27, as he passed Jonny Kane’s fine-running No. 45 Embassy Racing WF.

At the 25 lap mark the last of the Audis had moved to fourth, putting the diesel quartet on top. The principals stopped in the 49-52 minute range with the lead Peugeot starting the exchange. All four of the diesel drivers remained aboard for second stints while team owner Jan Charouz took over the No. 10 Lola. Sarrazin had a moment at the pit exit, having to take to the curbs to remain ahead of Charouz and then engaging in a spirited battle with the pleasantly fast Aston Martin powered car.

Premat briefly had an Audi in the lead before he too stopped. The first of the production car teams to change drivers was Farnbacher, placing Richard Westbrook into the No. 91 Porsche.

The hour closed with trouble for the #17 Pescarolo, a suspected puncture forcing a pit stop for Christophe Tinseau.  The car though was back in straight away on the following lap, a right hand driveshaft the final diagnosis.

Hour 1 Positions

1 7 Run "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP MINASSIAN Nicolas  01min 44.986 s - 1 31
2 8 Run "LM"P1 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP SARRAZIN Stephane  1min 45.218 s 00min 00.627 s  1 31
3 2 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI PREMAT Alexandre  02min 48.105 s 00min 43.704 s  1 31
4 1 Run "LM"P1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI CAPELLO Rinaldo 01min 44.499 s 01min 05.152 s  1 31
5 5 In "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd AYARI Soheil  01min 54.808 s 01min 14.579 s  1 31
6 16 In "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd COLLARD Emmanuel 01min 53.566 s 01min 15.439 s  1 31
7 31 Run "LM"P2 Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder ELGAARD Casper  01min 47.993 s 01min 16.710 s  0 31
8 10 Run "LM"P1 Charouz Racing System Lola Aston Martin CHAROUZ Jan 02min 54.960 s 01min 20.898 s  1 31
9 15 In "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim CAMPBELL WALTER Jamie  01min 53.404 s 01min 21.216 s  1 31
10 17 Run "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd TINSEAU Christophe 01min 53.127 s - 1 30
11 21 In "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd VALLES Adrian 01min 54.011 s 00min 23.579 s  1 30
12 18 Run "LM"P1 Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo - Judd BARBOSA Joao 01min 56.539 s 00min 42.728 s  1 30
13 14 Run "LM"P1 Creation Aim Creation CA07 - Aim SIMPSON Stephen 01min 56.669 s 00min 43.509 s  1 30
14 27 Run "LM"P2 Horag Racing Porsche RS - Spyder THEYS Didier 01min 50.435 s 00min 52.712 s  0 30
15 6 Run "LM"P1 Oreca - Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd PANIS Olivier 03min 10.016 s 01min 05.098 s  1 30
16 35 In "LM"P2 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd RAGUES Pierre 02min 01.225 s 01min 12.955 s  1 30
17 34 Run LMP2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder VERSTAPPEN Jos 3min 04.197 s 1min 22.169 s  1 30
18 41 In "LM"P2 Trading Performance Zytek 07S - Zytek OJJEH Karim 02min 02.025 s 01min 41.748 s  1 30
19 40 Run "LM"P2 Quifel - ASM Team Lola B05/40 - AER PLA Olivier 01min 47.453 s 01min 48.093 s  1 30
20 45 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek KANE Jonny 02min 49.191 s 01min 55.680 s  1 30
21 46 Run "LM"P2 Embassy Racing WF01 - Zytek MANNING Darren 01min 49.242 s 02min 04.737 s  1 30
22 20 Run "LM"P1 Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi - Judd BURGUENO Angel 01min 56.085 s - 1 29
23 33 Run LMP2 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 Coupé Judd BELICCHI Andrea 1min 48.775 s 01min 58.466 s  1 29
24 25 Run "LM"P2 RML MG Lola EX 265 - MG ERDOS Tommy 03min 28.728 s 02min 00.151 s  1 29
25 32 Run "LM"P2 Barazi - Epsilon Zytek 07S - Zytek BARAZI Juan 02min 53.720 s 02min 14.322 s  1 29
26 4 Run "LM"P1 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo - Judd HEIN Richard 01min 55.848 s 02min 16.405 s  0 29
27 3 In "LM"P1 Scuderia Lavaggi Lavaggi LS1 - AER LAVAGGI Giovanni 02min 01.977 s 02min 20.636 s  1 29
28 44 Run "LM"P2 Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola - Mazda NODA Hideki 01min 48.989 s 02min 43.525 s  1 29
29 26 Run "LM"P2 Bruichladich Radical Radical SR9 - AER PETERSEN Jens 01min 53.758 s - 0 28
30 59 Run "LM"GT1 Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 ENGE Tomas 01min 59.845 s 02min 03.411 s  0 28
31 73 Run "LM"GT1 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R BERETTA Olivier 01min 59.952 s 02min 30.378 s  0 28
32 96 Run "LM"GT2 Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT BRUNI Gianmaria 02min 01.100 s - 0 27
33 72 Run "LM"GT1 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R MOREAU Guillaume 01min 59.587 s 00min 13.588 s  1 27
34 77 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIEB Marc 02min 02.280 s 00min 18.048 s  0 27
35 76 Run LMGT2 IMSA Performance Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIETZ Richard 02min 02.618 s 00min 27.702 s  0 27
36 55 Run "LM"GT1 IPB Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT KOX Peter 03min 09.054 s 00min 28.865 s  1 27 37 99 In "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT DAOUDI Stephane 02min 09.658 s 00min 40.617 s  1 27
38 90 Run "LM"GT2 Farnbacher Racing Ferrari F430 GT EHRET Pierre 02min 02.967 s 00min 45.288 s  0 27
39 37 Run "LM"P2 WR / Salini WR - Zytek SALINI Stephane 01min 55.267 s 00min 45.322 s  1 27
40 98 Run "LM"GT2 JMB Ferrari F430 GT SCHEIER Johan-Boris 02min 04.019 s 00min 52.013 s  0 27
41 85 Run LMGT2 Snoras Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R DUMBRECK Peter 2min 02.870 s 52.778 s 0 27
42 75 Run LMGT2 IMSA Performance Porsche 997 GT3 RSR BELLOC Jean-Philippe 2min 03.232 s 1min 05.409 s  0 27
43 95 Run LMGT2 James Watt Automotive Porsche 997 GT3 RSR SUGDEN Tim 02min 05.207 s 01min 11.488 s  0 27
44 94 Run LMGT2 Speedy Racing Team Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R LEUENBERGER Benjamin 2min 05.699 s 1min 27.624 s  0 27
45 88 Run "LM"GT2 Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR RIED Christian 02min 05.281 s - 0 26
46 91 Run LMGT2 Farnbacher Racing Porsche 997 GT3RSR WESTBROOK Richard 2min 00.087 s 56.121 s  1 26