Team Modena celebrates their GT1 win
Team Modena
Strakka
Zytek
Saulnier
Quifel ASM
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Team Modena
Silverstone LMS Victory for Team Modena!
Team Modena claimed their third win of the five-race 2008 Le Mans Series championship with a hard-fought LM GT1 class victory in their home race at Silverstone. Drivers Tomas Enge and Antonio Garcia led for all bar the first seven laps of the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone race in the team's Aston Martin DBR9, staying clear of their rivals despite several Safety Car periods that each time saw them lose a lead of over a minute, the driver pairing pulling clear on each occasion to finish the season on a high.
"We are ecstatic, the team ran a professional race," said Team Modena Principal Graham Schultz, "and we took the win. It seemed every time we pulled out a lead we had a Safety Car period, but the car was running very strongly. We made a couple of unscheduled stops to change our track position and we are happy with three wins out of five races."
Team Modena Gallery from Silverstone Qualifying
Tomas placed the DBR9 second on the LM GT1 class grid, the team waiting until ten minutes were left in Saturday's 20-minute session before sending the rapid Czech racer out, and his first flying lap was enough to see the team second quickest and 30th overall, heading their championship rivals.
"We are satisfied with the performance and set-up," said Graham after qualifying, "it should be an early day for the crew. We are in a good position for the race and with second quickest by Tomas we expect to be in the lead of the race quite quickly."
With the sun now out at Silverstone for the first time in the meeting, the track was fully dry for the session and the track temperatures the highest the team had, but the technical crew adjusted the set-up accordingly giving Tomas a car he could push hard with. The rain on Friday and overnight had cleaned the track of the rubber put down in the first day's running, reducing the available grip for the drivers.
"The lap was clear," said Tomas, "it is all about having the grip and after the rain yesterday afternoon and early this morning the grip is not there and we have a very green track. The car was ok with a good balance, there was just a little bit of understeer but we know why so it is not an issue and we know what to expect in the race if it is fully dry."
Race
Team Modena Tomas was in the car at the start and moved ahead of the class leading Lamborghini on lap seven, and eased clear of the field to be the a lap clear when he was the final LM GT1 car to pit on lap 31, handing the DBR9 over to Antonio. From then on the pair lapped rapidly and consistently, the car running faultlessly to complete 178 laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in front of a large crowd and finish a lap clear of their class rivals.
"I got past the Lamborghini at Abbey," said Tomas, "I had a run on him at the first corner before the start, and again after four laps, but he closed the door each time. Once I was ahead to was a clean first stint and I was just trying to open a gap, I was just watching the mirrors and staying out the way of the quicker prototypes to avoid any possible trouble.
"It's is nice to finish the year on the top step of the podium at the team's home round, and it has been good to race with Antonio this season, we push each other to the maximum!"
"Everything went perfectly in the race," said Antonio, "my first stint was my first run in dry conditions, but the car was quick and went well, the traffic was the most difficult thing. We won the race but were not really expecting to win the championship, and we have been on the top of the podium three times this year. I am very happy for the team - and happy to have partnered Tomas this season."
The result sees Team Modena win more races than any other LM GT1 class team in the 2008 LMS, but lose out on the drivers and constructors championship titles, the rival Corvette taking third and enough points to secure both titles.
"It has been another great weekend of the team," said Sporting Director Rik Bryan, "the best weather was in the race so we had to make some set-up changes, but ten we had a good race. We got past the Lamborghini in the first stint, and from then on had the right strategy and we pulled away to win in the end by a one lap margin and finished second in the championship. A great result to finish a good year for us."
"It was a very tough race," said Team Manager Hans Muelhbauer, "the Lamborghini was pushing us hard, and the win wasn't as easy as it may have seemed. We made the right decision on the Safety Car calls and on the strategy for refuelling and the tyres - it was a perfect race for us."
Our next race is the final round of the 2008 British GT championship at Donington Park, East Midlands, October 12th.
Strakka
Strakka Racing Fourth in Tight Battle for GT1
Strakka Racing's return to the 2008 Le Mans Series saw the team's Aston Martin DBR9 complete a very competitive six-hour run to fourth place in the needle-match battle for GT1 honours. Aston Martin works driver Darren Turner joined the team's regular pairing of Nick Leventis and Peter Hardman for the DBR9's last race of the year. The two-times Le Mans winner brought his considerable experience of the car to the squad, and rewarded their faith by nearly claiming fastest GT1 lap of the race, missing out by a mere three-tenths of a second.
