Le Mans Series

LMS Paul Ricard – Sunday Afternoon Test Report

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

As the sun disappeared behind the mountains surrounding the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit and the afternoon session of the first day of testing came to an end it was again Team Oreca Matmut-AIM that had clocked the fastest time. But there was drama for Aston Martin Racing.

Just like during the first session the battle for the fastest time was on between Aston Martin Racing, Team Oreca Matmut and Strakka Racing.

With lap times quickly dropping the Courage-Oreca LC70 was the quickest car out on the track, followe by the 007 Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin. Around 4.30 pm Tomas Enge managed to improve the fastest lap time his Lola Aston Martin, but just after posting the fastest time he crashed just after exiting the long Mistral straight.

The session was red flagged as Paul Ricard service trucks went to the scene of the accident. After clearing the wreckage of the car and fixing most of the damage inflicted on the barrier the session was restarted.

With the Lola Aston Martin of Enge, Charouz and Mücke not able to continue there was noone challenging the lap time of the Oreca car anymore and when the session came to an end they were still firmly on top.

In LMP2 Team Essex managed to increase its lead over the following LMP2 cars. After a gap of 0.019s in the morning session the gap to the second LMP2 entry, RML was over a second. Speedy Racing Team Sebah’s Lola was third fastest, 2.5 seconds behind the Essex Porsche RS Spyder.

IPB Spartak Racing’s Lamborghini was quickest again in GT1, almost three tenths of a second quicker than the Luc Alphand Corvette C6.R. The third car, the ARC Bratislava-Kaneko Saleen S7R, only completed six laps and ended the session in 25th and last place.

Hankook-Team Farnbacher blew away the opposition in GT2 again as the Ferrari F430 GT2’s fastest lap time was over half a second quicker than the second car in the category, the JMW Motorsport Ferrari. Team Modena ended the day in third place.

Seven cars have entered for the night session, but with the Lamborghini Gallardo GT2 not out on the track in the first two sessions it is unlikely that it will run tonight.

1 – 11 – Team Oreca Matmut – 1:41.442
2 – 007 – Aston Martin Racing – 1:42.575
3 – 23 – Strakka Racing – 1:43.551
4 – 10 – Team Oreca Matmut – 1:43.650
5 – 009 – Aston Martin Racing – 1:43.690
6 – 13 – Speedy Racing Team Sebah – 1:43.785
7 – 12 – Signature-Plus – 1:44.316
8 – 31 – Team Essex – 1:44.973
9 – 25 – RML – 1:46.105
10 – 33 – Speedy Racing Team Sebah – 1:47.575
11 – 38 – Pegasus Racing – 1:51.572
12 – 24 – OAK Racing – 1:54.446
13 – 55 – IPB Spartak Racing – 1:54.794
14 – 72 – Luc Alphand Aventures – 1:55.085
15 – 89 – Hankook-Team Farnbacher – 1:57.888
16 – 88 – Team Felbermayr Proton – 1:58.317
17 – 92 – JMW Motorsport – 1:58.900
18 – 84 – Team Modena – 1:59.398
19 – 76 – IMSA Performance Matmut – 1:59.936
20 – 85 – Snoras Spyker Squadron – 2:00.423
21 – 99 – JMB Racing – 2:00.865
22 – 81 – Easyrace – 2:01.156
23 – 87 – Drayson Racing – 2:01.319
24 – 75 – IMSA Performance Matmut – 2:02.690
25 – 51 – ARC Bratislava-Kaneko – 2:03.683
26 – 40 – Quifel-ASM Team – No time
27 – 79 – Reiter Engineering – No time