Silverstone - Key Facts Track Length: 5.131 km Race: 1000 km  - 151 laps – 6 hours   Total starters: 46 Total finishers: 35 Dunlop starters: 15   Dunlop finishers: 10 Fastest race lap: 1:53.635  

New Female firsts……….Using this event to launch their programme, a new all female team made its race debut. Amanda Stretton, a TV presenter and mother of two, competed with Spanish team-mate Balba Camino marking the start of their campaign for Le Mans 2006. Given a seven year old car that hadn’t been driven for two years and two drivers who hadn’t competed since 2003, Amanda’s expectations were modest: “We’re realistic – we need testing and practice. We know we’re going to be last – it’s just a question of by how much.” 

All went well until a safety flag came out in the third hour – Amanda saw it and slowed but the Porsche behind her didn’t, tapped her and sent her spinning into the pit wall which led to retirement with a broken driveshaft.  

Up until then the girls had been as high as a remarkable 16th overall.

Race result – 5 hours 51 minutes

1. AUDI PLAYSTATION TEAM ORECA (FRA) Stephane ORTELLI (FRA) / Allan McNISH (GBR) LM P1 Audi R8 2. CREATION AUTOSPORTIF (GBR) Nicholas MINASSIAN (FRA) / Jamie CAMPBELL WALTER (GBR) LMP1 DBA 03S +6.569 3. ROLLCENTRE RACING (GBR) Joao BARBOSA (PRT) / Martin SHORT (GBR) / Vanina ICKX (BEL) LMP1 Dallara Judd 7 LAPS 4. PAUL BELMONDO RACING (FRA) C-Y GOSSELIN (FRA) / Karim A OJJEH (UAE) / Vincent VOSE (BEL) LMP2 Courage C65 8 LAPS 5. MENX (CZE) Robert PERGI (CZE) / Peter KOX (NLD) / Jarek JANIS (CZE) GT1 Ferrari 550 Maranello 8 LAPS 6. TEAM JOTA (GBR) Sam HIGNETT (GBR) / John STACK (GBR) / Haruki KUROSAWA (JPN) LMP1 Zytek 04S 9 LAPS 7. CONVERS TEAM (RUS)Christophe BOUCHUT (FRA) / Alexey VASILIEV (RUS) GT1 Ferrari 550 Maranello 9 LAPS 8. KRUSE MOTORSPORT (GBR) Phil BENNETT (GBR) / Michael VERGERS (NLD) / Juan BARAZI (DNK) LM P2 Courage C65 10 LAPS 9. SEBAH AUTOMOTIVE (GBR) Xavier POMPIDOU (FRA) / Marc LIEB (DUE) GT2 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 10 LAPS 10. RML (GBR) Mike NEWTON (GBR) / Tommy ERDOS (BRA) LMP2 MG Lola Ex 264 10 LAPS

The new Lister ‘hybrid’ – designed and built to the new generation LMP regulations made its race debut after its first test last week. Hopes are high for a successful future after a showing a pace that easily puts the car in podium contention under normal conditions.

Even in its first race it was as high as fourth but dropped after a prolonged visit to a gravel trap finishing 6th in class after the gruelling initiation.  

Rain hit Silverstone in a big way just before the start of the race and continued in force causing numerous incidents, safety car periods and tough conditions for the drivers with aquaplaning and poor visibility. Firdos Avari, Dunlop Motorsport Senior Designer explained about the tyres in the wet:”Sometimes the tyres can make a big difference in the race when it’s wet but today the water was so extreme that it was other factors such as the visibility that made matters worse for the drivers. It wasn’t so bad for the GT cars but the LMPs struggled particularly with aquaplaning – not just the tyres but the whole car was lifting over the pools of water. Under normal circumstances wet tyres have grooves that channel away the water and we use a compound that gets better grip at the lower temperatures. It’s all a matter of compromise – too many ‘grooves’ and there’s not enough grip; not enough ‘grooves’ and there’s aquaplaning.

It all depends on the conditions and amount of water and of course that varies throughout the race.

Marc Lieb, GT2 winner was convinced that the Dunlops made a difference: “We had fantastic tyres from Dunlop – they suited the conditions and worked well. In my 2nd session the track was drier and I went onto intermediates – I got good lap times and could keep the car on the track – ideal.”