Murphy’s deserved victory, RAM and SMP domination, Scare for #49 LMPC
The final race of the season got underway in dry, warm conditions although rather overcast and breezy. Conditions remained similar throughout, other than getting rather dark at the end of course.
Hirschi moved left defensively off the start from second leaving Beche with nowhere to go but off the track limits, backing off and leaving a perfect start for Turvey, propelled into a good lead right from the start. Klien also used the left of the track to get ahead of the Signatech Alpine into the first corner, shuffling Ragues back to fifth. Hirschi and Beche were both having to weave on the opening laps to get some heat into their tyres as the Boutsen Ginion car also slithered on and off the track through the initial bends, Mediani moving through to seventh. Turvey was able to stretch away at the front but the Murphy, TDS and Morand cars were bunched until Klien passed Beche after six laps with a nice clean move.
The GT pack was a long way back at the start, not quite a Grand Am style separate start, but not far off it. They had presumably been told by the race director to leave a decent gap to avoid the big speed and braking differentials into the first corner and first time at the end of the Mistral Straight that some of the drivers had voiced concerns about.
Ried span after contact just prior to the Mistral Straight and fell back to dead last place in the Proton Porsche. “I overtook Perrazini twice but he came back and we had contact at turn 4 and I spun.”
Camathias in the #66 JMW Ferrari got the jump on Matt Griffin on the start and Frank Montecalvo was up to third. Perrazini was fourth, Vernay, then the GTC cars. Griffin re-established the lead by the end of the first lap and #52 wouldn’t lose it again, winning the title in the best possible way. Vernay was soon past Perrazini and Montecalvo too to show that Ferrari wouldn’t have it all their own way. With Milesi on board later in the race #67 fell back out of contention and was replaced by a resurgent #77 with fine stints from Ried and Tandy in particular.
With just 25 minutes gone, on lap 11, Beche dramatically lost his rear left wheel into Signes, spinning off and then spinning again on the final corner on his way back to the pits. The TDS team then decided to take the car back into the adjacent scrutineering garages to work on the car rather than taking it to the paddock as they should have, a move that would see them incur a stop-go penalty and then a four minute penalty at the end of the race. Even without whatever it was that led to the wheel departure, and the team were none the wiser immediately after the race, the loss of over 13 minutes in the pits meant that the race and more importantly championship were also lost for TDS. All they could hope to do was keep running at the end and hope that Signatech weren’t but it wasn’t to be.
After half an hour Turvey led from Klien by 8.5 seconds, then Hirschi who had just conceded the place. “Klien found something out of Signes and it was a great move, it was a really nice battle and we came together again but I couldn’t compete because we had a problem on the front left.”
Ragues drove a careful and steady race in fourth place, dropping the Alpine into the 1:55s as Frey, Mediani and Kuppens began to bunch up behind him. Mediani was able to pass Frey and began to challenge Ragues, timing his move perfectly to take fourth on the final corner.
In LMPC Chatin pulled away from Pons as expected and he drove a straightforward first half of the race, but Hirsch had dramas just after halfway saw the car wheeled back into the paddock for repairs. Chatin: “The first part of the race was very good, but we had a problem with the starter, we still don’t know why but we had the luck that after ten minutes it just started again! We had the luck that we could complete 75% race distance, so score the points and win the championship. It has been a very good year with Gary and good day for us.”
Perrazini, in the #55 GTE Ferrari, was rapidly falling off AF Corse’s sister GTC #62’s Christmas card list, clearly holding up Stefano Gai and helping their championship rivals in #69 go 21 seconds up the road with 30 minutes gone, #86 and #72 stood in the way too. Ladygin: ““My stint was OK but it was much more important for me to save the car and make a good gap from the second car to give to Viktor [Shaitar].”
Perrazini eventually let #62 go but was then penalised for not respecting the track limits in the opening laps and took a drive-through penalty as Gai caught Frolov. During the first round of GTC stops, AF Corse’s #62 took 12 seconds out of SMP’s lead, resuming with Shaitar leading Rizzoli by 13 seconds.
