Le Mans Series

LMS Nürburgring 1000 km – First practice

© Planetlemans – Gabriel Portos

Helped by good weather (sunny but not warm) the first practice session started at 12.05 CET today at the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit in Germany. Very few surprises as Peugeot took quickest time and almost all favorites were on top of their classes. A noticeable time was the second in LMP2 scored by the Quifel ASM team, just 297/1000 ths of a second shy of the top time (Essex Porsche). The IPB Lamborghini topped GT1 while the Virgo Ferrari led the pack in GT2.

There were quite some spins as the low grip and hard braking zones took their toll, no consequences were suffered by any car or driver however. The Lola Charouz had a tough gravel excursion at the Veedol chicane and several cars had wheel blocks or even spins at the Mercedes Arena while looking for the right braking point. A couple of the cars could not take part on the practice: the Aston Martin Vantage GT2 from James Watt never made it to the track, opposite versions are heard from the team itself and Prodrive, an update will follow.

Neither of the Lucchinis will be able to take part of the race as the homologation papers have not arrived and both teams had literally to pack and leave in the morning. Another chapter of this very sad story with the Italian manufacturer. Lavaggi saw quite some issues in the morning session as well and the car came back to the pits on a flatbed truck having completed just 2 laps. Good job from barazi Epsilon almost matching the Porsche times. Oliver Gavin won’t be on the 73 car which will have Olivier Beretta and Jerome Policand as line-up, Luc Alphand will share the 72 with Guillaume Moreau and Patrick Goueslard.

Top 5 per class

LMP1
7- Peugeot 1.41.994
2- Audi 1.42.187
8- Peugeot 1.42.215
1- Audi 1.42.835
6- Oreca 1.43.507

LMP2
31- Essex Porsche 1.46.833
40- Quifel ASM Lola 1.47.130
34- van Merksteijn Porsche 1.47.223
32- Barazi Epsilon Zytek 1.47.241
25- RML Lola 1.47.420

GT1
55- IPB Lamborghini 1.55.449
59- Modena Aston Martin 1.55.565
73- Alphand Corvette 1.55.820
72- Alphand Corvette 1.56.610

GT2
96- Virgo Ferrari 1.58.697
90- Farnbacher Ferrari 1.59.051
91- Farnbacher Porsche 1.59.645
76- IMSA Porsche 1.59.937
77- Felbermayr Porsche 2.00.013