The final day of the official LMS test saw a dry first morning session followed by a largely damp and then fully wet afternoon running at Paul Ricard today.
The most significant time came from the brand new Thiriet by TDS Racing run Oreca 05-Nissan with Tristan Gommendy setting a 1m48.432 lap. This was a time just 0.277 slower than the outright quickest yesterday by Nathaneal Berthon. It was a highly encouraging time from Gommendy as the team is still exploring the set-up of the new LMP2 coupe. Xavier Combet and his team was highly delighted with the competitive and reliable first test.
Also improving on their personal day one times in the first session this morning were Filipe Albuquerque (Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan), Anton Ladygin (SMP Oreca-Nissan), Michael Lyons (Murphy Oreca-Nissan) and Pu Jun Jin (Eurasia Oreca-Nissan).
Joining the fray during the test was the Krohn entered Ligier JS P2 which was loaned for the day by the Onroak factory. Niclas Jonsson and Tracy Krohn each enjoyed a good deal of lappery in both dry and wet conditions to get valuable experience of the Paul Ricard circuit before the fourth round of the series in September.
SMP Racing continued to gather important Michelin tyre data with Mikhail Aleshin undertaking 78 laps in the ‘old’ Oreca 03. The all-new Paolo Catone designed BR01 is set to embark upon a shakedown test this Sunday at Ricard before further days ahead of the Silverstone opener on April 11.
Ginetta came away from the Paul Ricard test in a positive frame of mind after adding a further 65 laps to extract more valuable data from the elegant looking Nissan powered Ginetta-Juno. Michael Simpson, Chris Hoy and the gaffer Lawrence Tomlinson all got behind the wheel today.
The LMGTE class saw all of the eight runners continuing to evaluate the new construction Dunlop tyres. Fresh from Sebring, Andy Priaulx set a 1m58.376s in the BMW Team Marc VDS Z4 to head the class but the team was still discovering several aspects of the new Dunlop’s throughout the session. There is much work to do still for the crack Belgian team.
The GTC cars continued to be consistently quicker than the LMGTE class which is likely to sound a warning to the organisers and any last minute BoP tweeks. Luca Persiani set the best lap in the #57 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia this morning, with the team electing to run despite difficulties relating to matters political (see yesterday’s report).
The only real drama from the running today was a fiery problem for the #64 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Mads Radsmussen. The fire on the car was quickly extinguished and emerged briefly in the afternoon session but only completed three tours.
With the afternoon session mostly wet and then drying, several cars elected to undertake very few laps. The fastest time in LMP2 was claimed by Andrea Roda in the Algarve Pro Racing Ligier on a 1m51.487s. Although not representative due to the condition, the time was set on full tanks and pleased the team. Roda is in discussions with the team about a potential seat in ELMS this season.
Andrea’s brother Girogio was also in attendance at Paul Ricard. The Roda’s – who appear to be the Italian Unser’s – completed the most laps in the wet session as he continued to gain experience in the #63 AF Corse GTC entry.
BMW Team Marc VDS again were at the top of the LMGTE pile on 1m59.826s – the time again set by Andy Priaulx, while Eric Dermont was P1 in GTC aboard the TDS Racing BMW Z4.
With just over two weeks to go before the first round at Silverstone anticipation is set to crank up several further notches. As ever with a collective test, very few conclusions can be made but what is for sure is that each of the four ELMS classes are set to provide another close, riveting and potential classic season of sportscar racing.
GG
