LMS: Silverstone

Plex · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:36 am Post subject: LMS: Silverstone

Aston's Turner leads final practice

Aston Martin Racing topped the times in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for tomorrow's AUTOSPORT 1000km Le Mans Series finale at Silverstone.

Darren Turner clocked the best time of the weekend so far with a 1m33.821s aboard the #009 Lola-Aston LMP1 coupe. The Briton set this mark late in the hour-long the session to knock AMR team-mate Stefan Mucke off the top of the times by a margin of nearly three tenths of a second.

The solo AIM-engined ORECA driven by Nicolas Lapierre ended up third fastest, a further two tenths back. Jean-Christophe Boullion claimed fourth place in the Pescarolo-Judd that had been fastest in the previous two free practice sessions.

Olivier Pla was again fastest in LMP2 aboard the ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek with a time that put in fifth overall.

Laurent Groppi headed the three-car GT1 field in the Larbre Saleen S7R and Gianmaria Bruni topped the competitive GT2 class in JMW Motorsport's Ferrari 430 GT.

Pos Drivers Cl Car Time
1. Primat/Turner LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m33.821s
2. Charouz/Enge/Mucke LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m34.100s
3. Panis/Lapierre LMP1 ORECA-AIM 1m34.284s
4. Boullion/Tinseau LMP1 Pescarolo-Judd 1m34.330s
5. Amaral/Pla LMP2 Ginetta Zytek 1m34.739s
6. Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman LMP1 Audi 1m34.929s
7. Watts/Leventis LMP1 Ginetta Zytek 1m35.174s
8. Belicchi/Fassler/Prost LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m35.603s
9. Albers/Bakkerud LMP1 Audi 1m36.005s
10. Tomlinson/Mansell/Mansell LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek 1m36.215s
11. Buncombe/Hall/Ramos LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m36.905s
12. Ragues/Mailleux LMP1 Oreca Judd 1m37.254s
13. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter LMP2 Zytek 1m38.399s
14. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou LMP2 Lola Judd 1m38.558s
15. Manning/Firth/Hughes LMP2 WF01 Zytek 1m39.496s
16. Salini/Salini/Gommendy LMP2 WR Zytek 1m39.556s
17. Lahaye/Ajlani LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda 1m40.102s
18. Erdos/Newton LMP2 Lola Mazda 1m40.201s
19. Nicolet/Hein LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda 1m40.474s
20. Jorda/Cortes/Nieto LMP2 Lucchini Judd 1m43.840s
21. Schell/Thirion/Metz LMP2 Courage AER 1m44.119s
22. Cavailhes/Da Rocha/Ibanez LMP2 Courage AER 1m44.128s
23. Bruneau/Greaves/Sini LMP2 Radical AER 1m44.684s
24. Berville/Dumez/Groppi GT1 Saleen 1m46.079s
25. Sharp/Kox GT1 Aston Martin 1m46.119s
26. Clairay/Jousse/Goueslard GT1 Corvette 1m48.847s
27. Bell/Bruni GT2 Ferrari 1m49.639s
28. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche 1m50.070s
29. Kaffer/Montanari GT2 Ferrari 1m50.079s
30. Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr GT2 Porsche 1m50.195s
31. Coronel/Janis GT2 Spyker 1m50.338s
32. Garcia/Mansell/Melo GT2 Ferrari 1m50.532s
33. Cocker/Drayson GT2 Aston Martin 1m50.687s
34. Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise GT2 Ferrari 1m50.703s
35. Rosa/Montermini/Cadei GT2 Ferrari 1m50.939s
36. Griffin/Bamford GT2 Ferrari 1m50.945s
37. Hartshorne/Kutemann/Daoudi GT2 Ferrari 1m51.699s
38. Palttala/Daniels/Rich GT2 Porsche 1m52.098s
39. Tenchini/Basso/Plati GT2 Ferrari 1m53.877s
40. Ried/Felbermayr Jr/Martins GT2 Porsche 1m53.914s

Autosport

Plex · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:49 am Post subject:

Lapierre gives ORECA Silverstone pole

ORECA driver Nicolas Lapierre claimed a clear pole position for the AUTOSPORT 1000km at Silverstone.

