The Modena Aston Martin almost had a heavy crash after hitting oil
Larbre
Modena
Jos Menten
Lola
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Larbre
Larbre miss Le Mans GT1 pole by narrowest of margins
Larbre Competition will start the 91st edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours from second on the GT1-class grid after missing pole position by just one tenth of a second in Thursday's second and final qualifying session.
Having seen both the works Corvettes lower their best laps and the two works Aston Martins also improve significantly, Christophe Bouchut responded with a time of 3:47.761, over three seconds quicker than his best from Wednesday's session, to take second. However, he felt he could have been even quicker had he not been blocked by the pole winning Corvette on his best lap. His next flying lap saw him go faster again in the first and second sectors, but it came to nothing as he put a wheel on the grass in sector three and saw his attempts to take a second consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours GT1 pole position foiled. Nevertheless, his time for the privateer team was eight tenths quicker than the second works Corvette and over a second faster than the lead car of last year's race winners Aston Martin Racing.
Meanwhile, David Hallyday enjoyed significantly more night time running, having only managed a single lap on Wednesday due to the session being red flagged, and comfortably completed his compulsory three laps to ensure his eligibility for the race. Patrick Bornhauser also impressed, continuing his trend of posting consistent lap times throughout his stints.
Team Principal Jack Leconte commented: "Our level of performance was incredible and once again Christophe produced a magical lap. The fight for pole position was extremely complicated and difficult against a big opponent like Corvette. I guess, when you see your main rival turning the timing screen green in the first two sectors, you make sure you're on track at the right place! However to be second, so close to the Corvette, and so far ahead of the Aston Martins, is very pleasing."
Christophe Bouchut: "I'm pleased to be second but quite angry with the Corvette. On my quickest lap he was a long way in front of me on the track, but slowed down to make sure I caught him and then blocked me from the Porsche Curves all the way to the end of the start/finish straight. There were plenty of opportunities to go off line and allow me to pass, but he didn't. Despite that, we are four seconds quicker than the Saleen managed here last year, which is a very good achievement."
David Hallyday: "When the Aston Martins went ahead of us, we decided to concentrate on improving our best time with Christophe and he did a great job. We have a very good car, but we know the race will be tough. The Astons and Corvettes are quick and reliable, but we'll think about our strategy and wait and see what happens."
Patrick Bornhauser: "My job was to shake down the race engine and I also did some work on the gearbox and gave my feedback on the overall set up. Everything went very well and I'm very happy ahead of the race."
Modena
Team Modena On Pace After Le Mans Qualifying
Le Mans 24-Hours qualifying proved to be incident filled for Team Modena, but the team's professionalism shone through and a fine final session saw the car showing its pace and the team confident for the race. Eighth in the LM GT1class , the team's Aston Martin DBR9 was able to lap quickly, Christian Fittipaldi setting the car's best time in the gathering darkness, but more importantly the three drivers, Christian, Jos Menten and Terry Borcheller now feel they have a car that will be quick and drivable in the 24-hours itself.
On the team's third visit to the French endurance classic a variety of issues had to be overcome on the first evening of qualifying, before they were finally able to demonstrate the potential of their DBR9. Wednesday's qualifying saw a mix of problems deny the team crucial track time, a problem with the windscreen seeing that replaced during the first session - a lengthy job - and then suspected debris on the track caused damage and saw Terry pull off as the engine lost its oil
"Something happened to the windscreen, said Christian, "it was clear, but maybe 'distorted' is how to describe it. It was hard to judge the braking points, you either braked too early or too late, and I went off, Jos went off, and Terry did one lap and came back in."
"There was a lot of smoke," said Terry on Wednesday evening, "and I am just glad we didn't wreck the car as the oil came out and hit the rear tyres in the Porsche Curves - a tricky part of the course. I couldn't see anything with the smoke in the car - but maybe we are just getting all these things out the way, I'll take it happening now rather then the race."
Quick running by Christian at the start of Thursday put the team back on course, the Brazilian took to the track at the start of the session and lapped the Aston Martin over three seconds quicker than in Wednesday evening's dramatic sessions.
"The car was fine," said Christian, "I am a lot happier today and we have a decent race car underneath us, it is just a shame that with all our problems we never had the opportunity to put some sticky tyres on and really go for a time. I think we could have been close to the factory cars if not amongst them.
