Le Mans Series
Le Mans Series 1000KM of Silverstone – The Race
© Planetlemans – Brecht Decancq
Despite a rather messy starting grid, with cars being positioned at the wrong grid place and therefore a slightly delayed start the spectators at Silverstone saw an interesting final round of the 2009 Le Mans Series season. With two championships yet undecided the battles throughout the field were fought out from start to finish. Here’s a recap of the Autosport 1000KM of Silverstone.
The opening hour was a true spectacle, with the Pescarolo Sport car of Jean-Christophe Boullion as the featured artist. The French driver started from the back of the grid but cut through the field with brutal pace. In less than one hour of racing he managed to overtake the entire field and move into the lead ahead of Stefan Mücke’s Lola-Aston Martin.
Quifel-ASM Team had a dramatic first hour with Olivier Pla slowing down in the complex. Bizarrely the Zytek 09S drove past the pit lane entrance only to come to a halt on the finish straight seconds later. After restarting it again the car eventually stopped at the Hangar Straight. In GT2 the two championship contenders JMW Motorsport and Team Felbermayr-Proton had bad starts, both cars dropping to the back of the GT2 field.
The second hour brought more trouble for the Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche #77. A rather long pit stop meant the Porsche dropped back again to tenth place. Karim Ajlani spun his OAK Racing Pescarolo at Luffield and then while trying to get it back in the right direction he got stuck in the gravel trap. At the front Boullion has pulled away, despite some contact with other cars, while in GT2 the JMW Motorsport Ferrari managed to get back to the front of the field, a position they needed to be in order to fight for the title.
Rob Bell managed to get into second place at the start of the third hour, just as the #77 Porsche was pushed into the pit box with an engine related problem. Quifel-ASM Team, the new LMP2 champions retired, but there was more bad news down the pit lane when the leading Pescarolo came in to the pit and was moved into the box where the engine cover was taken off, it returned to the track some 15 laps later. As a result the Oreca 01 of Nicolas Lapierre moved into the lead.
After another round of pit stops the gaps in the different classes were all under 20 seconds, apart from GT1. And with several championships still undecided and Le Mans invitations to be won, it was far from over.
As the race got into its fourth hour the JMW Motorsport Ferrari and IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche were in a heavy battle for the GT2 lead. Unfortunately the Team LNT Zytek made contact with the IMSA Porsche, sending the #76 into the gravel trap. Not a lap later Bruni in the #92 Ferrari was hit by the Signature Plus Courage-Oreca. The resulting pit stop meant Team Modena was given the lead for the moment; fortunately the JMW team had a pit stop planned, so not much extra time was lost.
There was more drama in GT2 when the #90 FBR Ferrari slowed down. As a result the Spyker moved up into third place.
Marc Lieb moved into eighth in GT2 at the start of the fifth hour, enough to clinch the championship would the race be flagged at that point. Tom Coronel in the Spyker knew his chances of getting second place were rather big when he was informed that it was Leo Mansell in the car in front of him. Within a matter of laps the Dutchman closed the gap to Mansell and passed the Modena Ferrari towards the end of the fifth hour.
At the front the battle for the lead was still going on between Oreca and Speedy Racing, with Marcel Fässler closing the gap to the leader rapidly.
One hour and 20 minutes were left on the clock when the Oreca team made another pit stop. After a nose and driver change Panis stormed out of the pit lane, but a fuel only stop for the Fässler car meant Speedy Racing Team Sebah moved into first place.
Disaster struck however for the Swiss team. As Panis did his best out on the track to catch the Lola, Fässler is called in to the pit to have his car fixed. The left front louvers were taken care of but the time lost in this unplanned stop meant the Oreca team moved into the lead.
As Team Oreca Matmut AIM took its first ever Le Mans Series victory the battle for second was won by Speedy Team Sebah Racing, Fässler only just holding of Enge in the Aston Martin Racing Lola.
Behind the LMP1 top three it was the JMW Motorsport Ferrari that took the chequered flag as best GT2 car, the #77 Felbermayr entry came in seventh, enough to secure the championship. Tom Coronel secured the second consecutive second place for Snoras Spyker Squadron with IMSA Performance Matmut taking the final podium place, beating the Team Modena Ferrari.
The Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Judd won LMP2, but the car was damaged after the finish after hitting the Signature Plus car. Both cars ended up on the side of the track with rather severe damage. Nevertheless the win was a great reward for the Swiss team.
Peter Kox and Ryan Sharp gave the Gigawave Motorsport team a GT1 victory; the Aston Martin DBR9 more than likely got its final victory under the current GT1 specs.
As the podium ceremonies came to an end and the post-race press conference was completed the teams started to pack things up. Yet another interesting Silverstone race had come to an end…as had the 2009 Le Mans Series.
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Thanks for another great article Marcel. Some views from the circuit follow if you think readers might be interested.