Hirschi and Frey were first to pit, then Kuppens, Klien, Mediani and Ragues, stalling on the way back out. Turvey was last to stop. Zlobin took over the SMP Racing prototype at the first stop and Frey took the Race Performance Oreca back past SMP’s to fifth on the Mistral. Klien had lost second place again to Hirsch due to a slower stop but retook the place on lap 30, twenty seconds down on the leader.
#54 and #77 were the first GTE stoppers, with driver changes too. Tandy was soon past Leo, then he went on to scalp Montecalvo and Milesi too.
Pons had a spin getting on the throttle out of the final corner and was stationary the wrong way for a while but managed to get going without the safety car deployed.
Matt Griffin took a 1:15 stop from the lead of GTE in #52, taking new rear tyres and despite losing 16 seconds to #66 on the pitstops, his lead was such that Camathias still came through 22 seconds behind.
In GTC with the drivers changed in the lead cars, Rizzoli (#62) could only hold the 12 second gap from Shaitar (#69), their pace throughout was remarkably consistent. Phil Quaife was running a respectable fifth in the #79 BMW.
With 80 minutes gone Turvey’s lead was 23 seconds over Klien, then Hirschi was 12 seconds back before pitting for the handover. A 1:39 stop for Murphy Prototypes was not perfect as Hartley took it over for yet another scintillating stint, but the team were investigating a problem.
JMW performed an excellent stop as Bertolini got in just before the halfway point. New Dunlops too and only a 1:10 duration in the pitlane. Even Tandy on worn tyres couldn’t fend off Bertolini who monstered past to go through for a second placed finish. Tandy: “My tyres were going off and I was losing around four seconds a lap so actually had to come in earlier than planned, Bertolini was on new tyres so there was nothing we could do, but we still managed the whole race on just two stops.”
At the halfway point Ragues pitted the Signatech Alpine Nissan to hand over to Panciatici to bring home to take the drivers and team titles. It was nervy though, Panciatici pitting the very next lap, an engineer leaning in and having to replace the steering wheel. 52 seconds were lost and they fell to seventh place, probably making a few in the Jota Sport team think the underdog might emerge victorious in the title as well as the race after all.
Dolan took over the Jota Zytek with high hopes then, but Gachnang did likewise in the Morand Morgan, 32 seconds down. She was only 17 seconds ahead of Hartley who was the fastest man of the race, in the 1:51’s.
Swift had completed his strong stint in the Boutsen Ginion Oreca and pitted from fourth place. Despite many pitstop practices time was lost as Kapadia got in and this let the Signatech Alpineback through to fifth place. He didn’t let Panciatici get away though and this pair were amongst the fastest on the track as they hunted down Marateotto who had taken over #34.
Babini took over #69 to take it to the flag and a fourth straight victory and the titles. He was initially still only that same 12 seconds ahead of Case, who was now in the #62, but Case started losing pace and a position to Persiani in the #72 SMP car and another championship was about to be decided by a problem. The car slow on track and then in and out of the pits. Andrea Rizzoli (#62)“We had a valve sensor problem on one bank of cylinders. [#69] lost around 20 seconds with an engine problem too so it was very close, but that is racing! There is always next year… With the new 90 minute practice sessions it will be much easier for us to avoid issues like this weekend when I had only done three proper laps on a track I have never driven before the race!”
Gachnang was reducing the deficit on Dolan (the Zytek’s throttle sticking partially open and making things difficult) for the lead at exactly the same rate that Hartley was gaining on Gachnang, so all three were headed for a dispute over exactly the same few metres of tarmac. With an hour to run Dolan’s lead from Gachnang was down to six seconds with Hartley seven seconds back and looking good for the win. Panciatici was fourth but 1:20 down and Kapadia was 21 seconds further back in fifth, unlapping himself from Simon Dolan.
With Bachler taking over the #77, he rejoined 19 seconds down on Gunnar Jeanette, but the #53 needed a splash and dash to make the finish after a miscommunication meant an incomplete fuel fill. That, together with a stop-go for #55 for a pitstop infringement (ruining a surge from Cioci) promoted #77 to third which was good enough for second in the team’s championship and an invite to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014.
