Return to the home page Contact the team Privacy policy on this website RML Lola Mazda B08/86
RML AD Group racing with Lola and Mazda
Click here for the latest news from RML AD Group
Information about racing with RML AD Group
Information and galleries for the motorsport media
Sponsorship opportunities with RML AD Group
Shop, downloads and merchandising from team RML AD Group
Ideas and innovations from RML AD Group

Saturday Sessions

The second day's testing at Paul Ricard began with at least the promise of some better conditions, although the skies remained overcast and the early-morning track conditions were not conducive to fast lappery. The day's schedule followed a similar pattern:

Saturday 12 March 2011

  • 08:30 Drivers' meeting - Mandatory for the drivers who did not drive on the 11th
  • 09:00 Opening of the track
  • 12:30 14:30 Lunch at the panoramic restaurant
  • 13:00 End of the morning session
  • 13:15 13:45 Pit Walk for VIP Guests
  • 14:00 Re-opening of the track
  • 18:00 End of the session for all teams
  • 22:00 Paddock closes

The Morning

The first hour of the Saturday session saw the previous day's pattern repeated, although times were significantly slower. The track took a long time to pick up temperature, and most cars were several seconds away from making improvements.

Fastest overall, once again, was the Quifel ASM Zytek, with the TDS Norma setting the pace in LMP2. Tommy Erdos had the RML HPD running third in class, but a 1:55.215 was still two seconds shy of his best time from Friday morning.

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard, 2011

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard, 2011The Brazilian spent much of the morning strapped into the cockpit but not going far, remaining static in the garage for several lengthy periods while the team worked around him.

Overnight the mechanics had made some adjustments to the braking system, and brief periods on track were being alternated with pitlane sessions for fine-tuning. "The conditions on track were also extremely difficult," suggested Tommy. "The weather didn't seem to want to make up its mind what to do next, and it was drizzling, then stopping, blowing hard, then stopping. It was hard to determine a suitable set-up." Towards the end of the morning the light drizzle briefly turned heavier, and effectively cleared the track of cars for about half an hour or more. Few teams were keen to risk new cars on a greasy track. "We managed to do some comparison runs on different Dunlop tyre compounds, but the results were fairly inconclusive, thanks to the conditions."

Confirmation came through earlier in the day to say that one of the two Aston Martin Virages had suffered suifficient damage in yesterday's shunt to send the "Young Driver AMR" team home early. Both cars went off at the same place, in replica incidents, but the Jota car, #79, came off better, and after some remedial repairs, has been back in action again today. Even so, just 26 on track for Day Two, and a fair few of those weren't clocking up many laps.

Tommy went out again right at the end of the session, but only to warm up the engine and tyres in anticipation of the rolling photoshoot. Each year the Series organisers arange a track shot session for selected entrants, and the RML HPD was chosen to follow in the tyretracks of last year's Lola HPD, which features on the official poster for this year's opening race of the season.

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard 2011

Times for Session 3

 

No.

Team

Drivers

Car

Session 2

1

12

Rebellion Racing

Prost, Jani, Bleekemolen

Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota

1:47.928

2

20

Quifel-ASM Team

Amaral, Pla

Zytek 09SC

1:48.433

3

13

Rebellion Racing

Belicchi, Boullion, Smith

Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota

1:49.632

4

16

Pescarolo

Collard, Tinseau, Jousse

Pescarolo Judd

1:50.751

5

46

TDS Racing

Beche, Thiriet

Oreca 03 Nissan

1:51.133

6 40 Race Performance Frey, Meichtry Oreca 03 Judd
1:52.471

7

39

Pecom Racing

Companc, Russo, Kaffer

Lola B11/40 Judd

1:54.069

8

44

Extreme Limite

Rosier, Luco, Basso

Norma M200P Judd

1:54.589

9

36

RML AD Group

Erdos, Newton, Collins

Honda ARX-01d HPD

1:55.217

10

43

RLR Motorsport

Gates, Garofall, Phillips

MG Lola EX265 Judd

1:56.039

11 92 Neil Garner Motorsport Hartshorne, Keating, Keen Formula Le Mans
1:56.506

12

91

Hope Polevision

Tinguely, Moro

Formula Le Mans

1:57.776

13

95

Pegasus Racing

Schultis, Simon

Formula Le Mans

1:58.770

14

99

JMB Racing

Rodrigues

Formula Le Mans

1:59.095

15

89

Hankook Farnbacher

Farnbacher, Simonsen

Ferrari F430

2:00.492

16 70 Kessel Racing Bromiszewski, Peter Ferrari F430
2:00.771
17 75 Prospeed Competition Holzer, Goossens Porsche 911 RSR
2:01.022
18 51 AF Corse Fisichella, Bruni Ferrari F458 Italia
2:01.119
19 72 AF Corse Kauffman, Waltrip, Aguas Ferrari F430
2:01.373