Lapierre improved on his free practice best by a second and a half on the way to a 1m32.798s benchmark, which put his AIM-engined ORECA 01 on pole by nearly a second. That compared with second-placed Stefan Mucke's 1m33.714s lap in the championship-leading #007 Lola-Aston Martin.

"We've had a big update to the rear aero, which was very last minute," said Lapierre as he celebrated his second Le Mans Series pole in a row, having also taken the top spot for the Algarve round before his team skipped the Nurburgring race. "We spent free practice balancing the car and it was getting better and better through the sessions."

Any disappointment that the Aston crew felt at missing out on pole will be tempered by the fact that their title rivals at Pescarolo failed to complete a flying lap and will start at the back.

Darren Turner ended up third fastest in the second AMR Lola-Aston LMP1 coupe with a time nine tenths slower than team-mate Mucke. Andrea Belicchi was less than half a tenth behind in fourth place aboard the Speedy/Sebah Lola-Aston.

Greg Mansell, who is sharing the Team LNT Ginetta-Zytek with father Nigel and Lawrence Tomlinson, ended up fifth in the times. He qualified just ahead of fellow Briton Andy Meyrick in the best of the Kolles Audis.

Olivier Pla was more than a second faster than his nearest rival in LMP2. His ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek claimed the class pole with a 1m36.092s, which compared with second fastest Jonny Kane's 1m37.128s best in the Speedy/Sebah Lola-Judd.

Laurent Groppi bagged a second consecutive class pole after a battle involving all three cars on the GT1 entry. The Larbre Saleen edged out Peter Kox in the Gigawave Aston Martin by just 0.082s, while the Aston was only 0.052s ahead of Yann Clairay in the Alphand Corvette.

Pole position gave Richard Lietz one of the two points he and Felbermayr-Proton Porsche team-mate Marc Lieb need to secure the GT2 crown. The Austrian driver ended up two tenths ahead of Gianmaria Bruni in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari.

Pos Drivers Cl Car Time
1. Panis/Lapierre LMP1 ORECA 01-AIM 1m32.798s
2. Charouz/Enge/Mucke LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m33.714s
3. Primat/Turner LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m34.618s
4. Belicchi/Fassler/Prost LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m34.654s
5. Tomlinson/Mansell/Mansell LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek 1m35.296s
6. Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman LMP1 Audi 1m35.522s
7. Buncombe/Hall/Ramos LMP1 Lola Aston Martin 1m36.014s
8. Amaral/Pla LMP2 Ginetta Zytek 1m36.092s
9. Ragues/Mailleux LMP1 ORECA Judd 1m36.292s
10. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou LMP2 Lola Judd 1m37.128s
11. Erdos/Newton LMP2 Lola Mazda 1m37.280s
12. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter LMP2 Zytek 1m38.210s
13. Manning/Firth/Hughes LMP2 WF01 Zytek 1m38.810s
14. Salini/Salini/Gommendy LMP2 WR Zytek 1m39.096s
15. Lahaye/Ajlani LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda 1m39.396s
16. Nicolet/Hein LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda 1m40.116s
17. Cavailhes/Da Rocha/Ibanez LMP2 Courage AER 1m41.922s
18. Bruneau/Greaves/Sini LMP2 Radical AER 1m42.340s
19. Jorda/Cortes/Nieto LMP2 Lucchini Judd 1m43.470s
20. Schell/Thirion/Metz LMP2 Courage AER 1m44.486s
21. Berville/Dumez/Groppi GT1 Saleen S7R 1m45.714s
22. Sharp/Kox GT1 Aston Martin 1m45.796s
23. Clairay/Jousse/Goueslard GT1 Corvette 1m45.848s
24. Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr Sr GT2 Porsche 1m48.638s
25. Bell/Bruni GT2 Ferrari 1m48.830s
26. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche 1m48.984s
27. Garcia/Mansell/Melo GT2 Ferrari 1m49.358s
28. Kaffer/Montanari GT2 Ferrari 1m49.570s
29. Cocker/Drayson GT2 Aston Martin 1m49.594s
30. Rosa/Montermini/Cadei GT2 Ferrari 1m49.612s
31. Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise GT2 Ferrari 1m50.062s
32. Coronel/Janis GT2 Spyker 1m50.342s
33. Griffin/Bamford GT2 Ferrari 1m50.710s
34. Hartshorne/Kutemann/Daoudi GT2 Ferrari 1m51.126s
35. Ried/Felbermayr Jr/Martins GT2 Porsche 1m52.176s
36. Tenchini/Basso/Plati GT2 Ferrari 1m52.630s
37. Palttala/Daniels/Rich GT2 Porsche 1m52.920s
38. Boullion/Tinseau LMP1 Pescarolo-Judd 5m31.444s
39. Albers/Bakkerud LMP1 Audi 5m59.292s