"I was pretty comfortable in the car and the laps I did in the beginning were taking it easy and feeling everything, race pace, not pushing at all, there was just a little bit of traffic here and there. I think that now in our preparation this year we have got all of our problems out the way, the car is better than last year - we have a better piece of machinery underneath and it is a little bit quicker."
All three drivers were pleased with how the Aston Martin was handling, and felt the team were now in good shape for the challenge ahead. After losing some time when a wheel came off with Jos aboard near the end of Thursday's first session, a fine final session saw the team running the quickest laps they had put in all week.
"We are now feeling good about things," said Jos. "I have had some bad luck, though when I went off yesterday that was my fault, and then today the wheel came off, but I hope we have got rid of all the bad luck now and we have a good race.
"I know the car from last year and the team gave me the confidence to go for a fast lap. I was held up, and that cost me some time. I am pretty happy with what we have done - all three of us are close on times which is good for the race."
"We have made progress," said Terry, "I am happy and we will have a good car under us for a good race and are getting better every time we go out. We've learned what we can and can't do with the soft tyre, and it has been a much better day than yesterday. I think the car is good, I am limited on laps, but I feel good and we will be fine come race time."
In the gathering gloom Jos was the first driver to do a sub-3m54s lap in the car, and a few laps later Christian put in the car's quickest lap of the week, in what was almost full darkness, with a 3m53.031s lap to see the car 43rd on the 55-car grid.
"We have had a positive end to the evening," said Sporting Director Rik Bryan, "and got a lot of work done and made the most of the track time. We are happy with the set-up of the car and set a solid time we are happy with, it's not critically important in a 24-Hour race to be qualifying near the front, but it is nice to know what pace you are on.
"We've done some good work in the dark, tried a few things, and the drivers are now very happy. We had a slight drama earlier this evening when we lost a wheel, but that was due to a faulty wheel and nothing the team have done - we've come a huge way this evening."
There is no running at Le Mans on Friday, the highlight of the day being the traditional driver parade through the streets of the town which is scheduled to start at 18.00. The race itself starts at 15.00 on Saturday afternoon.
Jos Menten
54 out of the 55 competing cars passed the scrutineering on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th June. Only the Italian Racing Box team's Lucchini Judd-proto stayed behind at the Le Mans circuit. The Aston Martin DBR9 of Team Modena was amongst the 54 cars. At 10:50hrs precisely the team run by Rik Bryan and Graham Schulz presented themselves at the traditional 'pesage' located on the Place des Jacobins. Jos Menten, together with his team-mates Christian Fittipaldi and Terry Borcheller were also present.
"I'm glad to be back and I'm fully prepared for it. Last year I still had to adapt to the circuit, but that definitely won't be the case this year. All three of us have experience of driving the Aston Martin and we know the track. On top of that the team can work with data collated over the last three years. I honestly believe that we can assume to have the strongest team out of all the privateers. Should the works' cars drop a stitch we'll be there to take over the command", a combative Jos Menten remarked.
However it's not all plain sailing during the qualifying sessions on Wednesday. A problem with the windscreen keeps the Aston Martin DBR9 in its pit box as from 20:00hrs. All three drivers had complained about poor visibility, and the team decided to fit a new one. Not a self-evident task, and specialists are called in to assist: "It's clear, but maybe 'distorted' is the way to describe it. At first we thought that this was due to our 'tear offs', but it now appears to be the windscreen that is to blame. The team are now going to fit a new windscreen so that we can go into the attack between 22:00hrs and midnight", the driver from Haelen comments.
At 22:00hrs on Wednesday the light switches to green for the second session. As the sun sets in the background Team Modena get everything ready to ensure that all drivers complete the three compulsory night laps. But once more Lady Luck is not on the same side as Menten and co. After 30 minutes the British team are forced to break off the night training due to engine problems. Terry Borcheller has no other choice but to park the Aston Martin next to the track, with a cockpit filled with blue smoke. Fortunately the Aston Martin V10-power unit has not suffered any serious damage and the same engine can be used for Thursday's sessions. The Aston Martin DBR9 #59 finishes Wednesday's qualifying sessions in tenth place in the LMGT1-class, having clocked up a poor 3:58".
All those who reckoned that the devil wouldn't be playing any further tricks with the team from High Wycombe on Thursday were wrong. After the stints put in by Fittipaldi and Borcheller everything goes wrong around 21:00hrs: "The right rear wheel bolt loosened, and I lost my wheel. End of the third session, with hardly any kilometres completed. Hopefully we can make up our arrears during the last two hours. We still need to complete our night laps, so we must make sensible use of these two hours", Menten continues.
