After an early race drama, Primat and Tinseau were able to score an unlikely point
Harold Primat
Liz Halliday
Rob Bell
Tomas Enge
Michelin
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Harold Primat
Primat and Tinseau fight back for impossible point at the Nurburgring
Geneva-based Harold Primat and co-driver Christophe Tinseau completed a sensational comeback in their Pescarolo 01-Judd to grab eighth in the LMP1 class and a crucial championship point on the last lap of the Nurburgring 1000kms.
The remarkable points finish was achieved despite the pair losing around 23 minutes in the pits when the team were forced to replace the left rear driveshaft after a failure early in the race.
The result means they remain right in the hunt to end the season as the best-placed petrol-powered car as a number of their rivals failed to finish while the Charouz Racing Lola Aston Martin is just one point ahead in the championship standings.
Having qualified 11th Christophe Tinseau took the start and made good progress early in the race to climb to eighth overall. Unfortunately, just after his first scheduled pit stop, the transmission broke as he exited the pit lane and he had to return immediately for the team to carry out repairs.
Primat rejoined the race at the back of the field in 43rd place overall and behind the entire GT2 and GT1 class field. With the race looking like a lost cause, he began the seemingly impossible task of recording a respectable result. Over the next hour and half the combination of determination and consistent lap times proved vital as one by one he reeled in his rivals. By the end of his productive double stint the respectable result had been achieved, handing the car back to Tinseau in a promising 26th position. With the Frenchman continuing the recovery drive, taking advantage as several LMP1 cars hit trouble, it wasn't long before the Pescarolo was running inside the top 20 overall and top ten in class.
The chance of a miraculous points finished seemed to have ended with ten laps to go though as the duo were still too far adrift of the next LMP1 car. With Primat back behind the wheel for the final stint, an unexpectedly lengthy pit stop for the Rollcentre Pescarolo presented one last chance to cap an extraordinary fight back. On a day that had started with such misfortune, lady luck would reward the team's efforts. With nearly all of the 1000 kilometres completed, Harold closed in and passed the troubled machine midway through the last lap to grab the final LMP1 point and 19th overall.
Harold Primat: "The car's been very good all weekend apart from that one problem. It's very unfortunate as we had the potential to get P6 overall and P2 of the petrol cars which would have been great. We both drove really hard to fight back through the field and got an unexpected bonus to get the point at the end. It's not the result we were hoping for at the beginning of the weekend but it shows that in motor racing you should never give up and that is the attitude I always take. We saw how hard the team worked to make the repairs and we wanted to push just as hard in the race to say thank you. In the championship, the fight to be the best petrol car is still on. We need a strong, trouble-free race in the last round at Silverstone and then we have got a chance."
Christophe Tinseau: "We don't have much luck at the Nurburgring. The gearbox failed here last year and this year the driveshaft! I felt it break as I left the pit lane and initially thought it was a wheel nut. It's a shame as after it was fixed we had good pace and could've easily challenged in the top six."
Henri Pescarolo: "It's the second time we've had a driveshaft break this year and we don't know why as it not a problem we have ever experienced before. But the team did a good job to make the repairs quickly and both drivers fought back really well to claim a point, which is very pleasing."
Liz Halliday
Halliday takes top ten LMP1 finish in difficult Nurburgring race
Liz Halliday finished tenth in class on her LMP1 debut despite a troubled Nurburgring 1000km race which saw the Creation AIM she shared with South African Stephen Simpson suffer two lengthy pit stops.
Simpson qualified the car 18th on the grid and had climbed a couple of places in the early laps, but unfortunately a problem was brewing. Damage caused by contact with a spinning LMP2 car at the first corner caused a blockage in the cooling ducts for the starter motor and gearbox and had to be remedied to prevent later problems from occurring. As a result, considerable time was lost in making repairs. Having dropped well down the field to 42nd overall, Simpson fought back well to 25th by the time he handed over to Halliday.
Liz's first ever stint in the premier sportscar class started in unfortunate circumstances when she was hit from behind by a fellow LMP1 car on her first lap out of the pits. Rear bodywork damage forced her back into the pit lane for more repairs.
