LMS 2010: Spa

[Plex]

ORECA Peugeot upstages factory cars

Olivier Panis used all of his years of experience and guile to stun the factory opposition and dominate the first practice session for the Spa-Francorchamps 1000km in the sole privateer ORECA Peugeot.

The Belgian round of the Le Mans Series is the first time that all three of the major front-runners, Peugeot Sport, Audi Team Joest and ORECA go head-to-head in 2010, and right from the off their have been surprises.

The French former Formula 1 driver put the multi-coloured Peugeot 908 HDi FAP more than 2.5s clear of the nearest factory version - driven by Anthony Davidson - with a lap of 2m14.068s in typically changeable Ardennes conditions.

Having begun wet, the session became all about who could best release grip and potential from a drying track and the last 10 minutes were all Panis, who initially shot to the top of the times with a 2m16.198s.

It looked as if the factory Pugs would push him aside, as first Davidson thumped in a 2m16.673s then Simon Pagenaud in the #3 908 HDi went third with a 2m17.350s.

That of course was before Panis produced his 2m14s on the final lap of the hour, putting the matter beyond any doubt.

A combination of opportunistic driving and a slick surface allowed Jean-Christophe Boullion to get among the diesels in the Rebellion Lola in fourth, while Olivier Pla was a quite stunning fifth in the LMP2 Quifel Ginetta.

Nicolas Prost was sixth in the second Rebellion machine.

Indeed you had to look down as far as seventh for the next diesel, the third Peugeot being driven by Stephane Sarrazin who headed the trio of Audi R15 TDI Plus's - which seemingly are still early in their set-up cycle. Tom Kristensen, Roman Dumas and Marcel Fassler completed the top 10 in the German cars.

Allan Simonsen was fastest in GT2 in the Farnbacher Ferrari 430 GT, faster by 1.8s than the fastest GT1 entry - Julien Jousse in the Luc Alphand Avantures Corvette.

Pos Driver Class//Car Time
1. Panis/Lapierre/Duval P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m14.068s
2. Gene/Wurz/Davidson P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m16.673s
3. Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m17.350s
4. Belicchi/Boullion P1 Lola B10/60 - Rebellion 2m17.741s
5. Amaral/Pla P2 Ginetta-Zytek 09S 2m18.166s
6. Prost/Jani P1 Lola B10/60 - Rebellion 2m18.180s
7. Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m18.391s
8. Capello/Kristensen/Mcnish P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m18.715s
9. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m20.195s
10. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m20.235s
11. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Lola - Aston Martin 2m21.504s
12. Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik P2 Ginetta-Zytek 09S 2m22.621s
13. Leventis/Watts/Kane P2 ARX-01c 2:27.882 20 2m27.882s
14. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 Lola HPD Coupe 2m29.044s
15. Moreau/Hein P2 Pescarolo - Judd 2m29.340s
16. Francioni/Pirri P2 Lola Coupe B09 - Judd 2m29.438s
17. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Pescarolo - Judd 2m30.278s
18. Kraihamer/De Crem/Delhez FLM Oreca 2m31.437s
19. Frey/Meichtry/Bruneau P2 Radical SR9 - Judd 2m32.293s
20. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Lola Coupe B09 - Judd 2m33.167s
21. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m33.648s
22. Jousse/Gregoire/Hart GT1 Corvette C6.R 2m34.771s
23. Holzer/Westbrook GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m34.960s
24. Noda/De Pourtales/Kennard P2 Lola B08/47 - Judd 2m35.200s
25. Enge/Nygaard/Mucke GT1 Aston Martin DBR9 2m35.443s
26. Pillon/Verdonck/Capillaire FLM Oreca 2m35.704s
27. Bruni/Melo GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m35.790s
28. Bell/Turner GT2 Aston Martin Vantage 2m35.841s
29. Muller/Werner/Alzen GT2 BMW M3 2m36.334s
30. Mutsch/Hirschi/Beche GT1 Ford GT 2m36.544s
31. Leinders/Palttala/De Doncker GT1 Ford GT 2m36.742s
32. Gardel/Goueslard/Rees GT1 Saleen S7-R 2m37.050s
33. Allemann/Frey/Zimmer GT1 Ford GT 2m37.716s
34. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m37.843s
35. Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m38.321s
36. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m38.367s
37. Schell/Da Rocha P2 Courage-Oreca LC75 2m38.407s
38. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m38.522s
39. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m38.709s
40. Companc/Russo GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m38.851s
41. Dumbreck/Coronel GT2 Spyker C8 Laviolette 2m39.342s
42. Zacchia/Kaufmann/Moro FLM Oreca 2m39.643s
43. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m39.818s
44. Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon FLM Oreca 2m40.907s
45. Priaulx/Mullen/Farfus GT2 BMW M3 2m43.541s
46. Splunteren/Hommerson/Machiels GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m44.319s
47. Schroyen/Van Dam/Lacko GT1 Saleen S7R 2m44.395s
48. Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne FLM Oreca 2m48.984s
49. Daniels/Slingerland/Lanik GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m55.918s
50. Toulemonde/Zollinger/Zampatti FLM Oreca no time


Autosport

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Pagenaud flies for Peugeot at Spa

The factory Peugeot squad revealed its true pace in the second free practice session for the Spa 1000km after Simon Pagenaud lapped more than a second under last year's pole time to go fastest of all on the now-dry track.

