Le Mans Series

LMS Silverstone 1000km LIVE – Chapter 3

© Planetlemans – Gabriel Portos

Audi still in the lead just over half race point, van Merksteijn on top in LMP2, Modena and Virgo also keep their lead in the GT classes…. The sun shines now all over the track so we should have a perfect race weather until the end in a few hours.

14:33- Spyker 94 has a 3 minute stop and go penalty….

14:34- Capello on Audi 1 chasing Lapierre on Oreca 6 for 3rd, he is now only 11 seconds behind. The 8 Peugeot is 32nd overall 16 laps behind the leader.

14:35- Not the day of Joey Foster as he spins again, the car seems not to be damaged but the wheels spin in the grass and e gets no traction, RML MG Lola in the pits for a regular stop.

14:36- IThe top 4 are till Ausi 2 , Lola Charouz (5.5 secs behind), Oreca 6 and Audi 1 (both 1 lap behind the leader and separated by just under 6 seconds now)

14:37- In LMP2 van Merksteijn leads (he is 5th overall at the moment) one lap ahead of Embassy 45, Quifel ASM (16 seconds behind these two). Horag is 4th one lap behind the 2nd and 3rd ith the Saulnier Pescarolo in 5th, once more the French survicors are climbing up as the race evolves!!!

14:39- The 94 Spyker serves its 3 minute penalty. In GT1 the order is Modena 1 lap ahead of the IPB lamborghini, Alphand 2 laps behind and Strakka 48 seconds behind the Corvette

14:41- In GT2 Virgo is 1 min 33 secs ahead of the 77 Felbermayr Porsche, the 90 Farnbacher and JMB Ferraris are 3rd and 4th 1 lap behind, 5th is now the 85 Spyker 30 seconds behind the 99 car.

14:43- One more pit stop for the Charouz Lola

14:44- Also the Quifel ASM Lola comes in as does the leader the 2 Audi, Rockenfeller stays in the car

14:45- The Charouz Lola rejoins after some issues with the left rear tyre

14:46- Capello brings Audi #1 in for a stop as well

14:48- The Charouz car has dropped to 4th after that eventful pit stop, Audi has now a 1-2 (or a 2-1??) and the 6 Oreca is on 3rd 6 second behind Audi 1 and 17 ahead of the Charouz Lola-Aston. The LMP2 leader is one lap behind these cars.

14:50- And it is the LMP2 leader, van Merksteijn Porsche that comes into the pits now.

14:51- After the stop from Amaral in the Quifel Lola the LMP2 order is now 34 van Merksteijn, 45 Embassy, 27 Horag, 35 Saulnier, 25 RML, 40 Quifel ASM, 41 Trading Performance, 44 Kruse, 32 Barazi, 31 Essex, 26 Bruichladdich

14:53- García in the Modena Aston leads GT1 by 40 seconds from the 55 Lamborghini driven now by Peter Kox

14:54- Full rundown on GT2: 96 Virgo, 77 Felbermayr, 99 JMB, 85 Spyker, 90 Farnbacher, 88 Felbermayr, 98 JMB, 93 JWA, 94 Spyker, 75 IMSA

14:56- After van merksteijn’s stop, the 5th overall is the 16 pescarolo (Romain Dumas) and the 5 Oreca (Stéphane Ortelli) climbs to 6th, the LMP2 leader is now 7th.

14:57- 1.31.685 from Lamy on the 8 Peugeot, fstest lap of the day by far. They are 28th overall and catching up with the Strakka car at the back of the GT1 class

15:00- The 99 JMB and 88 Felbermayr cars are in the pits.

15:02- It’s the time now of the 77 Felbermayr Porsche to come in from 2nd in class.

15:04- The 88 car has bigger problems than expected , now the 2nd in LMP2 (45 Embassy) comes in…

15:05- The 88 rejoins finally after a longer pitstop than expected

15:06- The Embassy 45 rejoins, Warren Hughes takes over from Jonny Kane

15:07- The Embassy car had problem refiring and stalled at the exit of pitlane. luckily it managed to rejoin but now they’ve lost 2nd to Horag where Lammers is going pretty fast.