Matters improve during the final two qualifying hours. All three drivers complete their compulsory laps, after which Menten and Fittipaldi raise the pace. Wednesday's 3:58" is reduced to a 3:53", resulting in an eighth spot in LMGT1: "We could have gone faster, but that would have meant fitting soft tyres. All in all we're satisfied with the improvement made. On the set-up front everything is perfect. The fine tuning is obviously of major importance in such a wear and tear race as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Let's hope that we have had our share of bad luck and that we'll have a trouble- free race."
Lola
On Thursday 12 June, Lola Cars were honoured in the build up to this weekend’s 24 Heures Du Mans, as company owner and Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane received the prestigious ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ trophy. Collecting the award from the President of the ACO, Jean-Claude Plassart during the official function held at the famed ACO Museum at the Circuit De La Sarthe in Le Mans. Birrane now joins the highly acclaimed list of previous winners that include Paul Frere, Derek Bell, Phil Hill, Jacky Icky, Tom Kristensen and Wolfgang Ullrich.
The award is a fitting accolade to Lola’s 50th Anniversary celebrations at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Since 1997, the marque’s enviable position has been strengthened under the ownership of Martin Birrane, who has kept the company at the forefront of the motor sport industry, winning a variety of International series during his ownership of Lola.
Birrane competed at the Le Mans 24 Hours a grand total of 10 times as a driver, winning his class in the 1985 running of the classic endurance event. Birrane said: "Since my first visit I have always been touched by the spirit of the Le Mans 24 Hours. This award is a great honour during a year when Lola has a record seven prototypes competing in the race.
"This is a special weekend in more ways than one. We are not only celebrating the 76th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours - the most prestigious and the greatest motor race in the world – we are also celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Lola - another icon of world motor sport. I can think of no better way to do this than to have our biggest entry at Le Mans this year (with 7 cars) since 1979.
"I and everyone at Lola are indebted to everyone involved in the Le Mans 24 Hours for the prominence it have given us on this landmark occasion and I thank the ACO for the great honour it was to collect such an award."
The Huntingdon based marque had plenty to celebrate both on and off the track at Le Mans, after a Lola finished the final qualifying session in 6th position, to claim the highest place for a petrol powered entry by 1.8 seconds and in so doing beating one of the Audi R10 diesel sportscars. Stefan Mucke set the time for the Charouz Racing System Lola B08/60 powered by Aston Martin with a superb 3m25.158s lap. He did this despite the team losing time during practice one on Wednesday when gearshift problems reduced track time for Mucke and his team mates Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge.
Other notable performances by Lola sportcars included last year’s 5th placed LMP1 finisher, the Charouz (Cytosport) entered B07/10-Judd of Klaus Graf, Greg Pickett and Jan Lammers. The experienced trio line-up 12th on the grid and are confident that they can take their qualifying form in to the weekend’s race with the Judd powered Lola.
Chamberlain Synergy completes the Lola LMP1 entries with Bob Berridge, Amanda Stretton and Gareth Evans enjoying a trouble free session to line-up 23d with a best time of 3m38.024. The all-new Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 LMP2 Coupe showed flashes of pace in the LMP2 division but were denied a shot at the Porsche LMP2 Spyders when red flags interrupted potential LMP2 pole laps on Wednesday evening. Steve Zacchia crashed the Judd powered at the first Mulsanne chicane on Thursday but excellent work by the Hugh Hayden led team saw the car return briefly in the final night session. They line up 4th in the ultra competitive LMP2class.
RML and Quifel-ASM are side-by-side on the grid in 6th and 7th on the LMP2 grid. RML fought back with typical tenacity after an accident befell Andy Wallace on Wednesday. Mike Newton and Tommy Erdos will be hoping to go for an unprecedented hat-trick of LMP2 wins in the familiar and popular red, white and blue MG engined Lola.
As well as immensely fast sportscars, Lola also prides itself in producing safe cars. This was proved beyond doubt during Wednesday’s second qualifying session when Hideki Noda crashed spectacularly on the entry to the Dunlop chicane. His Kruse-Schiller Lola LMP2 rolled five times, destroying much of the bodywork and suspension on the Huntingdon built chassis. With the survival cell protecting the Japanese racer from any injury, the team, with the help of Lola engineers, set about the massive task of rebuilding the car for the warm-up on Saturday morning.