The Gathering Clouds

After Friday's bright sunshine, the promised change in the weather started to set in during the early hours of Saturday, and by the time the track opened for the third session of Free Practice, at nine, the sky was a dull grey, heavy with the threat of rain. Fortunately, those drops held off, but the forecast was for worse to come.

Third Practice

Tommy had only been out on track for only a few minutes when he radioed through to advise the team that he'd seen an accident on the run out of Stowe, with a car heavily into the barriers close to the entrance of the pitlane. "It may be a red flag," he suggested. The session was only seven minutes old.

The impact involved the #23 GV Racing Zytek hybrid (pictured on Friday, right), and the car rapidly caught fire. Trackside marshals struggled for several minutes to get the flames under control, and during that time the session continued, with the area down towards Vale covered by localised yellow flags. Those changed to red at just after 09:10, by which time the flames were out and a pall of smoke and extinguisher residue hung heavy over the approach to the pitlane. The barrier had taken a heavy hit, and would take several minutes to repair.

During the break Mike took over in the cockpit, Tommy happy with the changes made to the car overnight. The delay lengthened, and the engine started to cool. Mike fired up the HPD to maintain engine temperature. Reports from the circuit suggested that the #23 Zytek had gone in heavily backwards, with the left-rear taking the brunt of the impact. In addition to the fire damage, subsequent to the impact, that entire rear quarter of the car had been ripped away, with possible damage to the tub.

It was half an hour before the circuit reopened, and throughout that period the clock continued to tick down, leaving just twenty minutes of the session remaining.

Mike was on his third lap when he too suffered an incident, after being clipped on the rear by the #64 Lotus as he exited the corner at Club. The tag was enough to remove the rim of the left-rear wheel completely. He had just set his quickest lap of the weekend, a 1:58.806. Mike completed a full 360 spin and then regained the track, but had to crab the car carefully for an entire lap, back to the pits. He lost the carcas of the tyre on the way and gained the pit entry (below) just as the session was red flagged for the second time, due to the Genoa FLM car #93 stranded on the kerbs in the Arena.

All that remained of the outer rim was the area around the valve and sensor (above). "The Lotus took me out on the last corner," said an exasperated Mike, still finding it hard to believe what he'd experienced, and then reviewed several times using the on-board video. "He ripped off the legality panel as well as the rear wheel," he explained. The driver of the #64 had got out of shape coming down into Vale, locking up amid a billowing cloud of tyre smoke, before gathering the Evora together as he went deep into Club. Mike held back, wary of what might happen next, and watched as the Lotus then cut across the racing line and strayed wide to the left on the exit of Club. Mike took this as an invitation to pass, and was well clear and heading up the new straight when the Lotus cut back across his tail, tagging the left three-quarters. Mike had one further word to say . . . but we can't repeat it here.

"I had already posted a time that was five seconds up on my best from yesterday," he continued, "and I was more than a second ahead of that on my final lap when I got hit. I crossed the line going backwards, but still a tenth quicker! The car felt very good, until that moment."

The period was resumed with just four minutes remaining, and enough time for Ben to go out (with new rear panel and a fresh wheel and tyre, above) and set a single flyer of 1:53 - fifth quickest in P2. "The car has so much grip!" said Ben. "It's about there now, and maybe just needs a small tweak to make it perfect. It's very consistent and balanced, and so comfortable to drive. I think we just need to be able to get on the power a little earlier out of the slow-speed corners, like Luffield or Club, and I think we'll have a great racecar."

Mike's brow was still furrowed, his concentration buried deep in the data on his laptop, when we caught up with him some while later. "I was pleased to think I could have managed a low one-fifty-seven," he said. "All I feel I've achieved today is re-set my brain and get into the right frame of mind. yesterday I never really progressed beyond "out-lap" mentality, but today it's all clicked into place. I note from the data that I'm 15k quicker through the faster turns than I was last year, so I feel I'm really dialling myself in.

