The RML AD Group MG Lola recorded an impressive start-to-finish LMP2 win in the Spa1000 kilometres in Belgium yesterday for Round 4 of the 2007 Le Mans Series, not onlytaking class honours, but finishing in an unprecedented third position overall.The MG Lola EX264 ran faultlessly, while equally impeccable driving stints from bothThomas Erdos and Mike Newton were matched by some exemplary pitwork by the entireRML crew.
Erdos took the rolling start, skillfully negotiating a start-line incident between two of theLMP1 cars ahead of him, and was never headed from that moment on. During a flawlessopening double-stint the Brazilian established a class lead of nearly fifty seconds, whichMike Newton not only maintained, but extended during a solid middle-stint, frequentlyinterrupted by safety car periods and threatening rain. By the time Erdos returned to thecockpit for the final two hours the MGs lead had been extended to almost two minutes.The race had not been without incident, however, and Mike Newton was fortunate that aglancing blow from Christian Fittipaldi in the Team Modena GT1 Aston Martin causedonly modest damage, and he had been able to press on to the next pitstop withoutdelay. Other teams and cars were not so fortunate, and nineteen of the forty-ninestarters failed to make the distance.
The performance from the LMP2 category was particularly robust around the sevenkilometreSpa-Francorchamps circuit, and the nimble category-two cars were constantlyharrying the more powerful LMP1 runners. The RML MG led the charge, having startedfrom tenth overall. Erdos and Newton worked steadily through the field to achieve thesquads first-ever overall podium finish, finishing third behind the #7 Peugeot 908 andlast years LMP1 championship-winning Pescarolo Sport #16. Not since Donington Parkin 2006, when the team finished fourth, has the RML challenge looked so strong.A delighted Thomas Erdos said: “It’s an absolutely fantastic result, and demonstratesjust how strong this package is. It also demonstrates how the team’s determination andcommitment has carried us through from the beginning of the year, when all the otherteams looked so strong. Our pitwork was perfect today, the car ran like clockwork, andwe were there where it mattered at the end.”
Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director of AD Group, principal sponsor of the RMLsportscar programme, was full of praise for the team, he said: That was one of thoseraces when just about everything went exactly right for us, he said. We made all the rightcalls and everyone did an excellent job. Its a great feeling to have achieved back-to-backvictories, particularly when one considers the quality of the competition, and how theclass is improving race by race. “
The team also won last time out at the Nurburgring in Germany.Mike Newton said: "That was an action-packed race all the way through, I had to pushhard nearly all the time! This result finally pulls us clear of the rest, and gives us a clearchampionship lead to carry forwards to the next round at Silverstone on September 18thand 19th."
The Wellingborough-based squad also had further reason to celebrate, with a RMLdesigned Saleen S7-R winning the GT1 class.