After rejoining the race back down in 38th, Halliday began to claw her way back up the field, during her stint, with Simpson continuing this good work when he returned to the car. Both drivers safely worked their way past the plethora of GT cars at the notoriously tight Nurburgring circuit and with a number of LMP1 cars falling by the wayside, they managed to recover to a respectable 22nd overall and 10th in class at the end of the six hour endurance race.
Liz Halliday: "It's been a steep learning curve but I've really enjoyed being back in the thick of the action again and I was very impressed with the whole Creation team. It's a new car and a new track for me but I think I improved throughout the race and it's been a fantastic and very worthwhile experience. I have never raced with Stephen before but he's a fantastic co-driver and very helpful. He's an easy guy to work with and very quick so I'm really looking forward to my two races in the US with him and the team."
Stephen Simpson: "This is my first ever sportscar event and before now I've never been in a race for more than an hour. Doing two double-stints was very different, but really enjoyable. I've learned so much this weekend and overall I'm really happy."
Team Principal Mike Jankowski said: "This was a big baptism of fire for Liz after such a long period out of a racing car and I think she did a really good job. Her lap times kept coming down throughout the weekend and she held her own against a quality field of drivers. I'm looking forward to working with her again at Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca later in the year."
Liz Halliday made a welcome return to the Le Mans Series field
Rob Bell
Leading British sportscar driver, Rob Bell, with team mate Gimmy Bruni and the Virgo Motorsport team defied the odds to win at the Le Mans Series weekend in Nurburgring, Germany this weekend. A fuel leak fire during Friday practice caused extensive damage to the team’s Ferrari F430 GT car, resulting in a race against time to make the grid for yesterday’s 1000km race. Not only did the hard work of the team ensure that they were ready for the start, but Bell and Bruni then put in a scorching performance to take class victory.
Friday began with a customary top of the class session for Bell and Bruni and the duo looked set to keep ahead in the lead up to the race, however on Bell’s second lap of the second session a suspected fuel leak engulfed the rear of the car with flames and Bell wisely headed for the fire marshall’s post.
Bell said of the incident, "Alarms went off and I started to lose power, then I smelt smoke and could see the flames, so I thought I’d better get off the track and out of the car. We thought our weekend was over and that the car wouldn’t be repairable in time, but the Virgo Motorsport boys did an outstanding job. I think they only had about nine or ten hours sleep the whole weekend, it was a great effort to get the car back out for the race."
Needless to say, the car was sidelined for the final practice and qualifying sessions, with the Virgo Motorsport crew working tirelessly to rebuild the Ferrari. Their efforts were valiant and the car was out for warm-up before the race, with both drivers happy with the car and ready to battle through the field in the race. They demonstrated that the unfortunate incident had not hampered their race chances as they finished the session fastest of the GT2 cars.
Bruni started the race from the pit lane, but he wasn’t prepared to hang around at the back. Within ten laps he had moved up to fourth in class, and was lapping quicker than all the other GT2 competitors. Bell’s team mate finally took the lead of the class halfway through his stint, and handed over to Bell with a 25 second head start on the second placed GT2 Porsche. Both drivers were setting the fastest laps of their class during the race, proving just how much race pace they had, despite conserving fuel. After over five hours of hard racing, the Virgo Motorsport came home to victory, nearly two laps ahead of the nearest competition; an outstanding end to one of the most challenging weekends.
Bell said of the race, "Being able to line up for the start of the race was an achievement in itself and I’d like to congratulate the Virgo Motorsport crew on a fantastic job. To finish the race was another achievement, but to win as well really capped it all. We overcame adversity and won through, which made the victory even more special – but I wouldn’t want to do it like that every time!
"We had awesome pace, just three tenths off the qualifying pole in GT2, so I reckon we might have taken pole if we’d been there. Despite conserving fuel we were lapping around a second quicker than everyone else and the car felt really good, so it was a great result for us. "The championship is not yet decided, although we’re three points ahead of the Porsche that’s in second as we head to the last round in Silverstone. We could finish second to the Porsche and still win, so we have a slight advantage and the pressure’s on them. We’ll be taking the fight to them that’s for sure."