What a great end of season race at Silverstone. JCB was phenomenal in the Pescarolo. One of the best sportscar drives we’d seen for a while, 4th after 37 minutes and taking the lead as 007 took its first pit stop. He was using his tyres hunting down the lead but Pescarolo opted not to change tyres at the first stop. Oreca did not change either, but needing only a finish in 5th place for 007 to take the title AMR opted for safety and changed tyres on all cars. Pescarolo refueled and sent JCB on his way in, we counted, 56 seconds. AMR took only 9 seconds longer to change the lot on 007. What organisation, and what a pit crew.
The gearbox/transmission problem which ruined JCB’s chase was disappointing for the team and the race. The Pescarolo, Oreca, and Speedy Sebah Lola AM all seemed to have the set up to change track position quickly in the fast Silverstone corners when baulked by slower cars. The AMR Lolas were less manouverable. They lost time in the heavy traffic and this may have been the difference between a win and a good finish.
Four LMP1s on the lead lap at the finish. 16 changes of lead. No safety car periods. An overdue win for Oreca. A deserved title for AMR. Good results finally for Speedy Sebah in LMP1 and LMP2, RML Lola in LMP2, and (again) Spyker in GT2 ended a great event. Marcel Fassler sounded gutted on Radio le Mans at losing a good lead minutes from the end because a carbon fibre louvre had to be replaced, but Oreca had to change the nose cone for similar reason and lost the lead to fassler as a result.
The GT2 Aston ran a competitive 2nd/3rd in class in Johnny Cocker’s hands. Paul Drayson was competent but still lacks race pace and seems cautious in traffic. Full marks for effort though and a great pity the GT2 Vantage suffered what seemed like electronic transmission failure. The car is finally on the pace at the very time the team moves to LMP1. Good luck to them at Petit, they’ll need all the help Jamie Campbell Walter has been brought in to provide. JCW hinted during an interview for Radio Le Mans he might be be seen in the Drayson Lola Judd next year if Creation Autosportiff plans don’t happen. Either way it will be good to see him back in a competitive LMP1.
Pesca guys made it so exciting shame about the gearbox. Was all very close even without safety cars.
Tops:
Happy for Aston deserved title
Great race for Orecam, Spyker and Mazda Lola ending LMS on a high
Flops:
Lucky Porsche championship
Signature plus drivers
Louvres
Lets bring on petit!
Lucky Porshe championship?…no way. The 911 in the hands of factory drivers has been the car to bet on all year. No matter where you look FIA, ALMS or LMS. They only struggle at the very long stuff.
Acura will be taking a long look at Oreca now…2 poles 1 victory not bad. Acura would love to beat them but they still have a championship on hand to settle. This is when the corporate suits might decide to step in and make a call.
Should they let Highcroft and DeFerran focus on the title or let them go all out for the best result possible. After all those 2 teams get nothing for flexing muscles with Audi Peugeot and Oreca. But as a global manufacturer acura needs a good showing against other manufacturers.
Last year they let the DeFerran team and Andretti green take points away from the Highcroft team. They would have had more victories if they didn’t have to fight other P2 Acuras.
I feel they should give team orders to have them go all out for a win if possible. Besides they need the competition.
Is pescarolo loosing sponsorship…Is the Sarthe region hit hard by the economic climate?
I think what happened is that with Peugeot (french team)winning the lemans 24h there’s no more need to support Pescarolo as much so Henri probably lost some backing.
After all, the french backers were only concerned with a french team giving a strong showing at La Sarthe. But now that Peugeot has come of age and Oreca is making strides (big time), Pescarolo isn’t the lone favorite child anymore. Especially since they were the reason Audi was allowed on the podium.
They should setup a five star hospitality area for Playstation Sony officials try to put on a good show in the race and then ask the corporate guys for increased Playstation sponsorship.
So if I’m not mistaken, with Aston Martin winning the title Gulf might decide to sponsor them for another season.
Another great day for a fantastic race series. My friends at work (who are more used to F1) were amazed when I said that JCB started 38th and was 1st within about 1-hour!
As an Aston Martin fan I was of-course delighted to see them win the title and take the class win in GT1.
I’m already looking forward to the next season.
Go JCB! Amazing driving. The main is real talent! wish we could see Pesca at Petit but look forward to a domination of the Petrol class next year at LM. Maybe if they could get JCB, Christophe Bouchut and Joua Barbosa all together they could do it!
Lucky Porsche Champions? No Sir…
I think the Porsche 997 GT3-RSR is better than the Ferrari F430 GT2 car. It just for some reason, Porsche sucks on the long distance level. But Hopefully with there new lineup with race cars. They should improve them even more.
I would love to see Porsche also go to GT1 class. But I highly doubt that would happen. Especially with what’s going on in to Le Mans Series…
Il est seulement un rêveur….