The Frenchman's lap of 1m59.826s, set relatively early in the second hour, was 1.5s faster than that of his team-mate Anthony Davidson.

The works 908 HDi FAP's domination was completed with Franck Montagny in third in the #2 car.

Andre Lotterer was the fastest Audi driver in fourth position as Team Joest focussed on a set-up close to that it plans to run at Le Mans. Lotterer was more than 3s away from Pagenaud's pace.

Olivier Panis was fifth fastest for ORECA in the privateer Peugeot ahead of the other works Audis of Timo Bernhard and Rinaldo Capello.

All three R15 TDI Plus crews reported a lack of grip and Allan McNish completed virtually no running at all on Friday after his late stint was scuppered by a red flag near the end of the session.

Mike Newton was quickest LMP2 runner in the RML Lola Coupe ahead of the Quifel Ginetta and Oak Racing's Pescarolo.

Stefan Mucke set the pace in GT1 for the factory Aston Martin squad while Rob Bell was fastest, again in an Aston, in GT2.


Pos Driver Class//Car Time
1. Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 1m59.826s
2. Gene/Wurz/Davidson P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m01.365s
3. Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m02.771s
4. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m02.894s
5. Panis/Lapierre/Duval P1 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 2m03.313s
6. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m03.394s
7. Capello/Kristensen/Mcnish P1 Audi R15 TDI 2m04.037s
8. Prost/Jani P1 Lola B10/60 - Rebellion 2m04.284s
9. Belicchi/Boullion P1 Lola B10/60 - Rebellion 2m04.875s
10. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 Lola HPD Coupe 2m06.858s
11. Amaral/Pla P2 Ginetta-Zytek 09S 2m08.488s
12. Moreau/Hein P2 Pescarolo - Judd 2m08.881s
13. Leventis/Watts/Kane P2 ARX-01c 2:27.882 20 2m08.950s
14. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Lola - Aston Martin 2m08.952s
15. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Pescarolo - Judd 2m09.503s
16. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Lola Coupe B09 - Judd 2m11.346s
17. Francioni/Pirri P2 Lola Coupe B09 - Judd 2m12.196s
18. Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik P2 Ginetta-Zytek 09S 2m13.142s
19. Noda/De Pourtales/Kennard P2 Lola B08/47 - Judd 2m15.696s
20. Frey/Meichtry/Bruneau P2 Radical SR9 - Judd 2m17.574s
21. Pillon/Verdonck/Capillaire FLM Oreca 2m18.228s
22. Zacchia/Kaufmann/Moro FLM Oreca 2m19.413s
23. Enge/Nygaard/Mucke GT1 Aston Martin DBR9 2m20.044s
24. Kraihamer/De Crem/Delhez FLM Oreca 2m20.052s
25. Mutsch/Hirschi/Beche GT1 Ford GT 2m20.806s
26. Bell/Turner GT2 Aston Martin Vantage 2m21.318s
27. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m21.561s
28. Leinders/Palttala/De Doncker GT1 Ford GT 2m21.652s
29. Companc/Russo GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m22.021s
30. Bruni/Melo GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m22.128s
31. Schell/Da Rocha P2 Courage-Oreca LC75 2m22.193s
32. Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon FLM Oreca 2m22.217s
33. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m22.587s
34. Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m22.660s
35. Jousse/Gregoire/Hart GT1 Corvette C6.R 2m22.780s
36. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m22.804s
37. Priaulx/Mullen/Farfus GT2 BMW M3 2m22.973s
38. Allemann/Frey/Zimmer GT1 Ford GT 2m23.355s
39. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m23.374s
40. Muller/Werner/Alzen GT2 BMW M3 2m23.428s
41. Gardel/Goueslard/Rees GT1 Saleen S7-R 2m23.675s
42. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 Ferrari F430 GT 2m23.731s
43. Dumbreck/Coronel GT2 Spyker C8 Laviolette 2m23.786s
44. Holzer/Westbrook GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m23.900s
45. Schroyen/Van Dam/Lacko GT1 Saleen S7R 2m23.926s
46. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m24.034s
47. Von Splunteren/Hommerson/Machiels GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m26.917s
48. Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne FLM Oreca 2m27.210s
49. Daniels/Slingerland/Lanik GT2 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2m32.390s

Autosport

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Bourdais takes pole for Peugeot

Sebastien Bourdais gave Peugeot pole position for the Spa 1000km with a stunning lap of 1m57.884s to fend of a seemingly growing threat from Audi this weekend.

