The new Lola LMP2 sportscar, the B05/40, won the Nurburgring 1000kms yesterday, taking a second victory for the new design in its first four starts in the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series LMP2 class.
The Horag-Lista team were victorious as the all Belgian pairing of Didier Theys and Eric Van De Poele finished a superb 7th overall and 6 laps ahead of its nearest challenger – one of the Belmondo Courage’s.
"It was a big fight in all the classes," Theys said afterwards. "It was a 1,000 kilometre or six-hour race, and we ended up doing the six hours so it was quite long. We went back and forth in the lead with the Belmondo Racing team, and we were always about 10 seconds apart. Then near the end they had to make one more pit stop than we did and they had suspension problems too, so we
ended up winning by 10 laps.
"It was great to be on the podium, especially since this is only our third race and we only put the team together a few months ago," he added. "We had great weather, which is unusual for the Nurburgring, and it was a great weekend.”
Eric Van De Poele was drafted in to the team at the last minute as a replacement for Fredy Lienhard who was suffering from back discomfort. The ex Bentley sportscar racer adapted wonderfully to his new mount and was very impressed with his first experience of an LMP2 car.
“The car is lovely to drive, very responsive and amazing on the brakes and in turn-in to the corners. Didier told me that it was a special car to drive and he was absolutely correct,” he said.
Finishing third for the third consecutive race was the RML Group MG-Lola EX264 driven by Mike Newton and Tommy Erdos.
Claiming another convincing pole position and a sensational 5th overall, the Wellinborough based team were confident for a first LMES win of the season. Their race started brilliantly with Erdos leapfrogging Allan McNish’s Audi at the first corner to run 4th overall and enjoy a large class lead.
After a double stint by the rapid Erdos earned a lead of over a minute, Mike Newton was strapped in to the car but he was unable to leave his pit due to an electrical problem. After the problem cleared itself, Newton drove hard to make up for some of the lost time before handing back over to Erdos for the remainder of the race.
Both drivers and the team did a stirling job as they finished a fighting third, taking the fastest LMP2 race lap (1m49.965) by well over a second and closing the gap at the top of the LMP2 standings to just three points.
Despite the obvious disappointment of the delay earlier in the race, Tommy Erdos said that, “the car ran beautifully all weekend. I can’t fault the car or the team.”
Synergy Chamberlain racked up more points with a 4th placed finish in Germany to regain the LMP2 points lead. Bob Berridge started the race and was lying in a comfortable 5th place in the AER powered Lola when he made his first pit stop.
Despite losing some time with a fuel pick up problem, Berridge’s team mates Gareth Evans and Peter Owen completed their stints before Berridge completed the race to ensure that the team takes a three-point lead over the RML team as they go to Istanbul in November for the season finale.
Binnie Motorsports followed on from their encouraging showing at Silverstone with yet more promise for their Pirelli shod Lola B05/40 over the weekend.
Once again Sam Hancock qualified second in class, setting an impressive time that was just under a second away from pole position.
After Hancock opened the race with a solid performance, despite some difficulty with the opening set of tyres, team owner Bill Binnie suffered a small excursion before swapping to another set of tyres, which transformed the handling of the car.
Sadly, electrical problems intervened and after a change of alternator and also suffering a damaged data acquisition loom that stopped Binnie out on the track, Allen Timpany completed the race, setting some impressive lap times and boasting the teams morale as they head to Petit Le Mans early next month.
Despite taking the chequered flag the ‘saltire liveried’ Lola was not classified in the official results, which was a disappointment for the whole team, as Sam Hancock explained.
“It was frustrating that the great promise we have shown, has not translated in to results yet,” said the reigning LMES LMP2 champion. “The team is great, the car is great and the engine is great, so the all round package has tremendous potential for the few remaining races this season.”
In what was another ultra successful weekends of sportscar action for Lola this season, Dyson Racing enjoyed another win in the ALMS with James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger defeating the Champion Audi’s. Intersport also made it a double celebration as they took victory in the LMP2 class with Clint Field and Liz Halliday victorious.
With the latest Lola sportscar model doing the business on both sides of the Atlantic, a former sportscar favourite – the Lola B212 was also scooping the laurels with Lola executive Chairman Martin Birrane and his team mate Kevin McGaritty taking a second consecutive win in the Classic Endurance Race at Nurburgring on Saturday afternoon.
The final round of the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series takes place at the new Istanbul track on November 13th.