On lap 65 Dolan was caught up in traffic and suddenly Gachnang was right on him, he went left of the backmarker, she went right and then round the outside for the lead on the final corner but Dolan had better speed down the start straight and retook the lead, just as Brendon Hartley joined in. “I think I caught them by surprise which is sometimes a trick because they can’t defend then.” This was fantastic stuff.
Just moments after taking the lead, Gachnang had to turn her attention to defending her second place from Hartley. He brought the Murphy Oreca Nissan cleanly through on the Mistral and then went straight on to have a look at Dolan. First on the outside at Signes, then switching to the inside just as Dolan lifted, the Murphy Oreca nudging the back of the Zytek lightly and momentarily unsettling it, spitting Hartley into the lead. Dolan denied that Hartley had surprised him “I saw him coming alright, and having Brendon in your mirrors is always pretty terrifying!” Gachnang tried to take the inside line to follow through into second into the following Beausset right hand corner but Dolan held his line, the Swiss had to lift off on turn in and that span the car neatly on the kerb, rejoining quickly for another stab at second place.
After the final stops Dolan was six seconds down on Hartley and only five ahead of Gachnang. Hartley was not driving a happy car though and outbraked himself at the end of the start/finish straight.
With 17 minutes to go Gachnang took the honours in the drag race across the line, moving from the overtake on the outside of the final corner right across to the pitwall, leaving the quicker Zytek with nowhere to go. “Natacha came up the inside of the pitwall and I’ve got children so I backed out of that one! I could have kept her behind but she was clearly quicker than me.
With 13 minutes to go Kapadia was running fourth, just ahead of a gaining Panciatici but lost the back end and had a spin at turn 11, Panciatici responded instinctively and jinked the Alpine safely out of the way to take the place and bring the title to the re-born manufacturer.
The final five minutes saw Jeannette take his splash and dash stop which was enough to see Bachler and Cioci through to third and fourth respectively and fifth for #53 ended any hope of RAM Racing guaranteeing two invites to Le Mans with a one-two in the teams championship. Still, given their performances this season it would be rather remarkable if RAM Racing weren’t at Le Mans with two cars next year, one way or another.
Sadly for Ecurie Ecosse their fine third place in class was lost to Hiesse, marking a debut podium for Scuderia Villorba Corse and surely cementing the Italian team’s plans to return next season.
A great season finale with clean racing, plenty of entertainment and drama and only one retirement, the Kox Racing Lamborghini. There is every sign that the new rules will bring many of the teams back again next year, with multi-car efforts from some and new teams too. And knowing the calendar already makes that difficult planning stage quite a lot easier.
Jonathan Hirschi:
“It was a good battle with the TDS car, my first stint was good, we did a good stop but then we had a problem with the front left and I was losing two or three seconds a lap through the second stint so it was difficult to manage. It is a great result for me, my first win in two years of P2 and it is a big help in preparing for next season.”
Brendon Hartley:
“I gave it everything I could and it was pretty close in the end. The race wasn’t as straightforward as it might have appeared. I only had three wheels that were braking for my stint and it was destroying the front tyre so in the end it took everything to stop Natacha catching me. It was very close for the last few laps, I had a few beads of sweat! She drove really well but we could just stay ahead. We’ve had a lot of disappointments so to get a win is really deserved.”
Christian Klien:
“At the start I managed to overtake a car and get P4 after the first corner. It took a couple of laps until we were hitting traffic before I could start closing on the other guys as they were a bit too quick. In sector two we were losing too much time pretty much all weekend. I managed the traffic pretty well and got past two cars. The car was pretty good, we only changed the front left in my stint because we were worried about graining but we didn’t need to have done it. It meant the car was oversteery in my second stint too.
“It is good that we could do a test day at Snetterton before the Hungary round so I could get used to the team and an LMP car again. Hungary was up and down because we made some mistakes and here we tried to put everything together. I’d only done 10 laps before qualifying but in the race the team did a good job and we had great support and no mistakes were made. The team deserve to be up here.”
Natacha Gachnang:
“This time I think we deserve to be on the podium, we were competitive and the car was good. The objective was first place and we were not so far away so I hope we can continue to improve. It was quite difficult to get past the Jota car but it was fair. I span trying to overtake, but that’s competition and I came back at him.”
