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LMS Spa – Saturday Free Practice Session Another 60 minute session in bright sunshine and another 60 minutes punctuated by a pair of red flag interruptions, the first for a spun and stalled Jan-Dirk Leuders in the #26 Team Bruichladdich Radical, the car requiring a flatbed recovery and the second for a rather bent and sorry looking WR Zytek, the #37 car impacting the tyre wall at the top of Radillon with Philippe Salini at the wheel, damage to front and rear on the right hand side of the WR but Salini is fine. On track meanwhile the 2 minute barrier was finally broken and, encouragingly, it was an Audi that did it, Capello posting a 1:59.208 in the #1 R10. That time was almost matched by McNish on his first flying lap in the last minutes of the session with Rockenfeller under 2:01 at the same time. Stephane Sarrazin though wasn’t to be outdone by the R10s, an absolute flyer brought a 1:58.180 with 4 minutes of the session remaining, just over a second clear of the #1 Audi.
In the early laps of the session the Charouz Lola Aston Martin led the way, a best of the weekend so far 2:01.817 more than 2 seconds faster than the qualifying time for the team’s Lola Judd last year. Second up in the petrol-fuelled stakes was again the Courage Oreca. Hugues de Chaunac meanwhile confirmed both that the team were delighted with progress here this weekend and that the cause of Stephane Ortelli’s huge Monza accident has been identified: “The accident happened because of a failure of the rear wing assembly. We also know why that happened, Stephane had told us a few laps before that a GT car had hit the car on the wing endplate and we believe it was that which was the root cause of the problem. We have strengthened that part of the assembly and are confident that the problem is solved. I was with Stephane the day before yesterday and whilst he has still to recover from the ankle injury, he has three small pins in the ankle, his mind is fine, the accident has not affected him there at all. We will be ready for Le Mans with both cars and I hope he is well enough to join us.” The #34 van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder had an engine change overnight, the team opting to take a closer look at the motor after some rogue telemetry readings yesterday. The transplant seems to have done the trick, Verstappen under 2:05 for the first time this weekend (2:04.771). Peter van Merksteijn finished the session with a trip across the grass at the Bus Stop and a wild (but harmless) spin out of Malmedy. Jan Lammers was almost a second back in second place in LMP2 with Michael Vergers third quickest in class albeit 1.5 seconds behind the Horag Porsche, Thomas Erdos a further tenth astray in the RML MG Lola. Lammers though was a happy man post session both with the Horag Porsche and with the 2008 Le Mans Series: “I started the session with 50 litres of fuel and on old tyres and set the time with about 40 litres on board. I can see plenty of time in the car and since Jos (Verstappen) did his time on new rubber and was only seven tenths ahead of us. Didier will qualify the car this time – I’ll have to wait for my moment of glory. “The series though is much nicer this year, the organisation seem far more friendly and that makes for an all round better atmosphere in the paddock.”
Vergers had posted the fastest middle sector of all (including the LMP1s) at one stage, the car though pitted before the lap was completed, it seems there is more to come too from the #32 Zytek. GT1 was the only class in the session not to see the 2007 pole times eclipsed, The Team Modena Aston martin posting a 2:17.119 with the Luc Alphand Corvettes in line astern behind. GT2 meanwhile saw the Virgo Ferrari top of the tree again (2:21.255) Rob Bell’s time a couple of tenths faster than the similarly Dunlop shod Farnbacher Ferrari of Pierre Kaffer, Richard Westbrook in the Farnbacher Porsche and Marc Lieb in the #77 Felbermayr Proton 997 next up, both 997s in the 2:22s Lars Erik Nielsen was delighted with the changes made to the Farnbacher Porsche: “I found four seconds from yesterday and it felt quite easy to do it. Yesterday the car was very difficult to drive and today it feels like a toy.” At Virgo meanwhile Rob Bell was sporting a confident look. “That wasn’t a qualifying simulation, there’s more to come from us this afternoon.” It’s Gianmaria Bruni’s turn to qualify the car this time around.
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