Luc Alphand Adventures won the GT1 title at Silverstone
Ferrari
Guillaume Moreau
Ryan Lewis
Lola Cars
Strakka
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Ferrari
Ferrari wins the Le Mans Series and wins at Brno and Misano
Maranello (Modena) - It was a weekend to remember for the F430 GT, triumphant in three important events on the international Grand Touring calendar in the Le Mans Series and the FIA and Italian GT championships.
In the fifth and final round of the Le Mans Series at Silverstone, Ferrari took the constructors' title thanks to a win for Robert Bell and Jaime Melo. Victory went to the Team Virgo Motorsport crew after it dominated all five hours of the race, ahead of the Porsche 997 of Marc Lieb-Alex Davison and the F430 of Pierre Ehret-Pierre Kaffer-Anthony Beltoise (Farnbacher Racing.) This is the team's second consecutive title, while Bell wins the Drivers' title.
At Brno, in the seventh round of the FIA GT Championship, Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni finished ahead of Jiri Janak and Tim Bergmeister (Porsche 911) and Paolo Ruberti and Matteo Malucelli (BMS Scuderia Italia.) Thanks to this result the standard bearers of the AF Corse team extend their lead in the GT classification, with a 17.5 advantage over third placed Ruberti-Malucelli and 23 over their regular rivals, Westbrook and Collard in the Porsche.
The next round takes place at the Nogaro circuit in France, on 5th October.
In the sixth round of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship, held at the Misano World Circuit, Ferrari made up for Saturday's Porsche one-two in Race 1, with no less than eleven F430 in the top eleven places at the end of Race 2. Gabriele Lancieri and Massimiliano Busnelli (Scuderia Playteam Sarafree) stood on the top step of the podium to go into the lead of the classification, ahead of Piergiuseppe Pierazzini and Marco Cioci (Megadrive) and Emanuele Moncini and Alex Caffi (Villorba Corse.) Was the Advanced Engineering crew, which had finished third in Race 1 behind the Porsches of Martins-Henzler and Pilet Roda.
The next and final round of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship will take place at the Vallelunga circuit over the weekend of 19th October.
Guillaume Moreau
Guillaume and Luc Alphand Aventures champions!
Guillaume Moreau and Luc Alphand Aventures have led the LM GT1 category in the Le Mans Series since the start of the season, and they tackled the final round with the aim of winning both the drivers' and teams' titles. Their rostrum finish meant mission accomplished for the Le Mans-based outfit and the young Frenchman.
After the Nurburgring 1000kms Luc Aventures team had a 10-point lead over the Modena Aston Martin squad. Ten points equals a victory so the aim for the no.72 Corvette C6.R was to finish the race and score at least 1 point.
Practice took place in changeable weather conditions, and then it was brilliantly sunny when qualifying began. Guillaume was held up on his first run by a GT2 on his quickest lap. He pitted before going out for another try. "I set the third-fastest time in GT1 6/10s off pole. It's a good result as we opted for safety putting on medium tyres, which we have to use at the start of the race. I'm happy as I feel that we're quicker than at the Nurburgring. Even if the title is our no.1 aim, we'll go for a third victory if the opportunity arises."
Thanks to a clever strategy Guillaume took the category lead at the start of the race. Unfortunately, his 40-second advantage was reduced to nothing due to a loose wheel. "I felt there was a problem at the rear and I preferred to stop to allow the mechanics to find out what it was. In fact, a wheel was coming loose -- another lap and I'd have lost it! This unscheduled stop cost us a minute. From then on our aim was to reach the finish." After Patrice Goueslard's stint Guillaume got back behind the wheel and drove till the chequered flag. Once again he showed his stamina as he spent 62% of the race in the car.
Luc Alphand Aventures finished third at Silverstone and was on the rostrum to celebrate its title. "It's a great reward as it was far from being a foregone conclusion at the start of the season," Guillaume stated. "We never had the quickest car, but everybody did their bit. Philippe Poincloux was an excellent race strategist; the mechanics did an exceptional job in the pits; I added my turn of speed and my team-mates were always able to keep up the pace. To sum up, nobody made any mistakes this season and that's the key to our titles, which we won in the best endurance tradition. I'd like to thank everybody for this exceptional year and I hope we'll share other successes in the future."
