Jean-Christophe Boullion and Emmanuel Collard made up for their disappointment at Le Mans to record victory at the second race of the Le Mans Endurance Series at Monza, driving their Pescarolo Judd to a five lap victory. The French pair encountered a gear selection problem which put Collard into the gravel during the second hour, but the two drivers adapted their driving style and coped with a last minute rain shower to take their victory.
The 1000km race lasted for little more than five hours, and the battle for the lead was not decided until the final hour, when Nicolas Minassian pitted his Creation Zytek from second position with a water leak. The car had pushed the Pescarolo hard throughout the race and the team was disappointed to have missed out on the podium.
Hayanari Shimoda, winner at Spa in April, led the opening laps in his Zytek Engineering Zytek that he shared with Tom Chilton, but a bent wishbone and a brief off-track moment cost the team six laps.
Scoring their first ever podium, the British Team Jota of Sam Hignett, John Stack and Haruki Kurosawa led the chasing pack over the line, despite an off from Hignett in the closing stages. “There was a mis-communication with the team,” he said. “I thought I had two laps over the third placed car, but they told me that I had two seconds, so I pushed harder than I should have done!”
Hignett did have a two lap cushion, and was able to hold it to the finish, Martin Short, Vanina Ickx and Joao Barbosa finishing third in the Rollcentre Dallara.
The LMP2 class was won by the Paul Belmondo Racing team of Vincent Vosse, Karim Ojjeh and Claude-Yves Gosselin after a busy race. Leaders RML had a long stop when Tommy Erdos lost drive to one wheel, handing the lead and victory to the Belmondo team.
Christian Pescatori, Michele Bartyan and Toni Seiler won the GT class, after the Team MenX Ferrari was given a three-minute penalty for pit lane infractions and finished second. Pescatori’s team-mate Fabrizio Gollin suffered a puncture, and was pushed off the track by Shimoda in the final hour while leading, but it was the performance of the Lamborghini which surprised everyone. Peter Kox and Norman Simon led the class in their Japan Lamborghini, but suffered the second of the team’s engine failures and failed finish.
Marc Lieb and Xavier Pompidou won the GT class, despite driving a five year old Porsche, updated only with a sequential gearbox. “I thought we could finish on the podium, but never thought we could make victory,” said a delighted Lieb. It was Sebah’s first ever victory in the series and was taken ahead of the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 which twice went into the gravel, and the Seikel Motorsport Porsche driven by gentlemen drivers Philip Collin, and Horst Felbermayr Junior and Senior.
