24 Hours of Le Mans

Planetlemans analyzes the Spa 1000 km

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

In another very solid performance Peugeot made it three victories out of three LMS rounds in front of 35.000 spectators at a sunny Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It was a clear victory even when Audi had substantial pace progress thanks to a new “bodywork” component which in fact was a small second rear wing affixed to the rear of the car. The improvement showed a very good combination of engineering skills and rule knowledge that helped the Ingolstadt team to close the gap with the French lion just before Le Mans.

In fact the race was pretty close on the opening laps and while Peugeot had clearly the pace advantage, Audi was subtly starting to work on fuel strategy but after a coming together between Minassian and McNish at les Combes that ended with the Audi suffering a puncture it seemed as the race would be another concert for Peugeot duo.

However, during the Peugeot’s second pit stop something went wrong and both cars were delayed, particularly number 8 which had been in the lead and that helped McNish (handing over to Capello) to get the Audi in between the French cars with one extra pit stop done which opened a lot of new possibilities in the race. A safety car due to a spin by Jonny Kane on the 45 Embassy car immediately reduced that potential Audi advantage to nihil and put Peugeot back again in contention.

As the race was restarted with Villeneuve leading Capello, Alexander Wurz chased the Audi and tried to overtake Dindo “clipping” Ralf Kelleners on the 85 Spyker and writing number 8 off after a hard shunt against the tyre wall. It was a huge disappointment for Wurz on his LMS debut and it showed once more that LMS traffic is a different animal altogether. This move also involved Dindo’s right rear tyre and forced the number 1 Audi back into the pits in what seems an unbelievable string of bad luck for the McNish-Capello car in the LMS.

In the meantime and behind the diesels (Audi number 2 was steady on 4th now progressing to 3rd with Peugeot number 8 gone) the works Pescarolos were running solid but being threatened by a fantastic progress from Nicolas Lapierre on the Oreca car. Having started from the pitlane the Lapierre-Panis duo did a world-class race that finally confirmed on the podium what the team of de Chaunac has been able to do with the Courage chassis during the last months. An outstanding and deserved result.

With the race now led by Jacques Villeneuve on number 7 and the Prémat-Rockenfeller Audi in second the race became now another strategy game between the two major teams while Capello and Mc Nish started another furious catch-up race that would see them ending on 4th overall after a brilliant last few stints.

A very quick stint from Catalan Marc Gené before handing over to Minassian saw the Peugeot extending its lead by over a minute but safety car deployments saw that difference reduce substantially, even if the Audi was never really able to properly challenge the number 7 which would take the race in style. This marked an unprecedented victory drought for Audi which will surely be working even harder in preparation for the “big one” in 5 weeks. A good job again by Prémat and Rockenfeller nevertheless who are evened in points with Gené and Minassian at the top of the LMS championship.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

Once more, a brilliant Oreca performance got them 3rd place in the end with steady and fast driving from both Lapierre and Panis, Audi in 4th as mentioned and Pescarolo’s lead car in 5th, a heartbreaking moment for Pescarolo 17 retiring after running out of fuel in the very last lap. Progress as well for the Epsilon Euskadi team bringing the car home after solving a throttle cable problem during the race. The lap times could have been better however, so the Basque team still needs quite some work on the pace department before Le Mans , their endurance record pretty solid at the moment.

The Charouz Lola-Aston Martin had a dreadful race ruined by continuous electrical problems that started early on and prevented them even from getting points at the chequered flag. An opaque race by Creation after their very solid Monza performance, let’s hope Le Mans sees them on the upward trend again. Similar situation for Rollcentre with a “rebellious” gearbox causing Vanina Ickx to spin twice and reducing Mikael Forsten’s prototype debut to a few laps. Lavaggi returned and covered probably the longest mileage ever on the LS01, some difficulties here and there and a final retirement showed that the Monegasque team is still in need of further testing, here’s hoping they can gather more sponsorship to achieve this.

A final paragraph for the Saulnier Racing LMP1 car. In contrast to the great job done by their LMP2 team, the LMP1 bunch seem to be struggling and even almost ruined GT2 winner Virgo’s race on a ridiculous move at the bus stop by Marc Faggionato. With their best time being 12 seconds off the leader’s best lap and slowest of all LMP1 and LMP2 cars (only exception was the Bruichladdich Radical) and running a rock-solid, proven performance car as the Pescarolo, this should lead to some reflection on whether this is the right class for them to compete on.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

In LMP2 it was again a Porsche race, even when the start did not make this so evident. It all started with a confusing incident between the Essex car and number 46 Embassy during the installation lap, Casper Elgaard claims Joey Foster gave him a “brake test” while the Embassy driver claims being rammed from behind. No footage was seen so we might not know the final answer yet, however the Embassy car was retired on the spot having hit the wall hard and the Essex Porsche had to replace their nose and was penalized afterwards with a 3 minutes stop-and-go.

