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Barcelona 1000kms |
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COMPETITIVE BUT ... DNF |
| Photos of KSM Lola © Philipp Stumpp
(motorsport-auto.de) |
| Just two weeks after trying the Lola-Mazda for
the first time I was back with the KSM team - this time for the first
round of the 2009 Le Mans Series. The Circuit de Catalunya is 4.66kms
long and is situated about 20kms north-east of Barcelona. It is host to
the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. |
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| The Le Mans Series
has attracted 43 entries across the four classes (LM P1 and P2 and LM
GT1 and GT2). I shared car 39 with the Italian Franceco Sini (who I met
at the Magny Cours test) and Hideki Noda from Japan. Francesco is the
reigning Radical European Masters champion. Hideki has a long and
distinguished racing career including several F1 Grands Prix with the
Larousse team. |
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| In Free Practice 1
on Friday afternoon Hideki set our best time of 1:40.054 . This was
good for 6th place (of 15) in the P2 class (and 16th overall from 43
runners). My best time was a 1:44.628. Time ran out before Francesco
had a proper run in the car. |
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| In Free Practice 2,
on Saturday morning, I managed a 1:41.851 compared with Hideki’s
1:40.306. Francesco set a 1:42.676. This time we were 7th in class and
18th overall. |
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| Hideki then took the
controls for the short 20-minutes qualifying session. He set a time of
1:39.130 which was good enough for 7th in class and 18th overall. |
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| I was asked to do the start of
the race and enjoyed the experience. With six hours ahead I took a
conservative approach and dropped down to ninth place on the opening
lap. I had been concerned before the race that I might struggle to do
the required 'double-stint' - stopping after 50-minutes for fuel
only and continuing again for a similar length before a driver change
(and new tyres). I was helped a little by safety car interventions
which shortened both stints. We stopped after 22 laps (instead of 29)
and then at lap 45 (so another 23 laps). Nonetheless I managed 75% of a
double-stint without any major problem. |
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| At the first hour we were 9th in class (19th overall). At hour two we were up to 6th in class (16th overall). This remained the same in hour three and hour four (15th overall). Sadly the run came to an end after four hours and 18 minutes (and 133 laps) when the engine failed with Hideki at the wheel. Ultimately therefore we were 10th in class and 34th but unclassified having not covered enough distance. It was clear we would have been looking good to finish at least fourth in the LM P2 class had the motor survived. Thus it was an encouraging first race in the prototype class - as it was for the Aston Martin Racing team whose gorgeous new LM P1 car won the race overall (below). |
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