Analysis

The Planetlemans Nürburgring 1000 km preview

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

After what seemed an eternity since the Spa 1000 km in May, the LMS is back to work this weekend at the Nürburgring with a very healthy 49-entries grid that should translate once more into attractive, close racing for the whole extent of the event.

On LMP1 Peugeot has won all previous races this year in the series showing a clear edge on speed compared to main rivals Audi, even if the reliability score has not been as good. It is a bittersweet feeling however for the Vélizy squad as the “big one” escaped them despite their previous 2008 record and no LMS victory can compensate this. Nevertheless their target is the LMS championship and preferably with a clean sweep so they are the top favorites on the class once more…

On the Audi side, and with the rumor of new parts being tried, the challenge will be to keep up with the French lions’ rhythm and try to strike on reliability and fuel economy, after all the race is in Germany and Audi does not like losing… The rest of the pack sees the welcome return of 2-car Oreca and Creation teams next to Pescarolo and Epsilon-Euskadi who will debut their 2-car effort on the series after their Le Mans experience.

On the line-up news side Loic Duval will be reinforcing Ayari and Ortelli at Oreca, Liz Halliday and South African Stephen Simpson will be sharing one of the Creations while Shinji Nakano-Adrián Vallés will be the new Epsilon-Euskadi duo on number 21.

Rollcentre will be there as well as will be the Charouz Lola-Aston Martin, both looking for better results than in previous races where they have shown much more potential than what they could get at the finish line. Last but by no means least Lavaggi will be giving the LS1 another run, hopefully progressing further in its development.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

For LMP2 if one looks at the past 3 rounds the question almost seems to be which of the 3 Porsches will make it to the top of the podium. The van Merksteijn car with Jeroen Bleekemolen joining Jos Verstappen and car owner Peter van Merksteijn should be the big candidate however both Horag and Essex have demonstrated to be on the same league and have given the Dutch team a tough time every race.

The big challenger for the Zuffenhausen machines still seems to be the Speedy-Sebah Lola Coupé, the speed is there but they need the reliability that has been heavily worked on during the summer break. Both Zytek and Embassy have also been working with lots of intensity to get closer to Porsche and we might see some surprises there, how big the surprise could be is the big question mark.

The open top Lolas and the LMP2 Pescarolo seem to be one step behind but could still finish well in the points if they bring the car home, RML, Quifel ASM and KSR having a lot of experience at this level. The Radical, WR and Lucchinis (yes, we get 2 Lucchinis this time as the Randaccio car will be at the Ring after almost 1 year of absence) are not at the best competitive level and all they can hope for is a finish and some decent lap times.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

GT1 is left to just 4 cars and the main battle could be between the 72 Alphand Corvette and the Modena Aston, however when the IPB Lamborghini could play a strong role if it confirms its very good Spa performance. For this round the 73 car will have an all-star line-up with team owner Luc Alphand sharing the drive with ALMS Corvette drivers Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta; this should make for a great race with all 4 cars as potential winners.

In GT2 we will see another Ferrari vs Porsche battle with Virgo and farnbacher as main candidates on the Prancing Horse side and Felbermayr (77), IMSA (76) and Farnbacher as the Porsche top teams. Spyker with new engines (both the works and Speedy car) and the return of the JWA Aston Vantage will be novelties to wtch on the track.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

All in all a very good proposal for this weekend, don’t miss this race if you’re close to the Eifel, and if you’re not there will be plenty of TV, radio and web coverage including the minute-by-minute reports of Planetlemans. Hope to see you there!