Friday at Paul Ricard, and the weather was exactly what you would hope for from Provence in late June, with bright blue skies and temperatures climbing into the high 20s.
It was enough to coax a healthy 30 cars out onto the circuit for the morning’s Bronze Test. Three drivers ducked below the two- minute mark during the session, Francisco Guedes in the AF Corse Ferrari was first to do so with a 1:59.784, but was then pipped by less than a tenth of a second by Michael Broniszewski in Kessel Racing’s #11. Surprisingly, the car on top by the end of the session was a BMW Z4, not normally renowned for its high-speed prowess. Henry Hassid would be delighted to have brought the TDS Racing example round in a 1:59.428.
It was a time that would still have been pretty respectable in Free Practice 1, which began at 11:20. But then so was almost everyone else’s, the timing screen alight with 1:59s by the end.
Fastest time in the session was a 1:57.957 recorded by Silverstone polesitter Franck Perera in the #93 Pro GT by Almeras Porsche. “I think qualifying will be a bit tougher than Silverstone because the conditions were very changeable then,” he said. “And anyway we are more focused on race setup at the moment.”
The #3 WRT Audi was third fastest and the #44 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin fourth – the last of the cars to duck below 1:59. The quickest Ferrari was the #333 GT Corse by Rinaldi machine in sixth; quickest BMW was the #10 TDS Racing car in seventh; quickest Bentley the #7 in ninth; quickest Mercedes the #85 HTP car in 10th and quickest McLaren was ART’s #99 in 12th. Fifth through 21st were covered by just one second at the end of the session.
Katsumasa Chiyo set the fastest time in the early part of the session and was unsurprisingly “really happy with my first time here at the track. It is a great track, although the straight does go on! We have plenty of power and what is very good is that I was able to good times on used tyres. I only did six laps in practice and haven’t been here before so I think everything is going well.” Chiyo’s #35 Nissan ended the session second-fastest overall with a 1:58.663.
Stephane Ortelli in #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi told us: “The car normally suits this track very well so we should be okay. The Bentley was perhaps a bit too fast in a straight line when I tried to stay with him, but then I was quicker in other places, so it’s the normal process really. As you can see from the times, it is all packed, which is good, it’s going to be a big fight!”
Over at Boutsen Ginion McLaren, Karim Ojjeh is clearly enjoying his season at the wheel of a McLaren 12C. “Perhaps I should have been a bit more specific about my retirement and said it was from LMP2!” he laughed. “You know, it’s a shame from being in P2 for such a long time and having gained so much just to stop like that. I wanted to see if I could still do it and an opportunity came up to do something with McLaren, and that is where we are at. It has been a tough journey, a real challenge.”
He continued: “The McLaren is a challenging car to drive and we are trying very hard and pushing to get it going. Today on new tyres the car was working very well, I had a big smile when I got out of the car after the Bronze Test, everything was going well. But as the tyre degrades, the car behaves very differently. We had a similar problem at Silverstone when we thought we had a good car but were soon two to three seconds off the pace. It’s frustrating to look down the pitlane and see how well ART are doing with their cars when we are down here, so yes, there’s some head-scratching. But we have been testing extensively for Spa and we look to be really good for that.”
Ojjeh’s #15 sat out the end of the session after an ABS failure – not the sort of problem you want at the end of the Mistral Straight.
At RJN Nissan, Nick McMillen was enjoying being back in the saddle for the first time since Silverstone in May “I’m just getting used to the car and track again,” he told us. “We’re playing around with the setup on old and new tyres. I like the track here a lot, it’s really quick, especially the middle sector. You need to be smooth and patient, so it fits my driving style better. The car’s pretty good everywhere – we just need a little less understeer and we’ll be good.” McMillen’s #80 Nissan ended the session in xth place overall and xth in the Pro-Am class.
Stephen Jelley in the Motorbase-run Oman Racing Aston Martin was on of many competitors complaining about a lack of straight-line speed, although the car was fourth-fastest overall with a lap of 1:58.895 by Michael Caine. “We put on new tyres so it’s a bit difficult to tell where we really are at the moment,” said Jelley. “We’re struggling for straight-line speed, as the car wasn’t homologated with the no-chicane Mistral layout of this track in mind. Otherwise, the balance of the car is very good, the same as it’s been all year, really. The organisers did give us a weight break but what we really need is a larger restrictor.”
Olly Bryant in the Barwell-run Ecurie Ecosse BMW seemed happier overall: “Traditionally the no-chicane layout hasn’t been good for the Z4, but we’re doing alright. We’re on the rev limiter for two-thirds of the straight. We tested here with the rest of the teams pre-season but Alisdair [McCaig] hasn’t driven here before so we’re making sure he gets lots of time in the car in these sessions.” The BMW was 20th-fastest overall and 12th in Pro-Am this time out, with a lap time of 1:59.764.
Another team with some concerns over straight-line speed is WRT Audi. Christopher Mies in the #3 told us: “I think P3 is the max we can do here. The Nissan and Bentley especially are a lot quicker on the straights, but we’re gaining in the corners. We’re getting similar one-lap times, but they’re able to pass us very easily. Qualifying will definitely be more important than usual here, as it’ll be hard for us to make up places in the race compared to somewhere like Silverstone.” Lap time for the Audi was 1:58.850, almost a second off Perera’s time.
In the HTP Mercedes garage, Harold Primat described how it was in the #84 SLS: “I was getting on the gas a full second before some of the Gentlemen Trophy Ferraris and I couldn’t stay on their gearbox down the straight. So they start to race you, which is not going to be ideal when lapping people in the race. ”
Stef Dusseldorp in the #85 car added: “The Ferraris are quick, and the Nissan is like an old GT1 car down the Mistral. I tried slipstreaming the Ferrari,s but they could stay in front. I think we’re on about the same level as the McLarens. The car feels alright, the handling balalance is quite safe. We need to some fine-tuning still for tomorrow’s qualifying, but we’re good on used tyres right now.” Asked about how tomorrow’s evening race in cooler temperatures could affect things, he said: “Definitely it will be more comfortable inside the car, and the Nissans and McLarens should benefit from cooler temperatures for their turbos. I don’t think it’ll have much of an impact on tyres – the drop-off in performance is bigger when it’s hot, but that’s the same for everyone.”
SE & PS
