Sugden and Virgo were going well before an engine problem hit late in the race
Tim Sugden
Alex Davison
Pierre Ragues
Caparo
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Tim Sugden
Almost the ultimate in disappointment for Tim Sugden and the Virgo team in the Le Mans 24 Hour race over the weekend as their Ferrari 430 holed a piston after over 21 hours of the race whilst lying 2nd in GT2 and chasing down the leader. The team had done a magnificent job and were running just over a lap behind the ultimate winners with a lead of over 5 laps to the 3rd place Ferrari.
Whilst Tim was in car they had moved to 2nd place around 10.30 pm on Saturday evening having lost time in the pits working on the power steering system which failed early in race. Unable to fix this problem they continued and were lapping consistently faster than other cars until it rained during the night. The lack of power steering made life even more difficult in the wet conditions and the team lost a little time to the leading Risi Competitione car but gained on the rest and as the morning brought a dry road they began to cut the gap again before Rob Bell brought the car in with engine trouble and enforced retirement with less than 3 hours to go.
The Virgo team had prepared well, the car having had a full rebuild including a brand new race engine at the Michelotti factory that holds the contract from Ferrari to develop the race version of the F430. As the car also runs as the development team for Dunlop race tyres they had high hopes of a podium and looked set to deliver at least 2nd for MCW Properties and AJ Power who are the team sponsors. Practice had gone according to plan with 3rd place on the grid in GT2 and no technical problems; pit stops were slick when no extra work was required with the car running 55 minutes on a tank of fuel and double stinting tyres.
Virgo must now work to retain their Le Mans Series title where they are leading the championship by 1 point over the German Felbermyer Porsche team with two races to go, Nurburgring on August 17th and Silverstone on September 14th, winning this series again will ensure an entry to the 24 Hour race for next year.
Tim's next races are at Zuhai in China next weekend where he defends his Porsche Carrera Cup title for his regular team GruppeM racing.
Alex Davison
Alex Davison finished fifth in the LM GT2 class in his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut overnight, after a gearbox problem thwarted the Australian's quest for class victory in the sportscar classic.
Davison and team-mates Wolf Henzler and Horst Felbermayr Sr were running second in LM GT2 and closing on the class leading Ferrari when their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR struck gear selection problems during the ninth hour.
After repairs by the Team Felbermayr-Proton crew, the #77 entry returned to the track 15 laps behind the class front-runners.
Despite continuing to set a strong pace, limited LM GT2 attrition prevented the team from improving on fifth in class and 27th outright from 55 starters.
"It's a shame we had the problem with the gearbox," the Melbourne driver said.
"We were on-track for a class podium and looking good to challenge the Ferrari for the GT2 win.
"The repairs put us a long way behind and the class is so competitive that attrition is the only way to make up any ground when you've gone 15 laps down.
"Getting to the end is a huge achievement in itself, given the amount of cars and drivers that got into trouble out there, and was some consolation for the Team Felbermayr-Proton crew after all of their hard work."
Davison was selected to start the race, doing so from first in LM GT2 after the pole-sitting Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche was sent to the back of the grid after a pre-grid infringement.
He led the opening lap and settled into a rhythm, letting several cars running softer tyres through in the early stages to maintain a strong top-four position.
Over the following hours, Henzler and Davison rotated the class lead with the #82 Ferrari F430 of Mika Salo, Gimmi Bruni and Jamie Melo as the two cars made pitstops.
All the while, the Porsche made inroads into the Ferrari's overall lead, with Davison setting a string of fastest laps during a double-stint to reduce the deficit to 24 seconds, having been almost one minute earlier in the race.
With Henzler behind the wheel just before midnight, the car was forced into the pits for gearbox repairs, ending the team's charge for class victory and costing them an almost-certain class podium.
"Starting the race and leading the class on my first-ever racing lap of Le Mans was a great feeling," he said.
"Over the next few hours we were maintaining a really strong pace, Wolf and I were comfortable in the car and we had halved the Ferrari's lead before the gearbox problem struck."
Over the remaining 15 hours, Davison continued to set impressive laptimes in a number of double and triple stints, regularly the fastest LM GT2 competitor on track without putting a foot wrong in challenging conditions including night tracktime and wet weather.
After 24 hours, the #77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche had completed 309 laps in the race, which was won outright by the Audi prototype of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello, while the #82 Ferrari went on to win LM GT2.
"Overall, it has been an awesome experience and something I'll remember forever," Davison said of Le Mans.
