Le Mans: Valencia Report -Second win for Peugeot 908 -

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A predictable Peugeot 1-2 at the first hour here in Valencia under a hot sun, Sarrazin leading Minassian on number 8. The LMP2s seem as challenging as we saw during practice and qualifying and they are mixed with the non-Peugeot LMP1s. As the pit stops are starting RML with Erdos on board is actually 3rd overall leading LMP2 from Vergers Barazi (recovered from an off in the opening lap) and De Castro on the Quifel Lola. In LMP1 the Arena Zytek is "best of the rest" fighting the Charouz Lola for 3rd.

GT1 sees a fierce fight between the Oreca Saleen, Larbre Aston number 50 and the 72 Alphand Corvette, all within 1 second. In GT2 it is now a Porsche 1-2-3 with IMSA leading Farnbacher and the 77 Felbermayr car, although Johnny Mowlem is very fast on the 83 Ferrari in 4th and is catching up with the top 3.

Planetlemans

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Half the race completed (we won't make 1000km so it will be a 6-hour race) and the first safety car is out after the third off from the Quifel ASM team. The Peugeots still lead comfortably with the Charouz Lola now as 3rd and the Rollcentre Pescarolo 4th. Barazi leads LMP2 and is 6th overall behind the Swiss Spirit Lola which is doing a pretty good debut race.

The Noel del Bello Courage is 2nd now in LMP2 1 lap behind the Zytek and the Bruichladdich Radical is 3rd in class. Ortelli in the Oreca Saleen is still leading, 3 laps ahead of Gollin in Larbre number 50 and the Racing Box Saleen. GT2 sees now IMSA Porsche in 1st, Virgo Ferrari 2nd and the 77 Felbermayr Porsche in 3rd. David Hart was driving a solid race but he had a coming together with the Chamberlain Lola that spun in front of him. Spyker struggling with Speedy 7th in class and the works car 10th (31st and 34th overall). A weekend to forget for Binnie, T2M and number 81 LNT car which have retired already.

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A very slow Peugeot number 7 was the sign that the 1-2 was not to be this time for the prancing lion and number 8 is now lonely at the top 3 laps ahead of Rollcentre's Pescarolo, the Charouz and Swiss Spirit Lolas which battle within 30 seconds of each other. Jean-Marc Gounon has retaken now the LMP2 lead and is followed by the Saulnier Racing Courage one lap behind, the Quifel Lola is now 3rd after all the problems they had in a great recovery (Angel Burgueno very fast now on the track)

Saleen 1-2 in GT1 again with Oreca 2 laps ahead of Racing Box, 3rd place is for Bouchut on Larbre number 50 2 laps behind the Italian Saleen. Gt2 still an open race with IMSA leading but Felbermayr and Farnbacher close in a Porsche 1-2-3.

Planetlemans

[Plex]

Team Peugeot Total did not run into anymore problems in the final hour of the 1000 kilometers of Valencia and clinched its second victory in as many races. Charouz Racing clinched second place after a fierce fight with Rollcentre ended after the Rollcentre Pescarolo suffered a (suspected) suspension failure while fighting for second place. The misfortune for Rollcentre meant Swiss Spirit inherited the third place. The Pescarolo team ended in fifth and sixth place, with the number 16 covering the whole track in a big cloud of smoke 30 minutes before the end of the race, but still able to continue.

Quifel ASM Team finished first in the LMP2 class, despite three incidents. Saulnier Racing came across the finish line in second place, just under seven seconds ahead of the Bruichladdich Radical. One lap before the checkered flag came out this situation was the other way around but the Bruichladdich team got a puncture on their last lap making it possible for Saulnier to get ahead and claim the second podium spot.

As expected Team Oreca took the GT1 honours with their Saleen, followed by the Saleen of Racing Box and the Aston Martin Racing Larbre Competition DBR9.

Despite leading most of the race IMSA Performance Matmut was robbed of a victory when they were punted off the track and into the tyrewall with just 45 minutes of the race remaining. Still, the new Porsche 997 GT3 RSR got its first international victory as the Felbermayr-Proton car of Lieb/Pompidou crossed the line one lap ahead of the Ferrari of Virgo Motorsport. Scuderia Villorba completed the GT2 podium.

There was bad luck for the Dutch Spyker Squadron and its Swiss sister Speedy Racing Team in the final phase of the race. With just 15 minutes to go Janis parked his C8 Spyder in the graveltrap. Only a few minutes later the other C8 Spyder started smoking and after completing one other lap it was parked on nearly the same spot as Janis had put his car before.

Planetlemans

[Plex]

Every coin has two sides. And two-sided was Peugeot's luck today as well in Valencia: one car victorious 3 laps ahead of the second classified and another car in the pits after a bitter retirement. Unlike Monza where the Lamy-Sarrazin car made a fabulous recovery after gearbox problems to finish 3rd overall, today's mishap did not allow the Gene-Minassian car to finish to the disappointment of the Catalan driver and the few local fans present at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.



The race started again with a demolishing pace by the Peugeot-Total team who had tested here before and demonstrated they knew the track very well. Behind the two closed coupes (Sarrazin-Lamy in front) both the Arena Zytek and the number 16 Pescarolo were just ahead of the strong performing LMP2 cars like RML and the Barazi Zytek which were giving the LMP1s a good run for their money in this twisty track.

