Déjà
vu for RML AD Group in Spa
A
month after retiring from Round 1 of the 2009
Le Mans Series in Barcelona with engine problems,
Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos in the RML AD
Group Lola Mazda pulled out of Round 2 at
Spa when a second engine failed to go the
distance. Just as he had in Barcelona, Thomas
Erdos drove a faultless first stint, and worked
through to be running third in class from
a pitlane start in under half an hour. There
appeared to be every chance of challenging
for a podium finish until, eight minutes into
Mike Newton’s mid-race stint, the engine
died.
The
retirement came at the end of an arduous three
days for Wellingborough-based RML. Fastest
in class by the end of Friday free practice,
the prospects had looked excellent, but a
first-lap accident for Mike Newton on Saturday
morning left the team with extensive repairs
to complete and no chance of participating
in qualifying.
This
meant starting the race from the pitlane,
but having been penalised ten positions on
the grid for replacing the blown engine after
Barcelona, starting the race from the back
of the field hardly mattered. However, when
thick fog forced the abandonment of official
warm-up on Sunday morning, the drivers faced
a six-hour race in a car that hadn’t
turned a wheel since a ground-up rebuild.
It was testament to the skill and meticulous
work of the RML mechanics that the car was
on the button from the moment the lights turned
green.
One
car spinning off on the warm-up lap, followed
by a first-corner incident, brought out the
safety car and allowed Tommy to catch up on
the tail-enders before the restart. He then
sliced through the 50-car field, taking half
of them inside five laps and reaching third
in LMP2 within half an hour. “The car
was just such a delight to drive,” said
Erdos. “It was handling perfectly, and
even though I didn’t have the top-end
speed of some of the others, it felt strong,
and I could challenge. It’s just amazing
what the team did, rebuilding the car completely
in an afternoon, and then to have it perform
so well without any time to test it was remarkable.”
Early
in his second stint Tommy caught a patch of
oil at Rivage and took to the gravel, but
he and the team recovered well from that,
and the Brazilian went on to set the car’s
fastest lap just before handing over to Mike
Newton. The CEO of AD Group would manage a
mere four laps before the engine let go on
the run up towards Les Combes. “We’re
so disappointed for the guys that our race
ended this way,” said a disconsolate
Thomas Erdos. “After all their efforts,
they deserved so much better than this.”
The
depth of RML’s disappointment and frustration
is emphasised by the undeniable potential
of the team’s Lola Mazda Coupé.
Setting fastest lap in free practice on Friday
and battling through to third in class from
the back of the field confirms that the car
has the pace, but so far the engine reliability
that brought two class wins at Le Mans in
2005 and 2006 eludes RML in 2009.
The
team plans to introduce a series of additional
track tests before heading for the Le Mans
24 Hours in June, and has little over four
weeks to seek a way through the problem.
Click
the image above (Credit David Lord / Dailysportscar)
for a high-resolution enlargement, or visit
the Spa Gallery
for other views
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