Well that was the weekend that was with Silverstone hosting the start of the FIA WEC and ELMS seasons over a weekend packed with track action.
In WEC Audi stole a march on their rivals with a convincing 1,2 that left Toyota drivers with long faces.
Loic Duval drove well, Tom Kristensen more so (post race dedicating the win and his position as the first ever Danish winner of the RAC Tourist Trophy to the memory of his father, a fine racer in his own right, who passed away in the week before the Sebring race.)
The undoubted star of the race though was Allan McNish with a drive back from over 30 seconds back that was mesmerising to watch, aided by the #1 car’s lack of hybrid drive it may have been but there should be no doubt that we witnessed a very special stint indeed from the Scot in that last 40 minutes.
He spoke to the DSC Ed post race:
“That was without doubt one of the hardest races, certainly one of the hardest 6 hour races or 1000k races I have done.
“Probably in a way it actually ranks with 2008 here (at Silverstone) when we were fighting it out with Peugeot and Dindo got wiped out, we had a bit of damage and came back from a lap down on that occasion to win.
“But this one was much tougher because the difference between the 2 cars was very, very small and we were having to push all the way through the race.
“I was very pleased with my first stint. I was able to get into the lead, get a gap and build on it, then control my position. It was a bit harder in my second stint, I just didn’t quite have the feel of the front as I did before. I was in a position to push but I wasn’t in a position to on control it as I had been able to earlier. Ultimately it came down to a dash for the cash at the end and with a fresh set of tyres I was able to maximise that whereas I knew that Ben (oit Treluyer) clearly was on a slippery slope at that point on his tyres. It was a case of trying to squeeze something out of it at every point.”
There was an aggressive call to short fill the #1 car as soon as you had you spin at Becketts, did you think at that stage it was game over?
“It was an aggressive call, and it was a good call from Leena (Gade), we weren’t in a position to do that because we were just slightly worse on fuel economy for whatever reason, I don’t know why. Ultimately though the two cars were fighting like mad, not fighting as in banging into each other but definitely fighting for the win.”
Almost equal credit for that show should go to Dr Wolfgang Ullrich who continued his policy of allowing the factory Audis to race each other. In a period where team orders have made it onto the pages of national newspapers it is refreshing to report that the sport is still prominent in sportscars.
That was an extraordinary end to the race Dr Ullrich?
“It was a really great race from beginning to end. We were not so lucky in qualifying yesterday but the most important thing is the race, and the fact that this was an open battle right to the end, not for the very first time.
“This is our way. I have trust in my drivers and they like to fight and they had two machines that meant they could do just that.
And will this be the case for the rest of the season, perhaps particularly important when so many people are talking about team orders?
“I really can’t remember when we didn’t allow the guys to race in sportscars. I think it is just fair. They have proved, very often, that we can trust them to do that so that is exactly what I do!.”
Rebellion took a 1,2 in the LMP1 privateer order unchallenged after Nick Leventis suffered a high speed accident which the Strakka man attributed to driving standards from a lapped GTE Ferrari.
The #12 Lola Toyota showed a marked improvement in available speed though. Not enough to challenge the factory cars, but enough, for a time at least, to make a race of it with a recovering Toyota. Spa though is likely to see news from the team which is of the very, very welcome variety – No plans here to abandon the LMP1 formula.
In LMP2 there were the inevitable trials for the new, very new, Lotus T128s. The pluses here? Both cars were here, both ran and both look the part – Things should be on an upward curve for the #31 and #32 cars.
The weekend though was dominated by G-Drive with Delta ADR, their Nissan engined Orecas looked very well prepared, had very convincing driver line-ups and always looked to have things in control.
Without a mid-race incident for Rusinov in the #26 this could have been another convincing 1,2 as the fastest of the Oak Racing Morgan Nissans struggled with tyre issues that looked, to this untutored eye, to have a root cause either in set-up or in an aggressive attack – the front left Dunlop remained an issue through the race.
The debuting, Chinese-owned, KCMG team deserve a mention here too, from an empty workshop just a very few weeks ago they produced an immaculate looking Morgan Nissan and raced very hard indeed, a worthy addition to the sportscar scene.
An early on track clash for Nic Minassian blunted the Nissan engined, and Michelin shod Pecom attack but the team fought back and grabbed a podium for their efforts.
That though came only after the race when it emerged that Michael Marsal, heavily bruised after a shunt in the ELMS race on Saturday, had not driven the required hours for the lower ranked driver. The subsequent penalty dropped the Greaves Zytek off the podium after Tom Kimber Smith staged a late race charge of McNish like speed and tenacity to overcome the defence of Martin Plowman in the #35 Morgan.
Stars of the show though we’re the #25 crew, Tor Graves rock solid in support of the flying Antonio Pizzonia and LMP debutant ( and ex JMW Ferrari man) James Walker – the remainder of the field need to bring their A Game to Spa and to the rest of the season if they are to get back onto terms.
GTE PRO saw flashes of real competition but was ultimately dominated by the Aston Martins.
Bruno Senna was the happiest man in the paddock post race, a win launching his FIA WEC campaign with style. The Brazilian impressed, as did the AMR veteran campaigners alongside him, Stefan Mucke and the ever fast and consistent Darren Turner.
It could have been an Aston 1, 2 too but another impressive debutant, Kamui Kobayashi in the #71 AFCorse Ferrari, eventually saw off the final stint challenge of the mercurial Fred Makowiecki in the #99 Vantage with the #51 Ferrari having fallen back courtesy of a miscalled tyre choice.
There were some mutterings that the 2013 performance balance in GTE had given too much to the clearly very fast Astons but either way this was a fine way to kick off the company’s centenary celebrations.
The brand spanking new factory Porsches looked stunning, very different from the ‘old’ 997s, showed well but couldn’t sustain the attack – both though made it home, both scored points and both will, undoubtedly, improve fast.
In GTE Am it was an Aston Martin show again, both cars led the class but it was the All Danish crew that prevailed.
The fight for second made it a half hour to savour at the end in all four classes but it got a little too physical for comfort for the 8Star Ferrari crew after an unpunished nerf from the Larbre Vette reversed the podium scraps in the final minutes.
Jamie Campbell Walter almost made it all four Astons on the podiums at the end as he closed in on the orange Ferrari, the #96 car had led the class after a great start from Stuart Hall, the team, and Roald Goethe, though we’re unlucky that the Gentleman driver emerged to start his stint on slicks as the rain came.
All in all this was a fair race with a simply fantastic final phase – With new cars to come, and development certain for several Silverstone debutants the omens for a classic season are very good indeed.
GG