Third Session - LMP2 Times

Qualifying

An intermittent drizzle had started to fall during the F3 EuroSeries race, which preceded the LMS / ILMC qualifying period, scheduled for 13:35. It wasn't enough to soak the track, and in fact, some lengths remained unaffected, but it did suggest that the grey clouds that had threatened all morning were going to deliver on their promise.

Thankfully, they had held back on the downpour by the time the GT cars came out at twenty-five to, although some of the early runners were still finding the track a little slippy - the #50 Larbre Corvette went off into the gravel without even completing an out-lap. As one of the favourites for the ILMC title, that was hardly the best start to the competitive weekend for the yellow 'Vette.

After a season of near-dominance from the Ferrari and BMWs teams, Silverstone's new Arena circuit evidently suits the Porsches, and for the first time all year the top slots included a generous smattering of the Stuttgart marque. Only seven minutes remained when the Beamers appeared though, Priaulx and Farfus waiting until the dying moments to bring out the #55 and #56 M3s.

On his first lap Farfus crossed the line in a 2:01.768, a full second faster than Vilander's provisional pole in the #71 AF Corse F458 Ferrari. Priaulx then came through to set a 2:02.096, three tenths slower than Farfus, but well good enough for second in GTE-Pro. Both cars completed a single flying lap and then returned to the pits - confirmation, if any needed, that the BMWs have the pace and the confidence here.

Behind the two M3s, the next ten cars were separated by less than a second, with Marc Lieb's Porsche fourth. In GTE-Am, the top two slots went to Porsches (#67, #63) with Tim Mullen third in the #62 CRS Ferrari.

Prototype Qualifying
The GT cars had cleared the track and the factory BMW squad were congratulating themselves on an emphatic qualifying performance when the rain started to fall. It wasn't yet torrential, but Tommy was keen to get out there as soon as possible, but Phil held him back until the lights turned green, so that his tyres would be as hot as they could be from the ovens when he hit the track.

14:05, and the pitlane opened. A steady stream of cars took to the track, Tommy reporting that the track on the far side of the circuit was far wetter than the pitlane. "It's very slippery at the back," he commented.

Tommy's first lap was a 2:02.107, and at that stage, not quite quick enough to eclipse the GT pole, but Jody Firth was going well in the TDS Racing Oreca 03 - briefly topping the times in P2 with a 2:01.236, although Frey came through moments later with a 1:59.049 - the first P2 to break two minutes.

Tommy's next was a 1:55.236, but by then several others had improved, and his time placed the #36 fifth in P2, with Orecas one-two-three and four. Tommy reported heavy rain, and Phil brought him back to the pitlane. He'd just seen one of the Audi R18s in danger of "losing it" through Club.

With the rain increasing, the cars steadily began to filter back to the pitlane, but several of the key players, including the Strakka HPD and Greaves Zytek had yet to set a time.

In LMP1, Pagenaud had set a new fastest lap for the meeting, with a 1:43.924 for the #7 Peugeot - two-tenths shy of McNish's pole from 2010. McNish himself had set a best of 1:44.856 to stand second, with Sarrazin third for Peugeot, and Bernhard fourth with the second Audi #1.

With five minutes to go, Watts and Kimber-Smith finally emerged, but conditions were unexpectedly improving,. thanks largely to the gusting wind, which was helping to dry the track fairly swiftly. A first 2:00.173 from Watts was only good for 7th in class, 18th overall, but it was merely a sighter. Kimber-Smith's first was 2;12.018 - 45th overall - but the same applied. Watts then came through with a 1:51.827, and then a 1:49.823, and then a 1:49.619 to snatch an unexpected pole for Strakka Racing.

Kimber-Smith slotted in neatly behind on 1:50.922 to take second, and demote Jody Firth to third. Much against predictions, the track had come good right at the end, and the gamble to risk a late start had paid off.

In the final moments, Russo also set a time for Pecom racing to move just ahead of Tommy's 1:55, but the RLR MG Lola failed to set a time, suffering yet more engine woes.

Qualifying - LMP2 Times

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