24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009 - GT2 Review

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

One week after the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended it is time for our class analysis of the race. Starting with GT2 we’ll take a look at what went well and what went wrong in each category…

After its win in 2008 the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT2 entry was the car to beat and the Porsche squads racing at Le Mans were confident they could do just that. The Porsche 997 GT3 RSR had already won all the Le Mans Series and FIA GT in 2009 and taken the last three ALMS rounds. Only at Sebring Risi Competizione had been able to beat the Porsches, the only race that was more than 6 hours…

Let’s have a look the 77th 24 Hours of Le Mans per entry.

70-IMSA Performance Matmut: Having qualified in 51st place for the race the #70 IMSA Performance Matmut entry did reasonably well in the first hours of the race. Unfortunately the car suffered transmission problems causing the loss of several laps and at night, before midnight, the car was retired with an engine failure.

75-Endurance Asia Team: A troubled run for the #75 Porsche at Le Mans. Suffered a puncture early in the race while Hesnault was driving and then with Bulgarian Kralev onboard it spun and even stopped on the track not much later. Kralev eventually managed to get back to the pit where the car was checked and sent out again with Darryl O’Young behind the wheel. O’Young returned to the pit soon after loosing a wheel. After several other problems and even a stop&go the car was pushed into the box shortly after 8 o’clock in the morning, only to come out again just before the finish. Therefore it crossed the line but was not classified.

76-IMSA Performance Matmut: A strong race for the #76 IMSA Performance Matmut was not rewarded. Patrick Long, Patrick Pilet and Raymond Narac formed a strong team, capable of fighting for the lead with the Ferrari’s. Just before midnight Pilet had a small off, but things looked well for the 2007 race winner. Unfortunately on Sunday the car developed a gearbox problem and with just over three hours to go Pilet was forced to come in to the box where the car was withdrawn with clutch and gearbox problems.

77-Team Felbermayr Proton: Before the race this Porsche was seen as one of the candidates for victory and in free practice (1st) and qualifying (2nd) it showed why. Unfortunately Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler could not convert their pre-race pace into a result on Sunday. After a nice start on Saturday Lieb suffered a puncture within the first hour and had to come in to the pit, losing valuable time. Lietz took over from Lieb, but the Austrian suffered an even more serious problem about 1 hour later when he stopped on the track just before the pit entry. The car was pushed behind the barriers by the marshals and retired on the spot as it ran out of fuel and was unable to get back to the pit.

78-AF Corse: Unable to fight with the top six in the opening hours the race for the AF Corse Ferrari was spoilt by a mechanical problems. Bruni, Perez Companc and Russo, who were second in Sebring in March, didn’t do anything wrong but a problem with the steering rack and a gearbox problem later on slowed them down. As the chequered flag came out after 24 hours of racing the squad was sixth in GT2.

80-Flying Lizard Motorsports: A strong performance in qualifying meant that the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 RSR started from the GT2 pole position. Jörg Bergmeister was able to keep the car in the fight for the lead for the first hours. Unfortunately the team had some bad luck when Seth Neiman went straight into the wall at marshal post 13 just after 8 p.m. while Darren Law suffered a puncture around 1 a.m. After 14 hours the car was already fourth in GT2 again but then Law lost control of the car at the Playstation chicane and slammed into the wall. The resulting damage meant a retirement for the Lizards entry.

81-Team Seattle Advanced Engineering: This team was by far the slowest GT2 car of the week. Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Don Kitch knew they weren’t in France to fight for a top position or set the fastest time though. Their main objective was to complete the 24 Hours and raise as much money as possible. Despite a spin, an official warning for not respecting the track limits and some bodywork parts being changed the team finished the race 28 laps behind the Risi Competizione Ferrari.

82-Risi Competizione: Having won the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2009 Sebring 12 Hours this car was one of the favourites for victory. Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo’s race was almost mistake free. Almost, as the team had to serve a stop and go penalty for not respecting the track limits. Other than that it fought for the lead from the word go and where the other teams failed the Risi drivers stayed out of troubles and won the race. The car, chassis F131 EVO GT 2606, won at Le Mans in 2008 as well.

83-Risi Competizione: Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Eric van de Poele washed away their 2008 disappointment with a strong third place finish in the 2009 edition. The #83 was never fighting for the lead, but also stayed out of trouble. A spin by Eric van de Poele was the only ‘problem’ for the team and after 24 hours they crossed the line with a great podium finish again! (Yes, we were wrong on this in our GT2 preview).