The team remains on a steep learning curve with the Aston Martin DBR9, yet continues to make great strides forwards with every run. Preparations for this weekend's race were curtailed by poor weather, and this placed the squad at something of a disadvantage when ranged against teams that had competed in all the year's previous rounds, but the car ran strongly throughout. "I felt a little disappointed at the end of the race," conceded Nick Leventis, knowing that a podium had been a realistic prospect, "but all things considered, given our lack of knowledge and where we've come since (our last Le Mans Series race at) Spa, we've made a lot of progress. This is such a very competitive class, and yet we remained in contention all the way to the flag."
Peter Hardman drove the opening stint, but had to begin the race on cold tyres. "I couldn't lean on them at all, and it had seemed difficult to get any heat into them on the warm-up lap, so I lost twenty or so car lengths before we'd even crossed the line. I was playing catch-up from then on." Despite this, Peter moved through to third during his second stint, and handed the car across to Nick for the middle period of the race. "Nick drove exceptionally well," said Peter. "I think Silverstone is a much harder track to master than Spa, where we last raced the Aston, yet he coped brilliantly, particularly with the traffic." The car only dropped back to fourth after falling foul of an awkward safety car situation, which cost the team a full lap to the title-winning Luc Alphand Corvette.
Darren Turner completed the final two stints to the chequered flag. "Having dropped the lap, the challenge then was just to get to the flag, and learn as much as we could about the car in race conditions. The Dunlop tyres are very new to me, and with the limited running we had prior to the race, it was always going to be difficult to get the best out of them, but the team made some good adjustments during the course of the race, and the balance just got better and better." Towards the end of his stint, Darren posted a new fastest lap of 1:46.372 for the #61 Aston. "I was very pleased to set that time, and I think it reinforces the fact that we'd made great improvements to the car."
"Everyone worked well together as a team," said Peter afterwards. "Nick drove a strong race, and we learned a great amount from Darren. His pace was impressive. With a bit of luck we might have had a podium, which would have been a good end to the season, but we were in contention all the way. It's excellent progress, and provides a good basis for us to move forwards into next season."
Strakka Racing will be back at Silverstone next weekend for the Britcar Silverstone 24 Hours, while Darren Turner has his BTCC commitments to fulfil at Brands Hatch. He will then be heading to America for the ten-hour Petit le Mans race at Atlanta in three weeks' time.
Zytek
A split second decision, made on safety grounds, has resulted in a penalty and robbed the Zytek-engined Embassy WF01 of its first podium position. The Autosport 1000km of Silverstone had proved to be the team's best performance of the year. Throughout the season its two WF01s have been developing into front-runners. Both are powered by the Zytek ZG348 engine, the power unit that won the LMP2 class here last year. Today, Warren Hughes and Jonny Kane brought home their car in third place only to be penalised five minutes immediately after the race had finished.
Unable to restart due to a failed clutch, Jonny was forced to drive through the red light at the end of the pit lane. This had lit up just as he reached the exit and his only alternative was to block the road. The clutch problem had been the car's only issue all day but this had meant it had to be fired up on the starter motor each time it made a pit stop. Yet, despite this, it had run as high as second. Although the final result * sixth in class - was a great disappointment for the team, the day's performance has shown just how far it has progressed over the year and should act as a great impetus for the close season development, which commences shortly.
The sister WF01 of Darren Manning and Joey Foster had what the latter described as "an eventful race" finishing in 11th place. However, as Joey observed, "the car has so much potential."
Just behind Warren and Jonny in the results was the Trading Performance Zytek 07S of Karim Ojjeh, Claude-Yves Gosselin and Adam Sharpe. "The car was really brilliant," said the latter, who was able to race it for the first time. Karim expressed himself "very happy" with the result and pointed out that the team has finished every Le Mans Series race of the year except for one. Regular pilots Karim and Claude-Yves plan to be out again next year with their 07S. "We are looking for a fast, third driver," stated Karim.
The other Zytek 07S in the race, the Barazi-Epsilon car of Michael Vergers, Fernando Rees and Juan Barazi had been second fastest in class during qualifying. It was a potential that remained unfilled. An early spin by Fernando put the car to the back of the field. It never fully recovered, its race coming to an abrupt halt when, with Michael at the wheel, it left the road at about 160mph approaching the Maggotts/Becketts section of the track.
Saulnier
Brave Saulnier Racing miss out on third in LMP2 championship in LMS finale
A hub carrier failure ended Saulnier Racing's hopes of securing third place in the LMP2 teams' championship at the final round of the Le Mans Series despite a brave performance at Silverstone. Yet the team can look back on their season with huge pride after a string of impressive displays.