20

76

IMSA Performance Matmut

Pilet, Henzler

Porsche 911 RSR

2:01.396

21

77

Team Felbermayr Proton

Lieb, Lietz

Porsche 911 RSR

2:01.742

22 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Narac, Armindo Porsche 911 RSR
2:02.224

23

79

Jota

Hancock, Dolan

Aston Martin Vantage

2:02.283

24 82 CRS Racing Hummel, Christidoulou, Quaife Ferrari F430
2:02.711
25 61 AF Corse Perazzini, Cioci, Lemeret Ferrari F430
2:04.614
26 83 JMB Racing Quick, Missilin, Al Qubaisi Ferrari F430
2:05.153

-

86

Young Driver AMR

Enge|, Muller, Nygaard

Aston Martin Vantage

Absent

Afternoon Session

The day's final session had been under way for about half an hour before Tommy Erdos took to the track once more. With no sign of any improvement in conditions, it was simply a case of adding more miles to the car, and gathering as much data as time allowed. Ben Collins took his turn in the cockpit mid-afternoon, and set a personal best of 1:55.169. Finally, Mike Newton rounded off the day.

"We've all had time in the car, and clocked up plenty of laps, so that's "mission accomplished" in many ways," said Tommy. "We've done no testing prior to this, never even turned a wheel, and things could have gone very differently for us. Instead, it has been a very encouraging two days. As I said yesterday, the chassis truly is a dream to drive, and the engine has run strongly and reliably throughout. Just like the chassis, that's entirely new to us as well, of course, and HPD has done an excellent job in creating another excellent unit. A trouble-free two day test is always very satisfying."

The mechanics and engineers at RML have worked wonders these past few weeks. "I have just been so impressed by everything they've done," said Tommy. "They built up the car from scratch in less than two weeks. If it had been another Lola, like they've worked on for the last seven or eight years, then that might not be so extraordinary, but it's not. The HPD is totally alien to them, a completely new package, and it's run perfectly. You have to be very skilful to achieve something like that. The team has really pulled together to complete the project on time and, honestly, it's incredible."

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard 2011

"I was absolutely amazed by the job our guys did in getting the car built in such a short time," said Phil Barker, RML Team Manager. "They not only had to build it up, but they also had to incorporate the latest specifications and contend with a new engine installation. There was an awful lot going on, and bearing in mind we weren't able to start until 14th February, I think they did a remarkable job. The car was finally completed at 8:00m on Monday evening, and then trucked straight here. It has been such a relief, after a very stressful period, to see the car on track and knuckle down to learning more about it."

"The handling characteristics are tremendous, a real buzz. Unfortunately, the overall performance is being hampered by the restrictor size and the additional weight we're being made to carry. We can only hope that the ACO recognises this, and makes some adjustments. The ACO tell us that the Le Mans Series is the "spirit of racing", but what we're facing here isn't in the spirit of the sport. There's not a class out there that can't drive by us on the straight, and that's not right."

"These two days have allowed us to learn a great deal about the car, and we've encountered no issues at all," he added. "The whole package has performed faultlessly throughout, and any off-track time has simply been down to the very difficult weather conditions. Even so, it's good to get the first test out of the way, and know that we're in good basic shape for the first race of the year."

"The key things we've learned today is that yesterday was just the start," concluded Mike Newton. "The benefits of analysing the data overnight have allowed us to make several steps forwards, and we're delighted. The chassis itself is a step-change over last year's car, and exceeds all our expectations, but we've found ourselves at the back of the pack, completely uncompetitive. That's wholly due to the way the new regulations have been applied. We can only hope that changes are made before we have to race here next month."

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard 2011

Final times to be added shortly

Le Mans Series 2011

ACO Official Test
Saturday March 12th

Second Day's Testing

Ben Collins in the RML HPD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to return to the main event menu