15:08- Stefan Muecke does a good job and gets the Charouz car back to 3rd overall overtaking the #6 Oreca

15:09- van Merksteijn is still LMP2 leader but drops in the overall classification as he is lapping in the 1.41 range now. The 15 Creation is 7th overall and the 17 pescarolo 8th, (behind Audis 2 and 1, the Charouz Lola, Oreca 6, Pescarolo 16 and Oreca 5)

15:11- Lammers pushing, fastest lap of his car in 1.38.621 but he’s 2 laps behind van Merksteijn

15:12- GT1 unchanged: Modena, IPB, Alphand, Strakka

15:13-In GT2 Virgo leads still, 77 Felbermayr, 90 Farnbacjer, 85 Spyker and 99 JMB complete the top 5, good job by the small Dutch team working its way up to 4th at this stage…

15:14- Warren Hughes on the 45 Embassy is 1 min 26 secs behind Jan Lammers on the Horag Porsche, the pitlane issue costed him almost a lap!

15:16- Interesting to note , the quickest lap of the Embassy is 1.38.738, just 1/10th second slower than the Horag Porsche’s best lap by Lammers. However, the best lap by Verstappen on the van Merksteijn car is 1.35.675, in the range of LMP1 petrol cars!!!

15:18- Into the pits the Saulnier LMP2 car from 4th in class, as well the 41 Trading Performance Zytek is in from 7th in class

15:20-Pit stop for the 17 Pescarolo, the 8 Peugeot is now up to 25th overall 2 laps behind the leading GT1 cars

15:22-Into the pits come the Kruse Lola-Mazda and the 27 Horag Porsche

15:24- Pit stops for the Bruichladdich radical and the 72 Alphand Corvette, this car is provisional GT1 champion, they need to see the chequered flag…

15:25- Bad news for Saulnier, the car still is inand is about to lose 4th in LMP2 to RML….

15:26- LMP2 now is 34 van Merksteijn, 27 Horag, 45 Embassy, 25 RML, 40 Quifel ASM, 35 Saulnier, 41 Trading performance, 44 kruse, 32 Barazi. Michael Vergers is now driving this car and he is the quickest LMP2 on track (he is 1 lap behind the Kruse car however)

15:28- The 35 Saulnier car still in the garage, Trading Performance up to 6th in LMP2

15:29- The 6 Oreca comes into the pits from 4th position in class and overall.

15:31- The RML MG Lola comes in for a stop from 5th in LMP2, the 35 has dropped further and the 6 Oreca comes very slowly into the comples…problems for the 4th classified!

15:32- As the other Oreca (5) comes into the pits the 16 Pescarolo is now up to 5th overall

15:34- Crash at Stowe’s, The 99 Ferrari is touched by the 94 Spyker that was contacted by a prototype.

15:36-Audi number 1 into the pits

15:37- And Audi number 2 as well…

15:38- Both Audis rejoin after perfect stops.

15:39- Pescarolo 16 and Charouz Lola in the pits as Oreca 6 is again very slow around the track

15:40- The 16 Pescarolo rejoins as the 40 Quifel ASM car comes into the pits. 1.32.535 for McNish, fastest lap of Audi #1 in the race.

15:41- Black/white flag for car 77, the 2nd in GT2 !

15:42- Pit stop for Creation 15, they were up to 4th overall. The Oreca 6 needs some serious work and goes into the garage.

15:43- Epsilon 21 in the pits, they are 28th overall. Peugeot 8 has also pitted and is now 23rd overall.

15:44- Overall classification is 2 Audi, 1 Audi, 10 Charouz Lola, 5 Oreca, 16 Pescarolo

15:45-In LMP2 van Merksteijn still leads Horag by 2 laps, 45 Embassy is 3rd, Quifel ASM 4th, RML 5th, Trading Performance 6th, Kruse 7th, Barazi 8th

15:46- Virgo still leading GT2, 77 Felbermayr 2nd, 90 Farnbacher, 85 Spyker and 88 Felbermayr complete the top 5. behind these it’s 98 JMB, 99JMB (which has rejoined) 93 JWA Aston, 94 Spyker

15:48-Good job by Creation 15 up to 6th overall, GT1 is pretty stable with still Modena, IPB, Alphand Strakka as the running order.

15:50- van Merksteijn in the pits, Verstappen takes over.

15:52- Either 1 and a half hours or 41 laps, whatever is shorter…

15:54- Embassy is coming in as the Virgo Ferrari also is in

15:56- Strakka Aston in

15:58- 98 JMB ferrari comes in from 6th in class while the 45 Embassy rejoins, still in 3rd LMP2

we move our coverage to the last chapter, click here