Ryan Lewis
Ryan Lewis took part in his first European sportscar race last weekend; the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone, with Creation AIM. The good old British weather meant that he got a chance to do his first run in the wet in an LMP1 car on Friday. This was also his first chance to compare the Creation AIM to the Intersport Lola he races in the States.
"Both myself and Stephen (team-mate, Stephen Simpson) were very competitive in the tricky conditions, especially in the very wet stages," said Ryan. "Whether this was due to youthful exuberance or ability I am not sure! The car feels quite different from the Lola, certainly more challenging to drive, more nimble and more on the edge of grip, but very quick."
As Simpson had raced the Creation before, the task of qualifying came down to him. He did a good job and put the car in ninth place on the overall grid.
Simpson started the race with a double stint but struggled before the first pit stop with abnormally high tyre pressures causing a lack of all-round grip on the car. The team at Dunlop were quickly on the case and tried a few things with the second set of tyres, with great success. After the second stop Simpson was able to push much harder and started closing in on the places he had lost in the first stint, putting in very competitive lap times. Then it was Ryan's turn.
"At the second caution of the race I jumped in for my first stint," explains Ryan. "Stephen had mentioned over the radio that the clutch felt soft on his last stop, so it might need to be pumped up in the pit lane after our driver change. As soon as I jumped in I felt a very soft clutch pedal, and when I tried to select first gear the car jumped forward. The boys decided after a few more tries to pump some fluid through the clutch, which eventually allowed me to find first gear. I managed two laps out of the pits before the clutch began slipping on the Hangar and Abbey straights. I pitted and pulled into the garage to give the clutch a proper bleed and cool down. After 30 minutes it was decided to put in a new clutch which cost us around an hour and a half in the pits. The guys did a great job to get it in so fast so we had a chance to get out again. I think the frustration of not running a great deal before race day and the desire to impress on my first outing caused the red mist to descend. I was pushing hard from lap one, not taking chances in traffic but definitely trying to get to grips with the Creation chassis as soon as possible. The car felt great at high speed, especially when the tyres came up to temperature; not too wild but with a touch of oversteer, the way I enjoy to drive. The AIM powerplant was great all weekend, it had great smooth delivery all the way through the range."
Ryan ultimately retired from the race but he has learned a lot from the experience, as he explains, and is even more fired up about his new career in sportscars.
"In retrospect I think I worked the rear tyres too hard early in my run which created more oversteer, especially in getting the power down in the slower corners," continued Ryan. "This is something that could have been solved easily with a small change in my driving style, which I did in the slower corners, however the same couldn't be said for the Maggots Complex. Although I was already struggling with oversteer I insisted on pushing hard which eventually led to me spinning twice , the second time (whilst trying to stay with the Audi and Peugeot I had stayed with for a lap) placing me neatly in the gravel! When I made it back to the pits it was decided between us that rather than risk doing damage to the engine and internals, with all the gravel stuck inside, we would retire. It was an unfortunate end to a promising start to the day. Although our race was done when we were hit with clutch problems I think we still could have shown well. My frustration and desire to do so was what eventually finished us off. Still I learnt a great deal from working with everyone at Creation and having the opportunity to expand my experience in sportscars. I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to run at Silverstone and would love to come back and work with everyone one day in the future."
Ryan's next challenge is one of the world's most famous sportscar races. Petit Le Mans takes place in Atlanta, USA, in three weeks time.
Lola Cars
On Sunday 14 September 2008, Lola sportscars ended the 2008 Le Mans Series in fine style at Silverstone with the Huntingdon-based constructor celebrating its best ever finish when the Charouz Lola-Aston Martin came home in 2nd place.
