Heat, and More Heat

Free Practice 3

After the relative cool of Thursday evening’s second Free Practice session, when the RML Lola Mazda had ended the two hours as fifth-quickest in LMP2, Friday’s third session would be staged in the baking heat of the early afternoon. With track temperatures reaching into the fifties and higher, the conditions bore little relevance to those likely to be encountered either in Qualifying later today, or in the race tomorrow evening, but it was an opportunity to resolve any balance and performance issues, and for drivers less acquainted with the new circuit to learn their way round.

With the sun almost at its peak, the final Free Practice session got under way at just before two. Tommy and Mike took it in turns to drive the #25 RML Lola, with Mike taking advantage of most of the middle part of the hour to perfect his understanding of the twists and turns of this complex track. He’s been concentrating on his technique and, with the aid of the on-board cctv system developed by AD Group, he and Tommy have been assessing the best racing line for the Autodromo.

Mike was certainly not feeling relaxed about the race on Thursday evening, but a good run on Friday has worked wonders. He made significant strides forwards, and his pace and confidence took a significant boost. “That last stint felt so much better,” he said, his face cracking into a grin for the first time since he first took to the circuit. “It feels great to have started properly now,” he explained. “Now I just need the practice. I can see areas for improvement, I know that, but I feel much happier. That felt like my first real run in the car this week, and I’m getting into my stride.”

Phil Barker, Team Manager, was also looking more cheerful. “I’m reasonably confident now, and I’ll be happy if we can qualify in the top three,” he said, after Tommy posted a time that was within three-tenths of second in class. Top time, once again, was set by the ASM Ginetta-Zytek, but the gap between the Portuguese car and those behind has been fairly generous with each session. By contrast, the chasing six-pack can be blanketed by little more than a second.

Phil would still have liked more, time, of course. “An hour just goes by so quickly!” he said. “Mind you, if they gave us four hours I’d still want five. We’ve definitely moved forwards today. The car was very lively in the first session (on Thursday), but we overcome that, and the car was well settled down for the second (night) session, and was significantly quicker. Now we’ve moved on again.”

The issue of track and air temperatures continues to challenge the teams as they attempt to dial-in their cars. “The track temperature this afternoon was 52 degrees, but that will be down to the mid-thirties tonight. It’s very difficult to sort out a balance when conditions are changing so much, and especially when a session like that last one can have no real bearing on what we’ll face in qualifying, or the race,” he added. “Tonight it will cool down and should be much closer to the kind of conditions we’ll face in the race, and that’s what really matters.”

Part of the routine work involved in preparing for any race weekend is to do tyre and fuel runs; establishing wear and degradation on the rubber, and likely fuel consumption over the course of a stint. From the data collected, a team can then plan a strategy for the race. “One thing we’ve very pleased to have established is that the car is very quick on old tyres,” said Phil. “Tommy’s quickest time (last night) was set on tyres that had already double-stinted, so we’re very happy that the car can remain competitive over an extended period. The car is just not aggressive on tyres here, and at a pinch I think we could even run three stints on a single set.” Saving time in the pitlane – by not having to change tyres – is time that’s much easier to gain than places on the track, and so is double valuable.

After Mike had completed five timed laps towards the second third of the session, Tommy went back out to run on to the chequered flag and simulated a “low fuel” run, just to gain some insight into how far the Mazda-powered Lola could go once the warning light had started to flicker.

LMP2 Free Practice 3

Pos	No.	O/all	Team	Driver	Car	Best Lap
1	40	8	Quifel ASM	Amaral/Pla	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	1:33.868
2	30	12	Racing Box	Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:35.562
3	29	13	Racing Box	Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:35.578
4	33	14	Speedy Sebah	Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane	Lola B08/80 Coupé	1:35.628
5	25	15	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:35.892
6	41	16	GAC Racing Team	Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter	Zytek 07S	1:36.686
7	35	17	Oak Racing	Ajlani/Lahaye	Pescarolo Mazda	1:36.716
8	37	18	WR Salini	Salini/Salini/Jouanny	WR Zytek	1:38.652
9	43	19	Q8 Oils Hache	Jorda/Cortes/Nieto	Lucchini Judd	1:39.898
10	24	20	Oak Racing	Nicolet/Hein	Pescarolo Mazda	1:39.936
11	28	22	Ibanez Racing	Ibanez/da Rocha/Cavailhes	Courage AER	1:41.190
12	26	23	Bruichladdich	Bruneau/Greaves/Sini	Radical SR9 AER	1:43.106

Qualifying

The start of the Le Mans Series qualifying was delayed by ten minutes after a late finish to the preceding Classic Endurance Racing (CER) session due to red flags – always a cause for concern where such beautiful and valuable machines are involved!