The Frenchman put the #3 908 HDi FAP to the top of the times halfway through the 20-minute session and in doing so put down a slightly unexpected challenge from the # 9 Audi of Timo Bernhard.

The German fired in two aggressive fliers at the beginning of the session as he made an R15 TDI Plus break the two-minute barrier for the first time this weekend.

His second effort - a 1m58.519s - was 0.7s off the pole and as close as any Audi has got to the ultimate pace all weekend.

Stephane Sarrazin was third quickest in the #2 car. The Frenchman, who set the pace in final free practice this morning, gave it his best in the last couple of minutes but simply could not find a clear lap.

Nicolas Lappiere maintained the threat of the privateer ORECA Peugeot in fourth position ahead of the #8 Audi driven by Andre Lotterer.

The #7 Audi, perhaps the German machine most expected to cause French headaches, did not fare so well.

Tom Kristensen, allotted qualifying duties, came into contact with the LMP2 pole-winning car of Danny Watts at La Source and this almost certainly played a factor in the Dane's distant sixth position.

Alexander Wurz, who had not been happy with oversteer in the morning session, was seventh in the third factory Peugeot.

Franck Mailleux put the Signature Aston Martin in eighth ahead of Nicolas Prost's Rebellion Lola and the LMP 2 Strakka car.

Perhaps it was the incident with Kristensen that gave Watts an angry edge but he ended the session more than two seconds faster than his nearest LMP2 rival – Tommy Erdos's RML Lola.

Mathieu LaHaye was third fastest in class in the Oak Racing Pescarolo.

The GT session was fragmented by a red flag when the Matech Ford went off heavily at Signes with Rachel Frey at the wheel. The stoppage to recover the car only recently repaired from Natacha Gaschnang's shunt in the FIA GT opener at Abu Dhabi, meant that several drivers' laps were disrupted.

In the it was another Ford GT, that of Bas Leinders, that eventually took the pole in GT1. Matech's other car was second fastest in class ahead of Julian Jousse's Luc Alphand Corvette.

AF Corse Ferrari's Jaime Melo took the pole for GT2 by four hundredths from Marc Lieb in the Felbermayr Porsche. CRS Racing's Andrew Kirkaldy was third fastest.


Autosport

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#3 Peugeot wins bizarre Spa 1000kms

The Peugeot of Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy survived a first lap spin, an unprecedented red flag and ensuing confusion, a late-race rain storm and a trip across the gravel in the final hour, to win the most chaotic race in the history of the Le Mans Series at Spa.

The #3 908 HDi FAP was the frontrunner whose strategy fell into the circumstances with the most fortune, but also put together as faultless a race as was possible in the most challenging of conditions.

"I hope there are not too many races as crazy as this or I won't live for very long!" said Bourdais afterwards.

The #7 Audi, driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello, may have been in control of the race for much of the first two hours - thanks to a well-timed pitstop just as an early safety car emerged from the pits, which gave the car a 50s advantage over the fleet of Peugeots. But after the power cut-induced red flag, it was the #3 car that wrested control of the race.

Capello regained the lead quite quickly after the red flag but was quickly hauled in by Bourdais as the race reached the halfway mark.

The next 30 minutes provided some enthralling racing as the Frenchman diced with the Audi man, briefly passing him at La Source only for the low-downforce R15 TDI to pass him back up the straight.

But when it came time for them both to pit, Capello's need for new tyres cost him the lead and he would never regain it.

Bourdais built a substantial advantage through the rest of his stint and things looked dandy as he handed over to Pagenaud.

A heavy accident for Christopher Nygaard in the GT1 Aston Martin at Blanchimont with 70 minutes of the race to go brought another full-course caution, which allowed the leaders to all pit except for Tom Kristensen, who had taken over from Capello by this point.

When the rain came with 35 minutes left, it looked like things might close up as Kristensen opted to pit for some intermediates and immediately took chunks out of Pagenaud's 70s lead. But while the American Le Mans Series championship leader ran over the grass at La Source he was never really in danger of losing his lead, and as the rain eased again he consolidated to win the race.

In fact it was Kristensen who found himself under attack as the recovering #2 Peugeot of Stephane Sarrazin stormed up behind the Audi and passed it on the pit straight in the final few laps of the race.

That this car finished second was quite remarkable given it was rebuilt following Montagny's accident immediately prior to the power cut. The fact that the car he crashed into, the KSM Lola, was not allowed to be repaired during parc ferme conditions remains a point of contention.

