Peugeot took a 1-2, helping their title hopes
Peugeot
Audi
Porsche
Charouz Aston Martin
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Peugeot
Two months after the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours, Team Peugeot Total was eager to pull off a win in Germany where its two 908 HDi FAPs both qualified on the front row of the grid for today's race. The two crews produced a perfect team effort to provide the French carmaker with its first one-two finish of the season, just as they had done at the Nurburgring this time last year. The result also hands Peugeot and its crews the provisional lead in both championships.
The start of the fourth round of the 2008 Le Mans Series, which drew a crowd of 22,000 spectators, saw the two 908 HDi FAPs pull away at a pace that enabled them to pull gradually clear of their pursuers. At the wheel of the No.7 car, Nicolas Minassian emerged as the early leader and he even succeeded in posting the fastest race lap in the opening stages, with Stephane Sarrazin shadowing his team-mate in the No.8 car. Half an hour into the race, the latter profited from the heavy traffic to pass his team-mate and take control, but the lead switched back into the hands of the No.7 machine shortly after the first round of pit-stops. Other than the obligation to keep their duel perfectly sportsmanlike, the Peugeot drivers were under no team orders and they proceeded to thrill the crowd with an exciting battle. Their speed even allowed them to lap their main championship rivals at around the race's halfway mark which still saw heavy traffic on the track. Indeed, it was traffic that caused Marc Gene to loose more than 20 seconds in the No.7908 HDi FAP as he tried to find a way past the Lola Aston Martin for a full five laps. His car was also slightly delayed during a pit-stop because of a faulty starter button and Pedro Lamy, who had just taken over in the No.8 Peugeot, found himself in front. With the gap stabilized at around the 23/30 seconds mark, Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin the reigning Le Mans Series champions were able to go on to pick up their second success of the season, making it two wins apiece for each of the Peugeot Sport crews!
Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene crossed the line in second place 16.161s behind their team- mates to hand Peugeot its first one-two finish of the year and enable the French carmaker to move to the top of the provisional standings, six points clear of Audi. In the Drivers' table, Minassian/Gene (No.7 Peugeot HDi FAP) now lead, two points ahead of Premat/Rockenfeller (No.2 Audi).
Michel Barge: "I love Germany, and I love the Nurburgring! It was here in 2007 that we picked up our first one-two of the season and we've gone and done the same again this time round. Today's result is a fantastic reward for the whole team; they're all delighted. After finishing second and third at Le Mans, it was important for Peugeot to win this weekend and take the lead in both the Manufacturers' and Drivers' championships. The title will finally be decided at Silverstone. We preferred to let our crews fight it out between themselves here because it was too early to start thinking in terms of strategy for the Drivers' title. We took our decision out of respect for our drivers, who all put in great performances again despite the traffic, as well as for sporting reasons. We didn't want to influence the outcome. This is a great result not only for our brand but also for the PSA Group which scored two one-two finishes in Germany today, with Citroen taking first and second in the country's round of the WRC."
Bruno Famin: "Our race-plan went perfectly. We stayed with our incisive strategy of starting strongly in order to pull out a gap and we lapped our closest rivals at the halfway point so as not to lose the benefit of our hard work should the safety car come out. The aerodynamic set-up of the 2008 'sprint'- spec 908 proved very competitive."
Pedro Lamy: "I am proud of our performance for Peugeot today. It was very important to get both cars to the finish with a view to scoring championship points. And after June's Le Mans 24 Hours, it was also important for Stephane and me to get back onto the podium. There's nothing like winning! I am really delighted with this result because there were no team orders, which goes to show what a sporting team Peugeot is."
Stephane Sarrazin: "It's a fantastic result for us and for the whole team. Our car was perfectly balanced and the mechanics did a terrific job which enabled us to claim our second win of year following our victory at Monza. We had a good fight with the No.7 car and there was never much in it, so nobody could afford to make a mistake."
Marc Gene: "We lost a lot of time in the traffic, especially behind the Lola Aston Martin. That cost us the lead, and we then dropped a further 30 seconds to the No.8 car when we had a small problem with the starter, probably because of a loose connection in the button."
Nicolas Minassian: "Today's result is very positive for us in terms of the Drivers championship. It was nice to start from pole-position and we also posted the fastest race lap. The title decision will now go down to the wire at Silverstone, which is a circuit I love."
