Race 1
Lendoudis beats d’Ansembourg to victory in first Masters Endurance Legends race at Paul Ricard
Kriton Lendoudis and Christophe d’Ansembourg produced a thrilling battle for the win, as the Greek and the Belgian fought every inch of the way in the first Masters Endurance Legends race at Paul Ricard. D’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 led for most of the race but Lendoudis’ diesel-powered Peugeot 90X came up strong towards the end to beat the Lola-Aston to victory.
Shaun Lynn dominated the P2 class, guiding his BR Engineering BR01 to third overall ahead of Marcello Marateotto’s P1 Lola B06/10. Marateotto was an early leader but the Swiss driver jumped the start and as a result was handed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. The Georg Hallau/Marco Werner Lola-Lotus B12/80 and the Philippe Papin/Karl Pedraza ORECA 03 ended up fifth and sixth respectively to take second and third in the P2 class.
Germans Nikolaus Ditting and Dominik Roschmann had a race-long fight over the GT class win, with Ditting’s Aston Martin DBR9 gaining the upper hand over Roschmann’s Prodrive-built Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello. In the final part of the race, Olivier Tagcogne looked to have secured third in class in his GT2 Dodge Viper GTS-R but Nick Padmore in the Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 snatched the place away right at the end.
Not all cars looked to have awaited the green lights at the start, as Marateotto blasted into the lead followed by d’Ansembourg and Lendoudis. Lynn remained in fourth ahead of Hallau, Xavier Micheron and Papin, while among the GTs Ditting led Roschmann, Padmore and the two Tancognes, son Olivier in front of dad Xavier. Soon enough, the fast-starting Marateotto was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for his jump start, as Lendoudis powered past the shrieking Lola-Aston of d’Ansembourg.
Meanwhile, Mike Furness’ race was over, the Briton retiring the Courage LC75 to the pits with a misfiring Judd engine, while almost simultaneously Micheron was in from his promising sixth place in the hope to have the gearbox problem fixed that was plaguing his Riley and Scott MkIIIC.
As Marateotto in the ALMS Lola entered the pits to serve his penalty, d’Ansembourg kept on harrying Lendoudis for what was now the lead in the race, and indeed hit the front on lap 5. 14 seconds down on the leading pair, Lynn inherited third place, having in turn dropped Hallau by 18 seconds. Remarkably, Marateotto was still fifth, 40 seconds down on the Lola-Aston in the lead.
Such was the leading GT1 cars’ pace that Ditting and Roschmann were now up into sixth and seventh, but Padmore in the Vantage V12 GT3 wasn’t far off.
Philippe Papin in the ORECA 03 was ninth ahead of Olivier Tancogne in the Dodge Viper GTS-R, while Craig Davies driving solo in Ron Maydon’s Ligier JSP3-15 headed Michael Gans in the Ferrari 458 GT3 shared with fellow American Jason Wright.
The pit window now open, Papin was the first to come in, handing over the ORECA to quicker team mate Karl Pedraza. The leaders continued, though, d’Ansembourg now pumping in fastest laps of the race to leave Lendoudis behind by five seconds. Behind Lynn, the recovering Marateotto had moved his ex-Intersport Lola past Hallau who now pitted his Lola-Lotus to hand over to Marco Werner. Further back, Xavier Tancogne came in with his 458 GTE while James Thorpe was relieved by Phil Quaife in the 430 GT2.
Ditting was the first of the leading GT cars to blink, and seconds later the overall leader followed him in, d’Ansembourg also making his mandatory stop from a lead that by now had increased to 11 seconds.
In their chase of Ditting in the DBR9, Roschmann and Padmore were up next, but Lendoudis and Lynn held on for another lap before taking the final opportunity. As he approached d’Ansembourg’s lap times, Marateotto had closed up to Lynn in the BR01, the gap now down to eight seconds.
In front, d’Ansembourg now led Lendoudis by three seconds, the Greek having profited from a slightly quicker turnaround, but the Belgian further improved on his fastest lap of the race to show his intentions. Lynn trailed the lead fight by 22 seconds, with Marateotto in fourth and Werner in fifth. From behind, Pedraza was looking to join P2 class leaders Lynn and Werner, and passed the leading GT cars of Ditting and Roschmann to be sixth. Behind the two GT1s, Tancogne (O.) and Padmore warred over ninth, while Wright in the 458 GT3 started by Gans led Davies and Tancogne (X.) in 11th.
But who was having the last laugh in front? Now Lendoudis began to really stretch his legs, as the Greek began approaching his stunning 1.57 lap times from qualifying. With five minutes left on the clock, the Peugeot had cut down the gap to the Lola-Aston to less than a second, and on lap 17, the 90X was stuck to the DBR1-2’s rear wing. As the lap came to an end, Lendoudis nipped ahead but only briefly, as the full wail of the Aston V12 and the Lola’s superior traction powered d’Ansembourg back into the lead.
The Peugeot was better under braking, though, and into the twisty bits moved ahead after all, keeping the Lola-Aston narrowly behind at the chicane, d’Ansembourg locking up when his rival cut across to take the line. Having lost his momentum, the Belgian now looked at an insurmountable gap and gave up going into the final tour. And so, Lendoudis won by eight seconds, with Lynn taking third and the P2 class win 40 seconds down on d’Ansembourg but maintaining his lead over Marateotto.
The Hallau/Werner Lola-Lotus and the Papin/Pedraza ORECA were fifth and sixth respectively while Ditting beat Roschmann to the GT class win. Behind the two Germans, Padmore pipped Olivier Tancogne to third in class.