Regardless of the circumstance it was a brilliant drive by Montagny, who did a marathon stint that lastest more than three and a half hours, and Sarrazin, reminiscent of their Road Atlanta victory last year.

Audi therefore was forced to settle for third ahead of the last of the factory Peugeots, which also had a late scare when Marc Gene crashed at Brussels in the rain. The Spaniard recovered in time to save his position from Mike Rockenfeller in the #9 Audi.

Rockenfeller's team-mate Romain Dumas believed this car should have been right in contention, but was one of many to have been caught out by the red flag. He was furious that he been held in the pits for two minutes when he stopped under the safety car when the race resumed.

Miguel Amaral finished sixth overall and first in the LMP2 class after a race-long battle for victory with the RML Lola. The race was secured for the Quifel Ginetta squad when Andy Wallace was forced to wait in the pits during his stop under the final safety car.

The Oak Racing Pescarolos of Guillaume Moreau and Mathieu LaHaye finished third and fourth.

Marc Lieb cruised to victory for Felbermayr Porsche in the GT2 category after his closest contenders all fell foul of penalties. Jamie Melo's Ferrari and the Schnitzer BMW of Jorg Muller both got drivethroughs for excessive use of run-off, and both also were hampered by the red flag confusion.

In the end Melo brought the AF Corse Ferrari home second, though only after an intense dice with his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in the closing stages. So heated was it that they allowed Andy Priaulx to catch them right up in the final laps of the race.

The Marc VDS Ford of Dominik Kraihamer, Markus Palttala and Bas Leinders took a one-lap victory in GT1 over the Larbre Competition Saleen.

Steve Zacchia, Wolfgang Kaufmann and Luca Moro won the Formula Le Mans honours.

Pos Drivers Cl Car Time/Gap
1. Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud P1 Peugeot 6h00m39.012s
2. Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian P1 Peugeot + 1m08.308s
3. Capello/Kristensen/Mcnish P1 Audi + 1m26.215s
4. Gene/Wurz/Davidson P1 Peugeot + 1 laps
5. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi + 2 laps
6. Amaral/Pla P2 Ginetta-Zytek + 9 laps
7. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 Lola HPD + 9 laps
8. Moreau/Hein P2 Pescarolo-Judd + 10 laps
9. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Pescarolo-Judd + 11 laps
10. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Lola-Judd + 11 laps
11. Belicchi/Boullion P1 Lola-Rebellion + 12 laps
12. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi + 13 laps
13. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Lola-Aston + 14 laps
14. Zacchia/Kaufmann/Moro FLM FLM ORECA + 15 laps
15. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Porsche + 15 laps
16. Schell/da Rocha P2 Courage-ORECA + 16 laps
17. Leinders/Palttala/de Doncker GT1 Ford + 16 laps
18. Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez FLM FLM ORECA + 16 laps
19. Bruni/Melo GT2 Ferrari + 16 laps
20. Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander GT2 Ferrari + 16 laps
21. Priaulx/Muller/Farfus GT2 BMW + 16 laps
22. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche + 16 laps
23. Mutsch/Hirschi/Beche GT1 Ford + 16 laps
24. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 Ferrari + 17 laps
25. Dumbreck/Coronel GT2 Spyker + 18 laps
26. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Porsche + 18 laps
27. Holzer/Westbrook GT2 Porsche + 18 laps
28. Allemann/Frey/Zimmer GT1 Ford + 18 laps
29. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Ferrari + 18 laps
30. Perez Companc/Russo GT2 Ferrari + 19 laps
31. Gardel/Goueslard/Rees GT1 Saleen + 19 laps
32. Jousse/Gregoire/Hart GT1 Corvette + 19 laps
33. Schroyen/Van Dam/Lacko GT1 Saleen + 19 laps
34. Muller/Werner/Alzen GT2 BMW + 19 laps
35. Van Splunteren/Hommerson/Machiels GT2 Porsche + 20 laps
36. Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne FLM FLM ORECA + 22 laps
37. Daniels/Slingerland/Lanik GT2 Porsche + 23 laps
38. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 Ferrari + 34 laps
39. Frey/Meichtry/Bruneau P2 Radical-Judd + 36 laps

Retirements:

Bell/Turner GT2 Aston Martin 86 laps
Enge/Nygaard/Mucke GT1 Aston Martin 82 laps
Noda/de Pourtales/Kennard P2 Lola-Judd 77 laps
Leventis/Watts/Kane P2 HPD 69 laps
Toulemonde/Zollinger/Zampatti FLM FLM ORECA 67 laps
Prost/Jani P1 Lola-Rebellion 65 laps
Pillon/Verdonck/Capillaire FLM FLM ORECA 30 laps
Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon FLM FLM ORECA 23 laps
Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik P2 Ginetta-Zytek 15 laps
Panis/Lapierre/Duval P1 Peugeot 4 laps

Autosport

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