Analysis

Planetlemans analyzes the Silverstone 1000km

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

Within the Silverstone 1000km official program a Peugeot advertisement announced triumphantly: “4 down, 1 to go”. Something tells me that the marketing person in charge of this ad at Peugeot does not get many compliments after Sunday. It was Audi’s day, the same way it had been at Le Mans, reliability and teamwork projecting the Ingolstadt squad once more to the very top.

It is somehow curious that a team with no wins can clinch a championship (we’ll discuss this point later) but you cannot afford many mistakes in endurance racing and this is what Peugeot repeatedly made on Sunday. It all started with an incident at Copse right after the start where Nicolas Minassian seemed to lose grip and hit Allan McNish’s Audi which had taken an outside line to put the French team under pressure. It was a bad start for the championship leaders which had to run a recovery race from 10th position.

As the other Peugeot took the lead the Audis demonstrated early enough that they could keep the pace, the “older guys” car quicker with McNish on fire and no challenge from any of the petrol cars. As Minassian worked his way back to the top 3 he was involved on another incident, this time terminal for his car as he “clipped” the 76 IMSA Porsche exiting Becketts and his race ended against the wall.

Looking at the video, it seems as if Minassian is too early trying to lap one of the Epsilons and he does not see that the Porsche he just overtook is not still 100% behind him. More drama would follow as the other Peugeot driven by Stéphane Sarrazin at that time “clipped” the Audi of Dindo Capello at Copse and also ruined its race. What could have been the brilliant finish of a perfect season ended in the worst nightmare the French team could have.

An Audi 1-2 followed therefore until a late failure on car number 2 had Dr Ullrich and team miss a heartbeat. However, in true Audi fashion, car number 2 was repaired and sent back to the track to finish 4th and clinch the drivers’championship next to the manufacturers’one. A fantastic ending for a season that saw Audi off the pace for most of the year in Europe compared to their main rivals, still being able to bounce back and win the “big one” and the LMS Championship.

A very good second for Charouz Racing (even leading for quite some time) and the return of Pescarolo number 16 to the podium were also features to highlight of this race, as was the enormous step forward in pace by Epsilon Euskadi even if reliability is not there yet.

In LMP2 it was champions van Merksteijn-Verstappen all the way, practically unchallenged except for the first stints of the Speedy Lola that once more started very quick and by mid-race was gone from the charts. A farewell in style for Freddy Lienhard as Horag grabbed second in class with good drives by Lienhard, Didier Theys and Jan Lammers. A very strong drive as well by Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral saw Quifel ASM return to the LMP2 podium after quite some time. Finally, a fine performance was delivered by Embassy Racing saw car 45 very close to a podium that they only missed by a mistake jumping a red light at pitlane exit.

In GT1 a clear win from Team Modena, the driver pairing of Tomas Enge-Antonio García once more very quick and very consistent. The IPB Lamborghini saw also a good finish in second, Peter Kox complaining heavily about Allan McNish ruining his race (even if his language was a bit stronger). Last but not least a third place for Luc Alphand Aventures was enough to give the French team the title and allow them to celebrate success.

The smallest class saw Virgo win the race and clinch the title again, Rob Bell partnered this time by Jaime Melo putting a great performance yet again at Silverstone. A great job yet again by Marc Lieb and Anthony Davison on the 77 Felbermayr Porsche, even when they could not challenge Virgo on pace they put pressure on them during the whole race making it clear that it was not over till it was over. The Farnbacher Ferrari was third and the 85 Spyker fourth rounding good performances that bring good hopes for next season.

A spectacular end for a spectacular season which cannot make us avoid some reflections on two important matters:

First, the points system today does not reward wins. While championships do become unpredictable (remember Barazi getting the LMP2 honors in 2006?) winning races becomes a sort of secondary priority to finishing. Is this the spirit we want to preserve in the LMS? Food for thought…

Secondly, the GT vs LMP driver matters are escalating, LMP drivers continuously complain about the GT guys not looking in the mirrors while GT drivers heavily criticize the driving/overtaking style of their LMP fellows. In fact, all incidents on Sunday were a LMP vs GT crash, is there something that can be done about this? In order to enhance safety and lower pitlane temperatures this is a matter that should be clearly addressed, should the LMS also adopt severe penalties for dangerous driving/unnecessary contact like the ALMS? Another one to think about during the winter break.

In a few days we’ll be analyzing the season and perspectives for 2009, stay tuned!