"The circuit is amazing, it's up there with anything I have ever driven on before, and the build-up and atmosphere at the event is incredible.
"Unfortunately we had the gearbox problem which cost us a lot of time mid-race, but we're proud of our performance and what we achieved."
Davison's next race will be Round Four of the European Le Mans Series, the Nurburgring 1000km in Germany on 15-17 August.
Pierre Ragues
It was another thrilling chapter in the history of the mythical race track; Le Mans vintage 2008 did not sour its exceptional reputation. Played out on a field of dreams, it was a contest that certainly lived up to its expectations, in front of an attending throng of some 260,000 spectators -- Simply magical!
Frenchman Pierre Ragues scored a superb podium in the LMP2 category, at the helm of his number 35 Pescarolo-Judd, which he drove alongside compatriot Matthieu Lahaye and the Chineseman Chen Con Fu.
This year's 24-Hours action got underway in the best possible way: On Wednesday evening, an excellent time of 3m42s put the team among the front-running positions of the LMP2 class in the first qualifying session.
Thursday's second qualification session to determine the starting grid went, however, less than satisfactorily for the three drivers and their team after an engine failure stopped them on the first lap!
Ragues was therefore robbed of his chance to push the car to its limits by using his available stock of qualifying tyres. The end result was just seventh place in the LMP2 category, and a 14th row grid start for the daunting Le Mans challenge, which everyone universally describes as the 'trial of the year'.
At the chequered flag, the LMP2 team, led with plenty of determination by team boss Francois Sicard, achieved a resounding success. Sicard shared the joy of his third trip to the podium with his three drivers, with Pierre unable to hide his emotions.
The 24-year-old driver commented: "This podium in LMP2 is a real victory that we developed together step by step, working well on the development and reliability of the car. I am really satisfied with the performance and the rhythm set during the race, even in the difficult conditions through the rain. The car was very well balanced and we exploited it to its maximum. I'd like particularly to thank the team for its fantastic work, and for the very competitive and reliable equipment that we had at our disposal. Thanks also to my two team-mates; I was able to appreciate real teamwork. This result satisfies me, and I cannot wait to take up the wheel again very soon in testing to prepare as well as possible for the next Le Mans Series meeting, at the Nurburgring in mid-August."
Caparo
Caparo-supported Barazi Epsilon team finishes fifth in LMP2 class
In their first outing at the 24 hours of Le Mans, the Caparo-supported Barazi Epsilon team finished a commendable fifth in the LMP2 class. Having qualified third in class, the team ran strongly in the opening hours of the race, holding onto third position, before a number of minor problems with the car's fuel pressure and suspension cost them valuable time. At the conclusion of the 24 hours, the team completed 304 laps giving Caparo extensive experience of sportscar racing and a valuable insight into possible applications for its various technologies.
"I am delighted with the result of the race and the experience it has given Caparo," says Angad Paul, chief executive officer, Caparo. "As one of the most challenging races in the motorsport calendar we have seen first hand the demanding environment that sportcars have to deal with. We can now look in more detail at how we can apply our wide range of technologies to develop lightweight components and structures for this highly-competitive environment."
The Barazi Epsilon team was one of two teams competing at Le Mans to use a Zytek 07S chassis, and the only one to complete the full 24 hours. The car was driven by Juan Barazi, Michael Vergers and Stuart Moseley, who coped magnificently in the closing hours of the race by successfully controlling the car and returning it to the pits after a puncture at high speed on the Mulsanne Straight. The tyre deflation caused significant bodywork damage and meant the team lost further time while the car was rebuilt.
Following Le Mans, Caparo will now evaluate the opportunities for further involvement in sportscar racing for the 2009 season. The company's automotive expertise covers many areas where it is applying innovative design and manufacturing techniques to help vehicle manufacturers reduce lead times and focus on weight reduction. "I am excited about the opportunities for Caparo's involvement in high-level motorsport," continues Paul. "Our weight reduction technologies such as lightweight brakes and new carbon composite technology could deliver significant benefits for teams helping them to achieve greater levels of success on the track. Additionally, motorsport involvement could provide us with a rigorous and demanding test-environment for many of our new design and manufacturing techniques which we hope to make more widely available to mainstream automotive manufacturers."
In order to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the company's automotive technology capabilities, Caparo developed the ultra high performance track-focused T1 which weighs just 550kg and produces more than 1,000bhp/tonne. 80 percent of the vehicle's content is manufactured by Caparo, including the composite body, engine and advanced braking system