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FLM Winter Series: DAMS versus Boutsen Energy

© circuit paul ricard

The DAMS and Boutsen Energy Racing teams were in control in the third round of the Formula Le Mans Winter Series at Paul Ricard. Both teams were at the front in all three races as well as qualifying today. Some 800 spectators made the trip to the circuit.

In qualifying it was DAMS that took fastest, third and fourth place, with its drivers also taking fifth and seventh place. Nelson Pantiatici was fastest of all drivers, the young French driver posted a 2:01.237, half a second quicker than rival Dominik Kraihamer and exactly 1.5 seconds quicker than veteran driver Sebastian Dumez.

Panciatici secured the pole position for race one, but was unable to profit from his pole, Dumez for race two and Guillaume Bermond for the third and final race.

Dominik Kraihamer dominated the opening race on Sunday afternoon. The Boutsen Energy Racing driver took full advantage of Nelson Panciatici’s bad luck. The DAMS driver had qualified on pole position, but did not complete a single lap in the first race.

The young Austrian managed to pull away from the cars behind him and kept setting fast lap times. Behind him Andrea Barlesi (DAMS-FLM09) dropped from second to fifth on the opening lap, allowing Frederic Rouvier (Radical France-Radical SR8 LM) to move into second place. Barlesi did not give up and after passing Roland Berville (DAMS-FLM09) and Jacques Nicolet (Boutsen-FLM09) he was soon chasing the Radical again. After 5 laps Barlesi was back in second place, but far behind Kraihamer. Rouvier was third until lap 10 when Fabien Thuner in the Hope PoleVision FLM09 passed him.

After fifteen laps Kraihamer crossed the line 51.802 seconds ahead of Andrea Barlesi in the DAMS FLM09. Thuner and Nicolet followed at 54.073 and 57.771 seconds from Kraihamer. Nicolas Misslin was the quickest GT driver; his JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT3 was eighth overall, with the best GT2 car the JMB Ferrari F430 GT2 of Peter Kutemann in fourteenth place.

Race 2 saw the two JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT2s of Kutemann and Arjan van der Zwaan not in action. DAMS driver Sebastien Dumez (#7) was on pole position with the second DAMS car of Guillaume Bermond (#6) starting from second position. Kraihamer’s teammate Norbert Lenzenwerger started the race from the fifth row.

Lenzenwerger only completed one lap before retiring, just like Ian Astley in the #2 Hope Pole Vision FLM09. The two DAMS drivers had no problems however and kept their positions on the track. Dumez slowly got away from Bermond, but behind them there was a big gap to third place. Alessandro Cicognani was in third place on the first couple of laps, but soon he was passed by the #3 Hope Pole Vision FLM09 of Christophe Pillon and the #5 Boutsen Energy Racing FLM09 of Richard Hein.

Fifteen laps and 31 minutes after the start of the race Dumez took the checkered flag, with Bermond securing a DAMS 1-2. A second and a half behind Bermond it was Pillon who finished in third place. Chris Goodwin took the Oreca Audi R8 LMS to seventh overall, best in the GT class.

The third and final race would see another DAMS victory. Guillaume Bermond started from pole position, with Boutsen’s Kraihamer next to him on row 1. At the start Bermond got away cleanly and quickly created a gap to the rest of the field. As the DAMS driver continued to pull away the rest of the field swapped positions on more than one occasion. Kraihamer lost his position to Pillon early in the race, but was back in second place after four laps. Behind him Berville dropped from fourth place all the way to tenth overall, but he also made a strong comeback and when he handed over the car to Dumez the #7 DAMS FLM09 improved track position lap after lap. Other drivers were less competitive and lost valuable places, the #4 car eventually dropping from second to fifth.

After one hour it was the #6 DAMS FLM09 of Bermond and Panciatici that crossed the line in first place. The #7 car of Berville and Dumez finished in second place at 1:15.536 of the winners. Just under seven seconds behind were Pillon/Thuner in the Hope PoleVision #3 FLM09. Klaas Hummel and Chris Goodwin were the best of the GT drivers, their Audi Team ORECA Audi R8 LMS finished in seventh overall, while the #31 JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT2 of Siebrand Dijkstra and Arjan van der Zwaan finished in ninth place.

The third weekend was also the final weekend of the Formula Le Mans Winter Series 2009-2010. All teams will now prepare for the new race season.