After a tough weekend, Audi were able to take a podium
Audi
Ingolstadt/Nurburg -- Audi youngsters Alexandre Premat (26) and Mike Rockenfeller (25) again clinched a podium result at the fourth round of the European-based Le Mans Series. With third place at the 1000-kilometre race at the Nurburgring, they maintained their chance in the fight for the title. Dindo Capello and Allan McNish in the second Audi R10 TDI finished in fourth place.
Before the finale at Silverstone (Great Britain) on 14 September, Premat and Rockenfeller are ranking only two points behind Championship leaders Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian in the LM P1 class standings. In the Manufacturers' classification, Audi has a six-point gap to title defender Peugeot.
The two Audi R10 TDI cars of Audi Sport Team Joest fought a team-internal duel for third place during the whole race at the Nurburgring in front of 22,000 spectators (throughout the weekend). Positions changed several times before two punctures -- caused by debris on the track -- decided the outcome.
First, Alexandre Premat lost third place due to an unscheduled tyre change. Three laps before race end Allan McNish had to pit once more as well -- his right rear tyre was damaged. The pit stop caused the Scotsman to drop back to fourth place.
Quotes after the race at the Nurburgring
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Of course, we'd have wished for a slightly better result than places three and four at our home race. But the two Peugeots couldn't be beaten here. The team and the drivers achieved the maximum and kept the title fight open. This means that we'll be seeing a thrilling finale at Silverstone."
Alexandre Premat (Audi R10 TDI #2): "It was a good race for 'Rocky' and me. We were both quick, even in traffic. You can see that we've learned a lot since the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, we had no chance against the Peugeots. Nevertheless, we still have hopes for the championship. We've only got a two-point gap to Marc (Gene) and Nicolas (Minassian). We'll do everything we can at Silverstone to clinch the title."
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R10 TDI #2): "In terms of speed we wanted to be closer to our team-mates, and we managed that. We drove similar lap times, so we're very satisfied in that respect. At the previous races we were still lacking something. We know it's difficult against Peugeot. But we've still been making maximum use of the potential for Audi so far. We want to do that at Silverstone as well and decide the championship in our favour."
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "That was a really tough weekend for us. My first stint in the race was terrible. I had no grip whatsoever. I can't remember ever having fought so hard with the R10. The second stint was a bit better. But in the third stint I again had absolutely no feeling for the car. We need to find out what was wrong and solve the problem before Silverstone so that we can drive a great season finale there."
Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1): "We already had problems with our car in qualifying. Unfortunately, they continued in the race. The car was inconsistent. Dindo (Capello) and I both had the same feeling. Still, we were able to move forwards up to third place at times."
Ralf Juttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "It was a pretty uneventful race. The Peugeots were able to fully play out their advantage. In the first two hours they saddled us with a lap before the situation became a little more balanced. We saw a nice fight among our two cars. Positions kept changing. But then Alex (Premat) had a slow puncture. He had to pit a little earlier but, fortunately, late enough so that this didn't mean an extra stop. The other car had also a slow puncture just before the end of the race. Apparently, there was a lot of debris on the track. Too bad that this caused Dindo and Allan to miss the podium again. But we'll make up for that at Silverstone."
After encouraging starts, both the Farnbacher and Essex Porsche had disappointing ends to their weekends
Porsche
Stuttgart. The German debut of the Porsche RS Spyder concluded with a fourth victory at the fourth race of the season. Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) won the 1,000 kilometre race on the Nürburgring, the penultimate of the 2008 Le Mans Series (LMS). With his third win of the season, ex-Formula 1 driver Verstappen also claimed an early title win in the LMP2 class with Van Merksteijn Motorsport (Netherlands) securing the team championship. In the manufacturers classification as well, Porsche ranks an uncatchable first. Both Danish pilots of the Essex team, Casper Elgaard and John Nielsen, rounded off the Porsche customer teams’ success with third. In the GT2 class, drivers of the 911 GT3 RSR celebrated podium positions with second and third. A total of 22,000 spectators travelled to the Eifel to witness the German LMS round.