Using the brand new Pescarolo-Judd LMP2 chassis, the French squad have performed beyond expectations, holding third behind the all-conquering Porsche RS Spyder teams of Van Merksteijn Motorsport and Team Essex ahead of the race. A class podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours and a second place finish at the Nurburgring 1000kms were also memorable highlights.
Having qualifying 24th on the grid and 11th in class at Silverstone, young French drivers Matthieu Lahaye and Pierre Ragues in the LMP2 car battled their way through the field during the first half of the race. Strong stints from both men and fine pit work by the team helped them climb to 12th overall, fourth in class and to the brink of a second successive podium. Unfortunately, as Lahaye closed in on the third-placed Embassy Racing WF0 at the mid-race point, a hub carrier broke during a scheduled pit stop. Despite a fine job by the Saulnier Racing mechanics to fix the problem, the team lost over 20 minutes in the pit garage, along with all hopes of defending their third place in the championship, and dropped down the order.
Rejoining well down the field, more quick times from Lahaye and Ragues saw the pair fight back once more to 16th overall and ninth-in-class at the chequered flag, but finished just outside the points.
Matthieu Lahaye said: "I have some mixed feelings after the race. While I am sad that we had the problem with the hub carrier and to have missed out on third in the championship, I am immensely proud of the team. I don't think we dared dream that we could have had such a fine season. Even to finish fourth in the standings, not to mention our podium at Le Mans, is something we never expected."
Pierre Ragues said: "Overall it was a strong race for Matthieu and I. Neither of us knew this circuit before this weekend and we had very little dry running in practice, so to fight up to fourth was very satisfying. It is a shame that we had the mechanical problem, but it's the first one we've had all year, which in endurance racing is not bad. I think we've both shown that we deserve to be here and I hope we can return next year to beat our competitors."
Meanwhile, Saulnier Racing's #4 Pescarolo 01-Judd, driven by gentlemen drivers Jacques Nicolet and Richard Hein, achieved their target of a top- ten class finish in the premier LMP1 category.
Starting 14th in class and 24th overall, Nicolet, Hein and the car all proved to be reliable and consistent throughout the race to come home 16th and ninth in LMP1.
Jacques Nicolet said: "I think we've driven a good race and 16th overall is our best result of the season. It's great to end the year on a positive note and I also won the CER race on Saturday so it has been a weekend to remember!"
Richard Hein said: "It was a very difficult race because there were lots of accidents and people making mistakes, so I am delighted with a top-ten finish. Jacques is not just the boss of Saulnier Racing, but also the heart of the team and to finish the season like this alongside him is fantastic."
Team Principal Francois Sicard said: "We would have liked to have finished on the podium again but overall this has been a very good season for Saulnier Racing. The two youngsters in the LMP2 car, both of whom are sportscar rookies, have performed fantastically and made no mistakes all year. The gentlemen drivers in the LMP1 car have also enjoyed their season. We have proved our reliability and performance and so have our drivers. We must now develop the car to improve still further but this year has been a very solid first step. The work for 2009 starts now."
Quifel ASM
Podium place at the Silverstone 1000 Km
The Quifel-ASM Team has achieved its target of a podium place in the Silverstone 1000Km race. The third place achieved by Miguel Pais do Amaral and Olivier Pla shows that the Lola BO5/40 ERA has its place in the LMP2 class.
"We are very happy. This is a result that we wanted to achieve before now, and we finally did it," said Miguel Pais do Amaral, adding, "next year we hope to reach the podium on more occasions."
Antonio Simões, the team director also showed how happy he was:
"It's good to see the efforts of an entire team working towards one aim rewarded. Being the only Portuguese team in a race and with a car that is already considered to be out of date, increases our pride in the place we achieved." Olivier Pla, who raced on the English track for the first time behind the wheel of the Lola B05/40 AER, thanked, "the whole team for their efforts, we finally managed to demonstrate the competitiveness of the team."
The Quifel-ASM Team stayed in fourth place in the first two hours of the race, but then even managed second place for a while. The team was pushed back to sixth place following several safety car issues and an electrical problem, two hours from the end of the race.
In the final part of the race the drivers raced very aggressively making up several places and won a more than deserved third place at the end.
Despite starting out in the Le Mans Series 2008 with a technically less developed car, the team made use of its experience in previous years and managed to place fifth at Nurburgring, after racing in third place, and a fourth place at the end of the Le Mans 24 Hour race.