The Virgo Ferrari is performing well at their first Le Mans
Rob Bell
Harold Primat
Stuart Moseley
ALMS Teams
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Rob Bell
Rob Bell produced the first sub-four minutes lap time in a GT2 Ferrari in Le Mans 24 Hour race qualifying yesterday. Driving the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari Bell posted a 3:59.82 lap in the second of the two qualifying sessions ahead of the legendary endurance race this weekend.
Bell partners with Tim Sugden and Tim Mullen in the Ferrari 430 GT2 sportscars and runs with Virgo Motorsport, a team which is making its Le Mans 24 Hour race debut this year. Bell had his first taste of this unique event last year, finishing fifth, and is hoping to improve on this result with the Ferrari.
Bell says of breaking the 4 minutes barrier, "I’m really pleased to have broken the record for a GT2 Ferrari here. No one has ever set a lap time under 4 minutes with this car, so it is a significant achievement, made a little more sweeter by beating the Risi car, which is close to being a factory entry. This car, the nearest Ferrari to us was over 1.5 seconds off us, so it was a great effort by our team. "For me personally, it’s great to be the top Ferrari driver. We had a good qualifying run with the Dunlops working really well, but Porsche seem to have pulled something out of the bag and were unbeatable in qualifying. I don’t know whether they were running a qualifying engine, but if that’s the case, it’s perhaps not surprising to be pipped by them, as we were running with our race package.
"Our prospects for the race remain good despite the advantage that Porsche seem to have. We have a really strong driver line-up, a great car and an excellent team behind us, so we’re set to take the fight to the Porsches."
The race build up began on Wednesday with the first two qualifying sessions. It quickly became clear that the Porsche had the edge on the Ferrari with their straight line speed, with the first two positions in GT2 taken by the German manufacturer and Virgo Motorsport third quickest. The positions remained the same after the second session. Yesterday the final two qualifying sessions produced plenty of tight battles in GT2 and it was in the second session that Bell dipped under four minutes, although the lap time still left two Porsches ahead on the GT2 grid.
Today the team prepares for tomorrow’s race action, while the drivers take centre stage with a parade in the Le Mans town centre. Track action returns on Saturday morning with a 45 minutes warm up session at 9am local time. The race will start at 3pm local time (2pm in the UK).
Harold Primat
#17 Pescarolo to start on row six at Le Mans 24 Hours
Harold Primat, Christophe Tinseau and Benoit Treluyer will start the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours from 11th on the grid after the conclusion of qualifying on Thursday evening.
The drivers didn't improve their time, as Christophe Tinseau aborted his best lap after being caught in traffic, but the team were happy with the work they managed on the car's race set up.
Crucially, the Geneva-based Primat also managed some useful night running, after missing out on Wednesday when the session was red flagged. Needing three laps in the darkness hours to meet the ACO criteria to be eligible for the race, Primat comfortably accomplished his goal and was pleased with his consistent lap times.
Primat: "We're pretty much where we want to be. There are six diesel cars we can't compete with, but we're still in the fight with the Courage-Orecas and the Domes. We don't know what will happen with the Peugeots and Audis in the race as they're so desperate to beat each other and sometimes that can lead to problems with reliability. That, on the other hand, is Pescarolo Sport's strength so now we must concentrate on not making any mistakes and the team having a good strategy. Le Mans is about concentrating on your own race."
Tinseau: "We worked mainly on race set up and made a change to the front damper which has improved the front grip. We have car which will be easy to drive in the race, which was the target for tonight. 11th is a good position to start the race."
Treluyer: "The car was pretty good and handled well even with a full tank. I think we're all pretty happy with our set up, and while we're not the quickest car, I'd say it was one of the most comfortable to drive which is the most important thing for a 24 hour race."
Team Principal Henri Pescarolo: "The team has a lot of work to do now in fitting the race engine, gearbox and suspension, but, importantly, the drivers are happy with their car. We are all ready for the race."
Stuart Moseley
Stuart Moseley, (30, St Ives, Cambs, UK) has completed his qualifying duties with the Barazi Epsilon team in preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours which starts tomorrow. The team worked on the Zytek car in the first sessions on Wednesday and put in a qualifying time that was enough for them to start third in their LMP2 class. They were so happy with the car that on Thursday they prepared the car for the race and only completed a handful of laps to make sure that everything was ready.
Michael Vergers was tasked with the qualifying run and set a time of 3:35.344. Stuart's task was to run in race set-up and help determine their target race pace for the 24 hours of running.