Bell returns to racing action in the FIA GT Championship, with the CR Scuderia team in Bucharest next weekend.
Tomas Enge
Tomas Enge was able to convert the qualifying speed and optimism into a delightful result also in the 1000 km Nurburgring race. Together with Antonio Garcia completely dominated the whole race to win the GT1 class. It is second win of the Czech-Spanish duo of the Modena Team in this year's Le Mans Series. Both drivers controlled the race behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DBR9. Tomas got the pole position and also started the race and immediately pulled 20 seconds gap after first 30 minutes. He is third in the championship standings.
Tomas Enge: "Everything was okay today. We were a bit worried if the tyres would last the first stint which I did. At the end, our selection proved to be right. Our competitors chose the harder compound while we used the softer one. They worked perfectly not only at the beginning but also during the whole race. I managed to pull a solid gap after the start. When I handed the car to Antonio for the first time we had almost half a minute advantage."
Michelin
The fourth and penultimate round of the 2008 Le Mans Series at the Nurburgring was won by Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin in the No.8 Peugeot-Michelin. The Franco-Portuguese pair was joined on the all-Michelin podium by team-mates Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene in the No.7 sister car, while Audi ended its home race with a top-three finish thanks to the No.2 Audi R10 of Mike Rockenfeller and Alexandre Premat.
Today's result takes the score ofPeugeot and Michelin in this year's LMS to four wins from four starts.
In addition to finishing seventh overall, Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen secured another success for the Porsche RS Spyder in LMP2, with the Saulnier Racing Pescarolo finishing on the podium ahead of the Team Essex RS Spyder.
GT1 honours went to the Team Modena Aston Martin shared by Garcia Antonio Enge Thomas, with the Corvette C6R of Alphand/Moreau/Goueslard following them across the line to clinch points for Alphand Aventures.
The Michelin-shod No.77 Felbermayr Proton Porsche 911 of Lieb/Davison took second spot in the GT2 category ahead of the No.76 IMSA Performance Matmut car of Lietz/Narac.
Matthieu Bonardel (Four-wheel Competition Manager, Michelin):
"As expected, the track was tough on tyres to begin with when the track temperature was around the 30o.C mark. It then started to get cooler for the second half of the race and there was more grip available.
"As far as the strategies were concerned, the combination of this circuit's specific characteristics and the high temperatures meant that double-stinting didn't pay early on . But as the temperature started to come down, and as more rubber was laid onto the track, we started to see some cars begin to double-stint, while others preferred to switch to a softer compound.
"There was a wide variety of tyre choices among both the petrol and diesel LMP1 cars, and there were even differences within the same team. Both the soft and medium options worked and held up well over a full stint. There was perhaps three-tenths of a second in it between the two, although the medium compound - which was the slightly slower of the two - gave better balance, which made the car easier to drive.
"The new 'extra -soft'LMP2 tyre was selected by certain teams - notably Ambassy - and they were able to double stint. Most of our partners switched from soft to medium as a function of how the track evolved. They started on softs because of qualifying, then went on to mediums, before finally switching back to softs for the end of the race.
"The GT1 teams gradually changed from softs to the medium-hard alternative and back to softs again for the same reasons. The GT1 cars weren't able to double -stint on this track given today's temperatures.
"Finally, in GT2, we had a new, commercially-available tyre for this race and it proved quicker than the conventional soft tyre. This solution has enabled us to bridge some of the gap but not yet enough to be able to catch the category'sleader."
Bruno Famin (Technical Director, Peugeot):
"Our strategy today was particularly aggressive because we wanted to pull out a gap as quickly as possible to give ourselves a little breathing space. We opted for single stints in order to make the most of the potential of our tyres. We used practically all the products Michelin brought for us this weekend and that tactic paid off handsomely. Our two cars didn't run identical options, but both choices turned out to produce top results because there wasn't all that much between them at the finish. We managed to produce a nicely balanced package which meant that our cars functioned extremely well on their tyres from start to finish. I would like to thank Michelin for their contribution to our success, and in particular that of Fabrice Vouilloux who is the technician delegated to work with us. His advice is always first class."