Silverstone saw the climax to a stunning debut season with the Lola B08/60 LMP1 Coupe for the Charouz Racing System team. Following a podium place at Barcelona in April and a superb 8th overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours in March, the V12 powered Lola fought with the newly crowned diesel powered Audi's during the Silverstone 1000kms, eventually finishing a creditable runner up in the 195 lap race, that was attended by over 50,000 people during the weekend. German driver Stefan Mucke, started the race and ran a close 4th in the early stages. The Lola-Aston Martin stayed in touch with the leading runners who soon fell away after hitting trouble due to various accidents. After the team cleverly took the opportunity to fill up with fuel during a safety car period, Jan Charouz took over and led the race for a time before losing out to one of the Audi R10's at the next pit stop, again conducted under a caution period. However, Charouz lapped competitively and remained right behind the title contender, showing the eye catching pace of the Lola that has consistently proved to be the only true challenger to the works Audi and Peugeot teams this season. Jan Charouz, who at just 21 has proved to be one of the up and coming young talents of the LMS, even survived some contact with a GT car.
"We not only confirmed the fact that we are fastest petrol car today but we also beat three turbo diesels as they made various mistakes," said a delighted Jan Charouz at the end of the race. "We put in consistent lap times and it was a very important result for us. One slower car damaged the bodywork when I was overtaking him but fortunately it was not a serious problem. It was one of the biggest races for me and I am very happy."
Lola also celebrated a podium position in the LMP2 class with the Quifel-ASM Lola B05/40-AER taking third position. Olivier Pla showed some searing pace in the Portuguese run Lola, starting the race and completing a memorable triple stint, running in contention with the podium positioned cars in the early stages. Miguel Amaral took over the driver responsibilities in the middle portion of the race and despite a collision with the Embassy run LMP2 car of IRL driver Darren Manning, he handed back over to Olivier Pla. The Frenchman came home in 4th place in class but the impressive Quifel-ASM team were elevated to 3rd place when the other Embassy car of Jonny Kane and Warren Hughes was penalised for exiting the pit lane on a red light. The podium marked another excellent result for Antonio Simoes team who now will look forward to the 2009 season and a fresh challenge in sportscars.
A highly creditable 4th place in LMP2 was the all-new RML MG-Lola LMP2 Coupe of Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton. After just a few hours of testing at Snetterton last week the familiar red, white and blue liveried sportscar used the race weekend as an extended test but were very happy with the way the car ran on its way to more points, ensuring that the reigning LMS champions finished equal 4th in the LMP2 points standings. Running without any significant technical problems all weekend, the MG-Lola will now enter an intense winter of testing to ensure that that it will be in prime position to re-capture the LMP2 title in 2009.
"Developing what is in effect a new car, does take time," said an excited Mike Newton over the weekend at Silverstone. "But we're gathering the data, and learning more and more, and that is what we will carry forward from this weekend. Preparing for next season was always our main objective behind being here."
Speedy Racing Team Sebah had a disappointing end to a race that had promised so much throughout the weekend. Proving to be the second quickest LMP2 entry during the race, the Lola B08/80 was placed a close second in class and a brilliant 5th overall at one stage until an accident took it out the 1000kms event. Xavier Pompidou qualified the Lola LMP2 Coupe third on the LMP2 grid and got a fantastic start to sit a comfortable 2nd in the opening two hours. However, in the third hour Pompidou tangled with the GT Lamborghini driven by Roman Rusinov and hit the wall at Woodcote Corner.
"I do not understand why he did not let me overtake him," said an angry Pompidou after the race. "I flashed the light for half a lap but he (Rusinov) was ignoring the blue flags, he touched me four times before we arrived on the straight lane. I am really disappointed and it is really a shame, as we were heading for a very good result."
Kruse Schiller scored their second consecutive finish at Silverstone and grabbed 2 points after being classified 7th in LMP2. Hideki Noda and Jean De Pourtales ran cleanly all race in the Mazda powered Lola B05/40 to add to their points tally gained at Spa in May. The German run team are also looking to race at the forthcoming Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca races in the American Le Mans Series to ensure they have more miles under their belts before a full campaign in 2009.
2008 has seen Lola sportscars claim to be the fastest customer proposition on the grid in LMP1. In LMP2 the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Coupe has also been the only consistent threat to the Porsche Spyders. With Lola engineers now entering an intense period of improvements and updates at its Huntingdon based headquarters, both existing and new teams to Lola will now be looking forward to an even more successful 2009 racing season. The next sportscar action for Lola is at the Petit Le Mans 10 hour race at Road Atlanta on October 5. Another new LMP2 Coupe will be racing there with the BK Motorsport Mazda team in action.
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."
[strakka_lms_silv02_th.jpg] "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.