Today (Friday) is a day off from the track but this evening sees one of the pre-race highlights when all the drivers take part in a parade in Le Mans town centre. Thousands of fans turn out to see the heroes that will attempt the world's most famous race.
Stuart Moseley:
"The way it panned out Juan and I had a run on Wednesday then Michael had a go to make sure he was happy with the balance and did a qualifying run. From there we concentrated on race set- up and made sure that we were happy with night running and the lights and things. As we were all happy we fitted the race engine during the day yesterday before the sessions. Juan and I ran a few laps in the first session and then Michael had a run in the dark as he didn't get to do that on Wednesday. We kept it to a minimum as we were all happy so we didn't wear it out! It's very good. The car is very easy and very comfortable to drive at the pace we want to run in the race. As for the race - it's beating the race first then worrying about beating anyone else out there."
ALMS Teams
MAGNUSSEN GIVES CORVETTE FIRST LE MANS POLE
Corvette Racing's record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2001 is as impressive as any with five GT1 victories. Jan Magnussen gave America's premier sports car team its first pole position in the world's greatest race on Thursday. Magnussen turned a lap of 3:47.688 (133.911 mph) to better his time set Wednesday in the Corvette C6.R he will share with Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows.
Magnussen and Patrick Long in GT2 gave the American Le Mans Series two drivers on class pole positions for the weekend's 76th running of Le Mans.
The two-day qualifying session continued the momentum the Corvette drivers established in the first half of the American Le Mans Series season. The trio in the No. 63 factory entry won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Magnussen and O'Connell lead the GT1 championship with three victories in four races.
Magnussen, O'Connell and Fellows have combined for 74 American Le Mans Series victories to go along with eight wins at Le Mans. Magnussen's time was just 0.093 seconds ahead of Christophe Bouchut in the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R, the smallest of margins over an 8.468-mile circuit.
Oliver Gavin in the other works Corvette qualified third at 3:48.539 (133.400 mph); Gavin will drive with Olivier Beretta and Max Papis. They did not finish last year's race after the Corvette's driveshaft failed in the first two hours. He was less than a half-second ahead of Aston Martin Racing's David Brabham in the No. 009 Aston Martin DBR9.
Long threw down a stunning lap of 3:58.152 (128.016 mph) in the IMSA Performance Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. America's lone Porsche factory driver is going for a class repeat with Richard Lietz and Raymond Narac. Long, who drives a Porsche RS Spyder with Sascha Maassen for Penske Racing in the US, was just ahead of Wolf Henzler in the Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche.
Henzler drives for Flying Lizard Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series and leads the driver's championship with Jorg Bergmeister. Driving with Alex Davison and Horst Felbermayr, Henzler's qualifying time was 3:59.072 (127.523 mph) in his Le Mans debut.
Speaking of Flying Lizard, the team elected to concentrate on race setup Thursday and did not improve on Bergmeister's time of 4:00.106 (126.974 mph) he set Wednesday. He will drive with Johannes van Overbeek and Seth Neiman. Risi Competizione, the other American Le Mans Series representation in the class, saw its Ferrari F430 GTs qualify sixth and 11th in GT2.
Sascha Maassen, Long's teammate at Penske, qualified second in LMP2 in Team Essex's Porsche RS Spyder. Maassen's time from Wednesday of 3:33.441 (142.836 mph) held up Thursday and ended 1.14 seconds behind Jos Verstappen in the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche.
The top five positions didn't change Thursday. Peugeot's three diesel- powered Peugeot 908s were quickest with Stephane Sarrazin setting a Le Mans record with a lap of 3:18.513 (153.578 mph) on Wednesday. Allan McNish was the quickest of the nine Audi drivers with a 3:23.847 (149.559 mph) in the Audi R10 TDI that he will drive with Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen. McNish's time was third quickest overall Thursday behind a pair of Peugeots.
The Team Cytosport/Charouz Racing System Lola-Judd of Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Jan Lammers finished qualifying 12th fastest overall and in LMP1 with Graf improving to at 3:31.135 (144.397 mph). Autocon Motorsports' Creation-Judd of Michael Lewis, Chris McMurry and Bryan Willman made the biggest jump of the day by nearly nine seconds. Lewis' time of 3:47.695 (133.895 mph) was the Creation's best lap.
The 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans runs from 9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. local time) Saturday, June 14 to 9 a.m. ET Sunday, June 15 from the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. Forty-four drivers will represent the American Le Mans Series, whose teams have captured seven overall victories and 22 class championships since 1999. SPEED will televise the event live, and Radio Le Mans will have flag-to-flag coverage of the race as well as practice and qualifying on June 11 and 12.