First Period – LMGTE and GTC.
Bouts of extraordinarily heavy showers had punctuated the Northamptonshire skies throughout Thursday and Friday, and Saturday morning initially promised more of the same. For starters though, the rain held off for the day’s first race: round one of the 2013 FIA F3 European Championship. It proved to be a one-two for British drivers Harry Ticknell and Alex Lynn, with Felix Rosenqvist third, and a busy grid ensured that most of the overnight dampness had been cleared from the track before the ELMS GT contingent readied themselves for their twenty-minute qualifying session.
The pitlane opened at 11:10, but there was no mad rush to join the track. After a few moments a handful of drivers headed out. Jonny Mowlem took the vanguard, leading the way with the #52 Ram Racing Ferrari. Others keen to get going were team-mate Frankie Motecalvo in the #53, and Manu Collard in the #75 Prospeed Porsche. The Frenchman’s opening flyer of 2:05.998 initially took top slot, but Nick Tandy was then through to better that by a second, and then Jonny Mowlem popped up with a 2:03.114 – all times to suggest that the track was far from grippy.
The Ecurie Ecosse Z4 was straight back into the pits after a single lap, Andy Smith looking for a change of footwear. One or two others were evidently finding the conditions challenging, with Lorenzo Case going for a spin in the #62 Ferrari.
Collard’s second flyer, which included a nifty avoiding move on Case’s pirouette, was a 2:02.924. Fitted with rubber more to his liking, Smith’s first timed lap in the Scottish Z4 was a 2:03.737, and for a while was third quickest, and fastest in GTC.
With ten minutes gone, all but one of the eleven GT cars had set times – the late arrival being Giermaziak in the Momo Megatron #65 Audi. His opening and only gambit was an impressive 2:03.484, which was enough to snatch the top slot in GTC from Smith in the Ecurie Ecosse BMW.
11:20, and Jonny Mowlem’s improvement of a 2:02.358 moved the blue-striped white Ram Racing F458 through to provisional pole.
Five minutes to go, and an improvement by Nick Tandy in the #77 had the Proton Competition #77 nibbling away, just three tenths shy of Mowlem’s best. Third quickest was Collard’s earlier time aboard the #75, although the timing screens were suggesting that Francois Perrodo had taken over in the cockpit – the team confirmed later that this was because Perrodo hadn’t had any dry sessions in practice yesterday, and they wanted to give him extra time on track.
Half-past and the chequered flag was waved across the new start/finish line, with just four cars left with a chance of improvement. Mowlem set a new fastest middle sector overall but couldn’t convert that to an overall time, but it no longer mattered – he’d secured a debut ELMS class pole for Ram Racing.
So, a perfect start to the season for the newly formed Silverstone-based outfit, and a first ELMS GT pole for Audi in GTC, Kuba Giermaziak ousting the Ecurie Ecosse BMW by a surprisingly large 1.4 seconds. The achievement proved to be even more impressive when it was subsequently learned that he’d set pole with a right-front puncture.
“It was okay,” said Giermaziak. “I have two years experience in the car, in the GT Masters, and I did the Porsche Supercup last year, and got pole here, so I know the car, and I like the track. It felt really good but I had a lot of lock-up issues for half a lap, which turned out to be a front-right puncture. So, we’ll have to fit a new tyre for the race. It’s a shame there aren’t so many cars here, but I think there will be at least six (GTC) for Imola. We’re happy to be here, and looking to get the points.”
“It’s been a superb job by the guys – the car’s not missed a beat – awesome,” said an audibly chuffed Jonny Mowlem. “There were a couple of areas were the track was a little greasy in the braking area, but I managed to work around them. The tyres were dropping off towards the end, but there was traffic too.”
“I had a bit more fuel than I would have liked,” he added. “The track hadn’t looked totally dry when the F3 cars were out there, so I thought I might need a few laps to get the time. But put it this way; I don’t think I’ll be needing to look after the tyres for the race! I pushed every lap, and I was on for a two-oh-one a couple of times, but caught traffic. I’m really pleased to have put the car on pole in our first qualifying session, ever. It’s what the team deserves.”