The GT cars went out for their twenty-minute period before the prototypes, heading off at 19:20. At this point the air temperature had already started to dip from a mid-afternoon peak of somewhere in the region of 35 degrees. By seven it had fallen to 25, and a cooling breeze was ruffling the marquees and awnings in the paddock.

GT qualifying went more or less to form, although the GT1 Saleen was late to post a representative time – Lemeret waiting until the penultimate lap to lift the Larbre car off the bottom of the screen. A characteristic of the session was that almost half the cars waited until half way through before venturing out, no doubt in the hope that the cooling air would lead to quicker times. By quarter-to eight, the ambient dipped by one whole degree.

The prototype qualifying session kicked off at 19:50, with a warning that there was oil at Turns 4 and 5. First to leave the pitlane was Darren Turner in the 009 Aston Martin Lola, followed by one of the Kolles Audis and the two Oreca AIMs. The Bruichladdich Radical was lead out the LMP2 cars, followed by the #28 Ibanez Racing Courage and the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo, with Tommy the 8th car to take to the tarmac.

This slow start hadn’t been unexpected – the GT cars had already demonstrated that the quicker times were likely to come towards the end of a session, but RML was keen to lay down a marker, and an empty track had its own benefits.

Karim Ajlani was the quickest of the LMP2 first flyers for Oak Racing, and 1:37.772 was quite respectable. Tommy’s first was a 1:38.948 and tentatively claimed second, but his next lap began immediately with a new fastest sector. With six minutes gone only 12 prototypes had yet to appear.

Before Tommy reached the line Bruce Jouanny crossed it for WR Salini with a 1:37.548, but Tommy was on a hot one. When the Lola cut the timing beacon seconds later it was to record an impressive 1:35.056 – the quickest time recorded b the #25 all week, and one of the fastest by any LMP2 car. It stood clear at the head of P2 and 4th overall.

The Brazilian hadn’t yet finished, however, and Tommy’s third was a 1:34.728, consolidating his grip on provisional pole by nearly three seconds.

Several other top P2 contenders were now joining in, including Olivier Pla in the #40 ASM Ginetta-Zytek, Matteo Bobbi in the #30 Racing Box Lola, and Patrick Peter in the #41 GAC Zytek. Each had the capacity, on paper at least, to go for class pole.

In LMP1 Bruno Senna moved to second-quickest overall in the #10 Oreca AIM as Tommy came back down the pitlane from 6th overall. It was eight o’clock.

First to get near to Tommy’s time was Xavier Pompidou in the #33 Speedy Sebah Lola, and 1:35.380 was a close second. Pla’s first timed lap at 1:35.580 moved the ASM car into third, with Peter fourth on 1:35.888, 11th overall. Next time round Pompidou improved to a 1:35.288 that moved him to within a few tenths, followed by Pla on 1:34.924 that narrowed the gap to two-tenths.

Throughout this period Tommy sat in the cockpit, stationary in the pits. Over the years this had become a familiar sight, and there would have been a time when he’d have been able to relax in the knowledge that there was nobody else capable of getting even close. This time, the chances were slimmer, and not necessarily in his favour, but what observers didn’t appreciate was that Tommy, and everyone at RML looking at the telemetry, knew that he had little chance of going out again to defend pole. The car’s engine was already displaying some disconcerting signs of imminent demise.

So, as Lapierre moved fastest overall in LMP1, setting a 1:31.020 for the #11 Oreca AIM, Pla was on a lap that would move him quickest in LMP2 with a new time of 1:34.492. It was five-past eight, and for a while the timing screens displayed a perfectly arrayed field, with each class in the correct order and neatly clumped.

