Lola’s Le Mans Endurance Series customers take on the 1000kms of Nurburgring this weekend intent on winning the classic event and regaining the points lead in the series as it then heads in to the final round at the new Istanbul circuit in November.
After a sodden 1000kms of Silverstone three weeks ago the teams will be well prepared for the fickle Eiffel mountain climate around the Nurburgring track. RML’s Tommy Erdos certainly won’t mind rain that much as the Brazilian’s skills in the difficult conditions came in to their own at Silverstone as the car climbed up the order to be a sensational second overall in the early running. However, after losing time in the pits and eventually finishing 4th in the LMP2 class, the MG-Lola that Erdos shares with Mike Newton is sure to figure strongly and strive for an overdue class win.
Erdos believes that the team certainly deserve an appearance on the top step of the podium after their efforts so far this season and keeping them in the LMP2 class title hunt despite some poor luck. “It is a great feeling to go to the race track knowing that we have the potential to achieve a top podium result,” he said. “We have led every LMES race thus far, so I'm very confident that we can perform at the same level at the Nurburgring. The German track will suit the MG-Lola as we will be running with a fair amount of downforce and, as we proved at Silverstone, the car performs very well on that set up.”
“There's a good feeling in the team” he continued, “We are confident we can achieve the long awaited win, but everyone is also very focused going into the fourth round. Mike and I will be at the Nurburgring a little earlier on Thursday to make sure that we have a good look at the circuit together. This will give us the opportunity to talk about racing lines and focus our minds on how the car is likely to behave at the more technical sections of the Nurburgring. As I said, we are all very committed to achieving the win that the whole team so deserves. Only two more rounds to go and we are still in with a chance of the title. We intend to take the fight all the way to Istanbul!”
Just losing out on a podium to the RML car at Silverstone was the Horag-Lista Lola B05/40 driven by Fredy Leinhard and Didier Theys. After debuting their car at Monza and thus missing the Spa 1000kms, the team view this as their home race as Theys is Belgian, Lienhard is Swiss and the team is a cosmopolitan mix of these nationalities, as well as Swedes and Germans.
In only their second event at Silverstone the team showed their intentions of fighting for podium positions with a dogged performance in their Judd powered Lola B05/40.
“The Lola showed its reliability and its potential in tough conditions at Silverstone,” said Horag Lista team manager Markus Hotz. “I look forward to the next LMES race at the Nürburgring as I think the Lola will again be competitive there as our drivers have a lot of experience on this circuit.”
Chamberlain Synergy are looking to regain the LMP2 points lead going in to the Nurburgring weekend and their impressive season so far could see them challenge for another win on a circuit where Bob Berridge has excelled before as a Thoroughbred Grand Prix driver.
The driving team of Berridge and Gareth Evans will be re-joined in Germany by Peter Owen who missed the Silverstone weekend. Like Berridge, the Nurburgring holds fond memories for Owen who sealed the SportsRacing World Cup title there with partner Mark Smithson in 2000. He will be hoping to take the bright yellow Lola to another top result this weekend.
Binnie Motorsports season finally brought some good luck after a solid showing at Silverstone earlier this month. After technical problems caused them to retire early from Sebring and Monza, the British round brought plenty of positives for the enthusiastic Anglo/US team.
On board once again, partnering team owner Bill Binnie will be the British trio of Sam Hancock and Allen Timpany. Hancock showed well in the early running at Silverstone and he for one believes that momentum is now with the Nicholson McLaren engined Lola.
“We had a few issues at Silverstone but on the whole it was quite encouraging,” said Hancock. “We worked hard to get a good set up and in the dry qualifying (where Sam qualified 2nd in class) we showed only a fraction of the pace that I believe is in the car. We are looking forward to making further progress this weekend.”
Qualifying for the 1000kms takes places on Saturday afternoon at 13.30 with the race beginning at 11.45 on Sunday.