Even when traffic was heavy, the predicted series of full-course yellow flags and safety car parades never materialized and the sole situation that asked for it was short and questionable. After one hour the LMP2s had already left most of the non-Peugeots behind and except for the Johansson-Shimoda car the top positions were for the two aforementioned cars, the Bruichladdich Radical and the Quifel ASM Lola.

This last car had three off-track excursions and was quickly (apparently) out of contention while Charouz, Swiss Spirit and Racing for Holland were running solidly. The Dutch team's Dome was doing better than expected given the feedback we had from the team after the warm-up. Very low pace from the works Courage while the LMP2s were running fine but a bit behind in their class.



The GT1 class saw the Oreca Saleen disappear in the distance after an initial battle with the Alphand Corvettes and the Modena and Larbre number 50 Astons while the Racing Box car was well mixed also in that group. GT2 was also a close contest between the IMSA, Farnbacher and Felbermayr 77 Porsches which seemed to have an edge on the Virgo and GPC Ferraris.

But into the second hour the problems began for the LMP2 cars : Barazi seemed to be the only one escaping the general bad luck wave (although now 5th overall) and behind the Bruichladdich Radical the 3rd position in LMP2 was now for the Horag Lola which had started 9th in class. Team Modena, Alphand's 72 car and Racing Box were battling behind almighty Oreca in GT1 while IMSA was still leading GT2 by a whisker from the Pompidou-Lieb car.



As half race approached (it was clear now that 250 laps would not be completed) the Peugeots were firmly in the lead but some other cars were progressing in the classification: The Rollcentre Pescarolo was now 4th behind Charouz as the works cars from the mythical constructor were plagued by issues and not able to be even close to their performances of last year. In LMP2 it was the turn of the Noel del Bello car to make it to second spot and 7th overall in a very good performance by Gounon-Petrov. GT1 was a Saleen 1-2 with a very good work by the Racing Box team behind Oreca while GT2 saw the Virgo Ferrari mixed now in the top but the IMSA car still in the lead.

Marc Gene started attacking Lamy for the lead and he finally succeeded. This would not last since a stop and go penalty first and mechanical failure later would see the disappear from the scoreboard and leva car number 8 lonely at the top. Mechanical issues would also force Arena to retire and Barazi to struggle when their paddle shifter started failing and bringing them into the pits time and again. The Pescarolos were still running but behind Charouz, Rollcentre and Swiss Spirit. Racing for Holland had retired a while ago after the Chamberlain Lola spun in front of them and put them in the gravel trap where they could not continue afterwards.



Bruichladdich got the lead in LMP2 but had to battle with Noel del Bello, Horag and also Saulnier racing which were also inviting themselves to the party. Both Courages would be hit by minor issues and Horag would also retire leaving the way for the Quifel ASM team to make an amazing comeback which would eventually see them win their class as Planetlemans.com predicted them before the race.

GT1 saw still Oreca domination with Racing Box behind while LMP2 saw Villorba Corse also battling IMSA, Virgo, Farnbacher and eventual class winners: the Felbermayr 77 car which is the first 997 to grab an international victory. It was a sad end for IMSA's weekend when the Saulnier car pushed them into the gravel trap with less than an hour to go while they were still on the lead.

And that hour brought amazing reversals of fortune: Joao Barbosa had a suspension failure while chasing Stefan Muecke in the Charouz car and saw a podium evaporate after the German closed the door dangerously on him at full speed. The second position of the Bruichladdich Radical became a 3rd after a last lap puncture (Saulnier taking second step on the LMP2 podium) and , as mentioned, Quifel ASM winning the small prototype class after a great last stint by Angel Burgue�o.



So in the end Lamy-Sarrazin's Peugeot wins from a very solid Charouz Lola and a great debut by Swiss Spirit, Rollcentre managed 4th with a crippled car masterly brought home by Barbosa, Pescarolos strangely 5th and 6th in an opaque result. Quifel ASM was followed by Saulnier, Bruichladdich and Noel del Bello while GT1 was Oreca, Racing Box and Larbre. Alphand's 72 car was 4th having been delayed by an off-track excursion by Luc himself.After IMSA's mishap Lieb-Pompidou took the honors in GT2 followed by the Virgo and Villorba Corse Ferraris, Farnbacher was 4th and the number 88 Felbermayr Porsche was 5th.

Our final comments have to be referred (again) to the almost zero local promotion which meant half-empty or totally empty grandstands despite the great weather, the fantastic "circuit on a stadium" concept and the perfect accessibility and facilities. As a final rehearsal for Le Mans we depart Valencia with several thoughts about the upcoming 24 Heures:

-Peugeot will be able to present battle to Audi, despite some glitches. The car adapted well to both the speed of Monza and the tortuous Valencia track.

-Pescarolo has more homework than expected looking at June, Zyteks will be quick but are still too green.

-LMP2 still shows considerable fragility, it will be anybody's race at La Sarthe (and next year we will have Porsche and Acura there...).

-The Saleens will be a force to reckon with for the Corvettes, maybe even more than the Astons.

-GT2 with these teams plus Risi and Flying Lizard? What a race!!!

Planetlemans