Race 2
d’Ansembourg Takes The Win In Lola Aston Martin
Christophe d’Ansembourg did everything right to bag victory in the second Masters Endurance Legends race at Paul Ricard, as the Belgian reclaimed the lead from the fast-starting Marcello Marateotto, and then brushed off the Swiss driver’s renewed challenge towards the end, the Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 finishing 2.9 seconds ahead of the Lola B06/10.
Kriton Lendoudis (Peugeot 90X) and Shaun Lynn (BR Engineering BR01) missed out when they stayed out as the safety car was deployed right on the cusp of the pit window. Because of their error, the pair lost well over a minute, but Lynn still captured a distant third and first place in the P2 category. A stop-and-go penalty for overtaking under yellows dropped Lendoudis even further back but the Greek recovered to salvage fourth ahead of the Georg Hallau/Marco Werner Lola-Lotus B12/80 – that took second in P2 – and Xavier Micheron in the Riley & Scott MkIIIC, the latter working his way up from the back. In seventh overall, Philippe Papin and Karl Pedraza took third in P2 with their ORECA 03.
The fight for GT class honours proved to be incredibly tight, Germans Nikolaus Ditting and Dominik Roschmann initially fighting it out at the front in a close tussle between their Aston Martin DBR9 and Ferrari 550 Maranello respectively. However, with a timely pitstop during that critical safety-car period, Olivier Tancogne’s GT2 Dodge Viper GTS-R jumped both GT1 cars to take a surprise class victory. At the end, Ditting lost out to Roschmann as they fought over second place in class.
On the green lights, Lendoudis led away from d’Ansembourg but behind Saturday’s warring pair Marateotto was on an early charge, passing Lynn into the third corner before storming past the Lola-Aston Martin as well to take second. Behind the top four, Hallau stayed in touch in fifth, but a gap had evolved to Ditting in the lead GT car, the German having passed Papin’s ORECA for sixth. The Frenchman was soon usurped by a whole gaggle of GT cars led by Roschmann and Padmore, as Phil Quaife (Ferrari 430 GT2) and Olivier Tancogne also followed through.
Two laps down, Marateotto wasn’t done yet, the Swiss driver also passing Lendoudis, with d’Ansembourg nipping by as well. The Belgian having got into his rhythm now, the Lola-Aston began to harry the ex-Intersport Lola in the lead, and on lap 3, d’Ansembourg outbraked Marateotto into the chicane. By now, Lendoudis trailed the pair by four seconds, with Lynn five more seconds down and Hallau following 12 more seconds further back.
40 seconds down on the leader, the lead GT battle was as hot as it was in race 1, Ditting keeping Roschmann at bay, but from the back Xavier Micheron in his Riley & Scott MkIIIC got into the mix to pass both for sixth overall. Meanwhile, Furness ended a miserable weekend by again retiring his Courage LC75 to the pits, the misfire in his Judd engine playing up once more.
Behind the two GT1 cars, Padmore had his hands full fending off Quaife and the younger Tancogne, while Ron Maydon in the Ligier JSP3-15 was closing up on Papin in 12th. In 14th and 15th, Xavier Tancogne and Jason Wright were having a Ferrari GT fight of their own, GTE versus GT3.
On the opening of the pit window 15 minutes into the race, d’Ansembourg led Marateotto by two seconds, with Lendoudis trailing by seven seconds. Lynn continued to dominate the P2 class, the BR01 now 25 minutes ahead of Hallau in fifth.
The German was the first to pit, as he handed the P2 Lola-Lotus over to Marco Werner in the hope that his countryman could do something about Lynn’s advantage. Speaking of Germans, Ditting and Roschmann were now having a real ding-dong for the GT class lead, Roschmann’s Ferrari finally jumping Ditting’s Aston Martin going into the first turn.
As Ditting answered by coming in for his stop, the safety car was out, Michael McInerney having spun his Mosler MT900R. Now everyone was coming in – d’Ansembourg, Marateotto, Micheron, Roschmann, Padmore, Quaife, Maydon and both Tancognes. Lendoudis and Lynn stayed out, however, as they followed the safety car around for another lap. Meanwhile, Eric Martin’s Debora SP91 remained in the pits, the team working on a gearbox issue.
McInerney having got going again, the green flag was waved sooner than expected, and as the safety car returned to the pits, Lendoudis and Lynn followed it in as d’Ansembourg and Marateotto already came storming by. When Lendoudis and Lynn emerged though, their rivals were well over a minute up on the road…
So now it was a two-horse race between d’Ansembourg and Marateotto, the Belgian leading his Swiss rival by 1.6 seconds. Lendoudis was still third but one minute and 12 seconds down – and now also had to contend with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for overtaking under yellows! Because of his mistake, Lynn in fourth had dropped into the clutches of Micheron, with Werner in sixth closing on the two. Meanwhile, Karl Pedraza in the ORECA 03 started by Papin had worked his way up to seventh overall to be third in the P2 class.
Through a timely stop, Olivier Tancogne’s Dodge Viper GTS-R now led Ditting and Roschmann by 6 and 15 seconds respectively, with Padmore lurking in fourth in the GT category, while in front d’Ansembourg looked to have pocketed the win, as the Belgian stabilised a three-second gap to Marateotto with four minutes still to go. Having served his penalty, Lendoudis was now trailing in sixth but soon jumped Werner to chase after Micheron in fourth.
As the race came to a close, d’Ansembourg brought home the win 2.9 seconds ahead of Marateotto while Lynn won the P2 class in third, albeit one minute and 39 seconds in arrears of the winning Aston Martin. Despite his penalty, Lendoudis got within three seconds of the BR01 to take fourth ahead of Werner, both having swamped Micheron in the end. The Papin/Pedraza ORECA took a lonely seventh while Olivier Tancogne surprised by vanquishing the two GT1 cars on his way to victory in the GT class.