Autosport

Plex · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 1:13 pm Post subject:

Aston wins title, ORECA wins race

Aston Martin Racing's Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz clinched the Le Mans Series title in the team's first season of LMP1 competition thanks to third place in a hard-fought AUTOSPORT 1000km at Silverstone.

The event was won by ORECA duo Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Panis, who came out on top of a race-long battle with the #007 and #008 works Lola-Astons, and the Speedy Sebah team's 2008 Lola-Aston, which took second.

The Aston trio's title rivals Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau (Pescarolo) stormed through from the back of the grid to take the lead in the first stint, only to suffer gearbox problems soon afterwards.

Full report to follow shortly

Pos Drivers Cl Car Time/Gap
1. Panis/Lapierre LMP1 ORECA-AIM 5h29m12.688s
2. Belicchi/Fassler/Prost LMP1 Lola Aston Martin + 51.760s
3. Charouz/Enge/Mucke LMP1 Lola Aston Martin + 1m01.730s
4. Primat/Turner LMP1 Lola Aston Martin + 1m03.340s
5. Albers/Bakkerud LMP1 Audi + 1 laps
6. Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman LMP1 Audi + 2 laps
7. Ragues/Mailleux LMP1 ORECA Judd + 2 laps
8. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou LMP2 Lola Judd + 5 laps
9. Watts/Leventis LMP1 Ginetta Zytek + 6 laps
10. Erdos/Newton LMP2 Lola Mazda + 9 laps
11. Nicolet/Hein LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda + 11 laps
12. Buncombe/Hall/Ramos LMP1 Lola Aston Martin + 13 laps
13. Boullion/Tinseau LMP1 Pescarolo-Judd + 14 laps
14. Manning/Firth/Hughes LMP2 WF01 Zytek + 16 laps
15. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter LMP2 Zytek + 16 laps
16. Bruneau/Greaves/Sini LMP2 Radical AER + 16 laps
17. Cavailhes/Da Rocha/Ibanez LMP2 Courage AER + 20 laps
18. Schell/Thirion/Metz LMP2 Courage AER + 20 laps
19. Sharp/Kox GT1 Aston Martin + 20 laps
20. Salini/Salini/Gommendy LMP2 WR Zytek + 21 laps
21. Berville/Dumez/Groppi GT1 Saleen + 21 laps
22. Clairay/Jousse/Goueslard GT1 Corvette + 22 laps
23. Bell/Bruni GT2 Ferrari + 23 laps
24. Coronel/Janis GT2 Spyker + 25 laps
25. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche + 25 laps
26. Garcia/Mansell/Melo GT2 Ferrari + 25 laps
27. Kaffer/Montanari GT2 Ferrari + 25 laps
28. Tomlinson/Mansell/Mansell LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek + 27 laps
29. Rosa/Montermini/Cadei GT2 Ferrari + 27 laps
30. Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr Sr GT2 Porsche + 30 laps
31. Ried/Felbermayr Jr/Martins GT2 Porsche + 30 laps
32. Palttala/Daniels/Rich GT2 Porsche + 31 laps
33. Griffin/Bamford GT2 Ferrari + 31 laps
34. Tenchini/Basso/Plati GT2 Ferrari + 33 laps
35. Hartshorne/Kutemann/Daoudi GT2 Ferrari + 35 laps

Not classified:

Jorda/Cortes/Nieto LMP2 Lucchini Judd 135 laps
Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise GT2 Ferrari 131 laps
Lahaye/Ajlani LMP2 Pescarolo Mazda 138 laps
Cocker/Drayson GT2 Aston Martin 122 laps
Amaral/Pla LMP2 Ginetta Zytek 32 laps

Autosport