Oliver Turvey:
“I made a great start today with a great battle with Brendon for pole and a good start with a clean line into turn one. I opened a gap and tried to extend it. After the first stop we had an issue with the throttle pedal and it was pushing the car which affected me and carried on into Simon’s stint.”
Simon Dolan:
“The traffic was not so bad, but the throttle was sticking open so in the slow corners it was pushing you on and we couldn’t get a smooth exit, it got progressively worse. Then I started getting a downshift problem so I couldn’t get 2nd or 3rd and had to drive around that.
“A win and two thirds is pretty good [as a season]. At Imola we were on for second but I had a bit of an off, in Austria we could have been second but for the drive through. All season the car has been bulletproof apart from this last stint so the team has done a great job.”
Pierre Ragues:
“I am very happy about the race. For the first part I maintained the gap to TDS, but after I had a problem with the steering wheel . I didn’t want to make a mistake in traffic and if you don’t push here in traffic then you lose a lot of time. We lost too much time with the steering wheel [pitstop]to get a podium but the objective was the championship so I am very happy.”
Nelson Panciatici:
“I am very happy to win the title but as a high calibre driver I expect, and the team expects me, to get results like this. The race was difficult, it was a little easier at the end but we were not quick enough to win. ”
Phillipe Sinault: (Signatech Team Principal)
“The title is very important for the story that Alpine is back. Six months ago there was no real story but now we have created a first page of this new story. After the winter it will be more easy now. We will try to have two cars in the championship next year.”
Anthony Pons:
“The championship belonged to Paul-Loup and Gary, they have had a great season and they have also taught me a lot, as well as Soheil [Ayari, my team-mate]. So we decided this race to concentrate on my driving, that’s why I did qualifying and took the start. I am angry about my spin but the other car had problems so we managed to get in front.”
Soheil Ayari:
“[Pons] was around four seconds off at the start of the season and he was nearly a second off during the race today so he has done a fantastic job. This has been a good, friendly and fun year.”
Gary Hirsch:
“To be honest [when the car wouldn’t start] I was quite calm [about rejoining], but I was worried about being in the 75% distance. We had some luck at the right time. It has been a learning year and very interesting as I’ve been away from racing for two years, so I am very happy and so lucky to have Paul Loup as my team-mate. To have the championship is nice and I hope it is a new step for the future.”
Matt Griffin:
“It is never easy, a championship like this is one of the premiere series in the world. RAM have done an amazing job, they gave us a monster of a car that was easy to drive and quickest in practice, qualifying and won the race. Hard work pays off and here we are. It is very hard to put a team like this together and it is not just down to funding. It is down to Dan Shufflebottom who has put an amazing group of guys together and it is a complete joy to drive for them.
It is a Ferrari [suiting] track but you still have to push to get the most out of it. We ran very low downforce which made the car more difficult to drive but Johnny and I could hang onto it.”
Johnny Mowlem:
“I’m more proud of the team in a way, my job has been a lot out of the car as well as in the car, especially earlier in the season. The people Dan Shufflebottom has put together are extremely experienced sportscar guys. Some of them have been to F1 and come back into sportscars and they have fitted together so well. Matt Griffin is a star in the making, or already made, he goes out there and blows everyone away. I was told to do 1:59’s in my stint so I went out and did that and didn’t even break a sweat. Ferrari are working so hard in all the championships they race in to improve the car but they keep getting pegged back and pegged back [by the organisers]but they still come out on top.”
Fabio Babini:
“After winning at Imola, which was intended as extra practice for the Blancpain races, the team decided to continue and it’s a good result for SMP to get the [championship] title.
“The first two hours was very close with AF Corse and it is good for the fans because and the media because we were pushing and the racing was close. To win the ELMS is great for SMP and my drivers did a really good job this year. The [GTC] car is fantastic for endurance racing. TCS and ABS helps the drivers improve and here it was clear that there wasn’t much gap between the speed of a GTC and a GTE car, because they couldn’t overtake us!”
Viktor Shaitar:
“Like usual, Kyrill gave me a good car. We didn’t change the tyres so I didn’t understand the balance of the car in my stint. It is very difficult to talk about the feeling of winning the championship because last year I was in a Russian championship racing midget cars, so this was a very big step!”
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