The race was mostly an exchange of positions between a very solid Horag Porsche (with experienced Didier Theys and Jan Lammers having a very steady race) and the once more fantastic performance of Jos Verstappen and Peter van Merksteijn on the van Merksteijn RS Spyder. The battle between these two was also animated by the serious challenge of the Speedy-Sebah Lola coupe which was frequently on the lead (Belicchi and Zacchia unleashed on the first hours of the race) and had its race unfortunately ruined by mechanical problems towards the end to the frustration of last-stint-man Xavier Pompidou. A sad end for a fantastic showdown which saw the Lola on the Porsche pace consistently in a very encouraging demonstration.

The Lammers vs Verstappen and Theys vs van Merksteijn duels on the track were a delight to see, the flawless tactics of Frans Verschuur’s team combined with a great drive by Peter van Merksteijn complementing Verstappen’s lightining-fast pace saw them emerge on top again in the end with Horag a well-earned second. With the Speedy-Sebah Lola gone, Essex grabbed a very good 3rd after a recovery race by the Danes that put them back on the podium and in contention for the championship.

The LMP2 Saulnier Pescarolo managed a very good 4th in class and Trading Peformance also on a positive day arriving in 5th and demonstrating they’re doing a good job with the Zytek. Disappointment for Barazi-Epsilon retiring with steering issues, their pace this weekend significantly improved, even if Fernando Rees did not shine as in Monza. A weekend to forget for Embassy, one car eliminated during the warm-up lap and the other struggling and not able to be classified in the end, lots of bad luck which hopefully will revert at Le Mans. RML and Quifel ASM also in a race to forget, the same is valid for the very low performing Bruichladdich Radical, a shadow from its own past. The Kruse-Schiller Lola had to go home early after the heavy shunt in qualifying when Jean de Pourtales suffered mechanical trouble getting into turn 9 and hit the tyre barriers very hard.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

In GT1 an early battle between the Modena Aston and the 72 Luc Alphand Corvette was cut short by alternator problems on the Aston that lost them two laps which they would not be able to recover on the long run. What few people expected however was that Peter Kox would actually get the IPB Lamborghini to lead the race and pull away for the Corvette later on with an amazing drive and clearly a car that has been worked on for the better.

Unfortunately, Roman Rusinov encountered the odd problem when the bonnet of the car opened and effectively blocked his vision causing him to lose the car and puncture two wheels. It is amazing how Rusinov was able to make it to the pits, unfortunately for them the 72 Corvette ran a steady pace all race and this incident (complemented with a futile “let’s tape it on” attempt from the pit crew disapproved by the officials) lost the Russian Lamborghini the chance of a first ever ACO-rules victory.

A good race by García and Enge allowed them to collect third in the end, the 73 Corvette hindered by Dumez not feeling well and forcing an unplanned early pit stop and the 61 Strakka Racing Aston Martin clearly not at the level of the top runners. A well deserved victory for the French team and a confirmation of Guillaume Moreau as solid GT driver next to regulars Goueslard and Alphand.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

GT2 went again down to the wire. The subsequent small advantages that Rob Bell and Gianmaria Bruni were able to build on the Virgo Ferrari were neutralized by safety cars and very solid drives of Lieb-Davison and both Farnbacher crews. There was constant exchange of positions and both Ferraris and both Porsches were running very close, even when Virgo seemed to have a slight advantage in terms of pace.

However, the aforementioned unnecessary move by Faggionato on the LMP1 Saulnier Pescarolo put the (leading) Virgo Ferrari out of balance and at risk of losing it all with less than half an hour to go. Rob Bell held on steadily however and demonstrated his GT2 champion skills to keep Marc Lieb at bay in a final charge that was simply memorable and reminded us of the Sebring 12 Hours finish of 2007…. a crippled Ferrari resisting a fiercely attacking Porsche. Kudos for both crews and a big thank you from all those that appreciate real racing, GT2 is a pleasure to watch thanks to this sort of racing.

The Farnbacher cars had in the end a very bad weekend, both of them having to retire in the final stages when they could have won this one. A very good third for a steady running 88 Felbermayr car and a good fourth for Speedy-Spyker with a last stint from Andrea Chiesa that could well have ended in a podium. The 85 Spyker (running with the new engine) was also potentially heading for a good finish when the Wurz-Capello-Kelleners coming together ruined their race. A very unfortunate race also for IMSA, a long pit stop in the early stages putting them on an impossible position to challenge for the race.

For most of these teams the final sprint to Le Mans begins now, the Peugeot vs Audi duel remains as exciting as ever, Audi closing the gap on speed and having a potential winning card on the fuel economy…this will count for sure at the 24 hours! On the petrol side the Lola-Aston is the quickest but still having a lot of teething problems, Pescarolo (almost) always makes it to the end but now Oreca is challenging them seriously….

On the LMP2 class Porsche seems unbeatable but the RS Spyder has never ran for 24 hours …not even in a test, and the Lola is quick! Will 2008 be another race of attrition in this class? The GT classes appear as two outstanding duels as well: Corvette vs Aston Martin in GT1, Ferrari vs Porsche in GT2. It will be the most exciting Le Mans in quite some time for these and many other reasons, those attending will probably be privileged and will talk about it for years to come. Follow the build-up to the big one at Planetlemans, we’ll bring you all details of a very exciting June.