With four minutes to go, Patrick Peter moved a few tenths quicker, posting 1:34.832 for the #41 Zytek. The final improvement then came from Pla, who swept across the line to record a new best for LMP2 of 1:34.296 that not only cleared Tommy’s best by half a second, but demoted #12 LMP1 Oreca Judd to 12th overall.

The chequered flag was waved, and only those already on a flying lap could add to their tally. One to do so was Patrick Peter in the #41, and 1:34.752 shaved another few tenths off the margin between him and Tommy, leaving just a few hundredths to secure the best qualifying performance of nearly two years for the RML Lola. The air temperature had dropped to 23.2 degrees at the close.

Driver and Team Comments

In the minutes after the race, and for a few hours, the mood in the RML garage and hospitality was buoyant, for the first time in many months. “That was better, wasn’t it?” said Tommy, grinning from ear to ear. The engineers and mechanics walked past to clap him on the back or shake his hand. It was a sight not seen for some while, and all the better for that. “It was a bit of a surprise not to see Olivier (Pla) going in to the thirty-threes, but you have to put the tyres on for qualifying that you’ll use to start the race, and in its own way, that tells a story. It’s nice to split the Zyteks at last, and to be the top Lola. That’s Very satisfying.”
“The chassis is great – just fantastic - and the handling is excellent. We made some bold changes after the last Free Practice session, and they were the right changes. We had a really good car for qualifying and I’m looking forward to carrying that on into the race.”

“I only did three flying laps, and came in, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we could have gone even quicker if the circumstances would have allowed.”

Mike was looking more relaxed than he had since arriving at the circuit. “Tommy’s lap is some good news in what’s been an extremely challenging weekend, so far,” he said. “I think that’s the best qualifying position yet for the Lola Coupé, and it proves that the complete Lola Mazda package is very competitive, when we can overcome the reliability issues.”

But the story was not yet over, not by a long chalk. During the qualifying run the AER engine technicians had noted some data readings that gave them cause for concern, and as a precautionary measure, the decision was taken to change the engine before the race. Half an hour after the publication of the qualifying times, a revision was issued, that showed that the RML Lola Mazda #25 would start the race from 21st overall, eleventh in LMP2.

This ten-place grid penalty was the result of having to fit a new engine since the last one blew during Round Two in Spa. That not only incurred the grid penalty, but also earned the team a four-point deduction in their total for the season . . . already standing at minus 2 after the first engine went bang in Barcelona. Being relegated here at the Algarve wasn’t unexpected, but it was still a disappointment, coming after such a morale-boosting run. Please see the press release for further details.

So, as the team headed for their hotel at the end of Friday, Tommy looked set to begin Saturday’s night race from the two-third position on the grid. Little did they know that more was yet to come . . .

LMP2 Qualifying

Pos	No.	O/all	Team	Driver	Car	Best Lap	Diff.
1	40	10	Quifel ASM	Amaral/Pla	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	1:34.296	-
2	25	12	RML AD Group	Erdos/Newton	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:34.728	0.432
3	41	13	GAC Racing Team	Ojeh/Gosselin/Peter	Zytek 07S	1:34.752	0.456
4	29	14	Racing Box	Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:34.948	0.652
5	33	15	Speedy Sebah	Pompidou/Luenberger/Kane	Lola B08/80 Coupé	1:35.100	0.804
6	30	16	Racing Box	Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini	Lola B08/86 Coupé	1:35.448	1.152
7	35	17	Oak Racing	Ajlani/Lahaye	Pescarolo Mazda	1:37.076	2.780
8	37	18	WR Salini	Salini/Salini/Jouanny	WR Zytek	1:37.088	2.792
9	24	19	Oak Racing	Nicolet/Hein	Pescarolo Mazda	1:38.396	4.100
10	43	20	Q8 Oils Hache	Jorda/Cortes/Nieto	Lucchini Judd	1:39.296	5.000
11	28	21	Ibanez Racing	Ibanez/da Rocha/Cavailhes	Courage AER	1:39.940	5.644
12	26	22	Bruichladdich	Bruneau/Greaves/Sini	Radical SR9 AER	1:40.820	6.524

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