Jos Verstappen was beside himself with joy: “I can’t believe it. I’m over the moon to have won the championship already at the penultimate race. This success was made possible thanks to the car, which with its balance is fantastic to drive, and which came through the season without one technical hitch. And of course thanks to our team who also worked impeccably. The squad confirmed their great work by winning the team title. After winning the Le Mans 24 hour race in June, today’s victory and the championship title are another highlight of my racing career.” Jeroen Bleekemolen celebrated a perfect start to the LMS on the Nürburgring – after he had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with Verstappen and team owner Peter van Merksteijn. In the previous Le Mans Series races, Verstappen had shared the cockpit of the 476 hp sports prototype with van Merksteijn.
A touch of disappointment tempered the elation of claiming the third podium result of the season for the Essex driver and team manager John Nielsen. Taking up the race from second on the gird, the team snatched the LMP2 lead after almost an hour and had their sights set on a second win of the season. But a detour off the track by Casper Elgaard threw the pair back to ninth place. “It was my fault,” said a contrite Elgaard. “I pushed really hard to put pressure on Jos. Just before the chicane I had a misunderstanding with an opponent which led to my trip into the gravel. It’s even more annoying because our car was unbelievably good today.” From ninth place, Nielsen and Elgaard put in a spirited chase to finish third. “Congratulations to Jos. He has earned the title. He didn’t make one mistake in the whole season,” said a respectful John Nielsen, overall winner at Le Mans in 1990. “We would have loved to have left the championship open and taken it home to Denmark. Still, we are delighted with our third place. With our lap times we were closer to the Van Merksteijn Porsche than ever before.”
Hope and disappointment also lay side by side in the camp of the Swiss Horag team. In the final third of the six hour race. Jan Lammers had fought his way through to rank second and was on his way to securing the third podium result of the season. In the middle of the final attack, a technical problem with the brake fluid reservoir forced the Dutchman into the pits. Lammers and his team mates Didier Theys (Belgium) and Fredy Lienhard (Switzerland) finished the race in twelfth.
German Porsche works driver Marc Lieb also gave a mixed summary of his race where he claimed second at the wheel of the 911 GT3 RSR in the near-standard GT2 class with his team mate Alex Davison (Australia). “Our car ran very well today, the new four-litre, six-cylinder engine at the rear drove excellently and our team worked brilliantly. The fact that we didn’t have a chance at victory was due to the tyres. On such a twisty circuit like the Nürburgring, they didn’t work optimally.” For Lieb and Davison (Felbermayr-Proton) this marked the third time they had finished second this season. The Austrian works driver Richard Lietz and his French team mate Raymond Narac (IMSA Performance Matmut) were pleased with their third place, the second for the team this year. “The race was incredibly exhausting – and the traffic was sometimes horrific. But we came through and got the most out of it,” said Lietz.
Charouz Aston Martin
The Aston Martin powered prototype of the Charouz Racing System team scored 5th place at 1000 Nurburgring race. Drivers Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke were also clearly the best of the petrol powered cars. First four places were swept by the works cars with powerful turbodiesel engines. Today's race brought third point scoring finish for the Czech team in Le Mans Series 2008, which is also the second best.
Both drivers and team improved the position thanks to four points from today's race. They are fifth, just behind works Peugeot and Audi squads.
"We are happy because we can not beat works turbodiesels under normal circumstances. We are fighting in our own petrol championshipwhich we won today as we did at Barcelona in the spring," said Antonin Charouz, Team Principal. "The qualifying was great, we were ahead of both Audis. We got many offers this weekend on both team and driver sides, so we are also happy in this area."
His son and team driver Jan had several scares during the race, especially when he spun in a group of cars before the Michelin corner. "The car spun wildly on the dirt which other car left on the track. Fortunately I kept the car together and lost only two seconds," said 21 years old Praguer. "I was hit by a GT2 car later but fortunately our car withstood it."
Twenty six years old Berliner Stefan Mucke was really looking forward to his home race. "I am happy that many fans came," said Stefan. "We were the best petrol car in the race and got four points, so I am definitely happy. I was also pleased that our lap times were comparable with works Audis but turbodiesels have an advantage now and we can not do anything with it under current rules."
While Jan was an innocent victim of a contact with a smallest GT car, Stefan got a hit from behind from one of the prototypes. "There were yellows, I slowed down and suddenly felt an impact. Fortunately we were able to continue but we lost a bit of time," added the German driver.
"We fulfilled our aim to be the best petrol car, so we are happy. Given the difference between petrol engines and turbodiesels is very difficult to fight with both factory teams using diesel. We had few small incidents in the race which were not our fault but the car fortunately held together and we scored more points," said George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director Aston Martin Racing.