Second Period – Prototypes
11:35, and the pitlane opened for the prototypes to take to the track, and once again, it was a hesitant start, with nobody queuing at the exit. First out, the #47 Oreca FLM, with Alex Loan in the cockpit, was followed by the Boutsen-run car #4.
Worth noting is that the ELMS cars join the circuit at Copse, from the old pitlane, but don’t start their timed lap until they cross the newer start line in front of the ‘Wing’.
Chris Dyson was taking qualifying honours for Greaves, and hardly unexpected to see Brendon Hartley strapped into the Murphy prototypes Oreca Nissan #18, but the latter was holding station outside the team’s garage.
First to set a timed lap was Jonathan Hirschi in the #1 TDS Oreca Nissan, but for only moments, as Dyson then swept across the line with a 1:56.636, half a second quicker with the Greaves Zytek.
One or two cars were hitting problems on the still-greasy track, with a couple of early spinners, including a sequence for Alex Loan in the #47 LMPC Oreca.
Nelson Panciatici was next to raise the bar, posting a 1:49.704, nearly three seconds faster than Dyson’s first effort, to take the Alpine #36 onto provisional pole. He was followed through by an impressive Patric Niederhauser in the #34, posting 1:50.933 for the Race Performance Oreca Judd.
11:45 and Brendon Hartley finally joined the circus, easing the Murphy #18 out onto the circuit with ten minutes remaining.
Meanwhile, Nelson Panciatici set an improvement to enhance his hold on provisional pole, ending with a 1:49.227. That was promptly eclipsed, fairly comprehensively, by Oliver Turvey, posting a 1:48.463 to take the Jota Zytek clear of the pack – a time he then followed with a 1:48.060.
There was little sign of any challenge to that supremacy, although Hartley’s first flying lap – a 1:49.896 – was good enough to ease the green and white Oreca straight into third position. That was followed by a 1:49.642, but the Mercedes F1 test driver was catching traffic time and again and simply couldn’t get the clear lap he needed.
Another unexpected spinner was the experienced Soheil Ayari in the #48, through the Village complex. Turvey was less troubled, and posted yet another improvement with four minutes to go, clocking 1:48.032. Hartley then set his personal best to move the Murphy #18 through to second, still an eighth shy of Turvey.
In LMPC, Paul Loup Chatin held the edge over Ayari, with the #49 FLM car narrowly holding on to provisional pole. PLC “This is a new experience for me,” said Chatin. “I have raced single-seaters before, and have won twice here in the F4 Eurocup. This is my first time in a car of this type. It is nice to drive and the team is working together really well. The difficult thing is the degradation of the tyre – we only get two laps to do a good time. The race will be something else! We need to race without mistakes.”
“The target for me is to do a year in LMPC and improve my skills in endurance racing,” he added. “I am Alpine’s Junior Driver, and my aim is to race for them next season.”
With just over two minutes to go Brendon Hartley returned the Murphy Prototypes Oreca to the pitlane, signalling that expectations of a pole for the Irish squad were not going to be realised this weekend.
The chequered flag fluttered across the finish line with just five cars still on track – out of 12 prototypes for this weekend’s race. Oliver Turvey’s best was more than enough to secure pole for Jota, by a generous eight tenths. “It’s fantastic to put it on pole,” he said, somewhat breathlessly, having just climbed out of the cockpit. “That was three laps quick enough to claim pole, so I’m very pleased with that.”
“Every lap was good, but I knew there was always more in me and in the car. I’m still learning the tyres and we only had one driver in the car yesterday. The engineers and the team’s preparation over the winter has given us a great balance and everything is as good as it can be. I always thought I would have a good chance to challenge for pole, and it felt like a good lap without any mistakes.”
“I have to start the race, so I’m looking forward to that, and hoping we can get away. We need to split the race an hour-and-a-half each, but the strategy will have to develop as the race goes on. So it’s a bit of an unknown. We’ll also have to see what the weather brings, although we were quickest in the wet yesterday.”
Postscript
Shortly after completion of the session, the Stewards announced that the Greaves Motorsport Zytek, #3, had been relegated to the back of the grid as a result of a technical infringement relating to the “tyre regulations”. It is assumed that this may relate to the use of the ‘wrong’ tyres for the published track conditions, but if/when we receive clarification we’ll publish an update.
MP & PS