84-Team Modena: It wasn’t Team Modena’s year at Le Mans. During the night Leo Mansell had a problem and returned to the box slowly, Rusinov went into the gravel and Ehret had to come in to have some bodywork problem fixed. In the morning Mansell spun the car and then a few hours later was seen driving around with smoke coming from the car. Eventually the #84 Ferrari F430 GT finished seventh in class at 15 laps from the winning Risi Ferrari.

85-Snoras Spyker Squadron: Happy faces all weekend in the Spyker pit where crew and drivers Coronel, Bleekemolen and Janis were very relaxed and the noses were all in the same direction. As a result the C8 Laviolette GT2R was third in free practice and despite not doing many laps in qualifying the team had full confidence in the race. The blue/yellow Spyker stayed out of problems and eventually finished fifth in class, beating all the Porsches, the Aston Martin and most of the Ferraris. The first ever classification at Le Mans was greeted as a victory by the team. Hats off to the men and women at Spyker Squadron for keeping faith in their car over the years!

87-Drayson Racing: Being the first team ever to race a Vantage at Le Mans Drayson Racing had to start from scratch. When Cocker had to come in after only a few minutes with a puncture there were some worried faces. All through the night the team had a rather untroubled race and only in the early morning a brake pedal problem occurred. This problem was solved and the car ran trouble free for hours again until just before 1 p.m. when Cocker stopped on the side of the road and the team retired the car with an electrical problem. Despite missing the objective to finish the race the team was delighted to have come this far though.

89-Hankook-Team Farnbacher: The Hankook-Team Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GT was battling for the lead in the early hours before a problem with the air-conditioning meant a nine minute pit stop early in the evening. In the night the car had more problems with a puncture at first and a trip through the gravel some hours later. Fourteen hours into the race Farnbacher, Simonsen and Montanari were forced to retire with a damaged cooler on the Ferrari.

92-JMW Motorsport: The JMW Ferrari of Bell, Kirkaldy and Sugden slowly moved up the ranks and was second in GT2 for several hours, even after a small off by Bell early in the race. Unfortunately just after 8 o’clock in the morning the Ferrari went straight and the pit stop that followed took nearly eight minutes. Some three and a half hours later the car was slow on the track again with smoke coming from the left wheel caused by a suspension problem. As a result of the problems the #83 Risi Ferrari pushed the JMW entry back into fourth where it finished after 24 hours.

96-Virgo Motorsport: The Virgo Motorsport Ferrari of father and son McInerney and Dutchman Michael Vergers was never a contender in this years Le Mans 24 Hours. Just one hour into the race the team was already given a stop&go for speeding in the pitlane, In the middle of the night a driveshaft problem was fixed in the pit, which meant the team lost another 15 minutes. Half an hour later Vergers ended up in the gravel and suffered radiator problems which meant the team lost another two hours repairing the problem and getting the car back into the race. From that point on things went reasonably well and just after 3 p.m. the car crossed the line, finishing tenth in GT2 at 49 laps from the winning Ferrari.

97-BMS Scuderia Italia: Like in 2008 the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari F430 GT2 of Paolo Ruberti, Matteo Malucelli and Fabio Babini finished second in GT2. At the start Malucelli suffered a punctured right rear tyre and returned to the pit. Other than one little moment when the car went wide and some headlight checks the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari had a trouble free run and moved up the ranks where it turned out it was unable to beat the strong Risi entry. Second place was the maximum possible for the Italian squad.

99-JMB Racing: The JMB Racing Ferrari of Bouchut, Lebon and Rodrigues was unable to impress at Le Mans this year. Bouchut suffering a puncture and then losing the entire wheel was the major highlight of this car this year; it had a rather anonymous race otherwise. Fortunately for the #99 car the line-up of the Advanced Engineering car was less experienced and the Virgo entry suffered problems otherwise the JMB car would have the ‘honour’ of finishing last.

Conclusion:

Ferrari dominated the 77th 24 Hours of Le Mans with another GT2 cleansweep as Risi Competizione and BMS Scuderia Italia took the podium places. The Porsche teams were a real disappointment this year with none of the five RSRs that were entered being classified after 24 hours. A highlight of the race was the Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R finishing fifth in class and being the first ever Spyker classified at Le Mans.