A strong finish in the fourth round of the 2009 Le Mans Series at the Nurburgring was denied Team Modena yesterday when with just over an hour of the 1000km race remaining Leo Mansell was hit from behind by another car and fired off the track from second place in the LM GT2 class, costing the team five laps. Up until that point the driver team of Antonio Garcia, Toni Vilander and Leo had kept the team’s Ferrari 430 GT up at the front of the LM GT2 class battle, leading for sections of the race and with at least second place looking likely and the win still there to race for.

“It was a superb race for us, everything was going well,” said Team Principal Graham Schultz, “ the boys in the pit-lane were on form and the pit stops were great, but then we got hit in the back and it was all over, not a lot we could do or say.”

Antonio was in the Ferrari for the start of the race, and in the thick of the action early on as the four leading LM GT2 contenders battled for position. A dive inside a rival Ferrari saw him reclaim second on lap 14, and from then on he eased away from the rest of the GT2 class.

The Ferrari pitted from a secure second place on lap 33 for its first stop, with Toni taking over the driving duties and lapping on the pace in his first race at the Nurburgring circuit. His strong drive was rewarded on the two-hour mark of the race when he took the lead as the car in front hit mechanical issues, slowed and then pitted. On lap 69 he pitted to hand the car back to Antonio.

“At the beginning it took some time for the tyre pressures to come right,” said Antonio, “but then we got faster and the others started to struggle.”

“I think we made the best of that stint,” said Toni in the garage, “I am happy with how it went. Our pace was ok, there was some oil on the race track at one point and I didn’t want to risk anything, but by the end the track was back to normal. Hopefully we can continue like this, and it is always nice to take the lead during your stint.”

In his second run Antonio had the quickest of the Porsches close behind, but the rapid Spaniard stayed clear at the front before opening a gap as his stint in the Ferrari continued. He finally pitted on lap 105 for Leo to take over and continue the battle for the LM GT2 lead.

“This time the tyres were new when I jumped in the car,” said Antonio, “and I was able to conserve them a bit longer and not over-drive them. The Porsche was right on my tail, and it was difficult to keep focussed knowing that if I pushed hard I could make them run out of tyres as well – I was trying to be as smooth as possible but also aggressive and make them use their tyres as soon as possible. The gap was four or five seconds, then suddenly then disappeared from my mirrors and I was able to pull away and open a gap.”

Once the Porsche had made its stop then Leo was battling for the lead once more, the young Briton lapping on the pace on his first visit to the Nurburgring circuit. A strong drive was marred when Leo was hit from behind by a prototype on lap 136 as he was mid-corner, spinning the Ferrari round and embedding the rear tyres in a gravel bed. The Ferrari was pulled out by officials as it was close to the track, but the marshals were reluctant to let Leo bring it back to the pits and he had to persuade them it was safe unhook from the tow rope and to do so – losing valuable time. When the car was back in the pits the only major damage was a punctured rear tyre, and Antonio went back out, now in ninth position having lost five laps, to recover as many positions as possible.

“When you see a prototype behind you have to make a decision to either let them up the inside or carry on with the corner,” said Leo once he was out the car. “He seemed to be a long way behind so I carried on as normal but he clipped my right rear tyre, which punctured it but was not a massive problem.

“The impact put me a foot into the gravel, but the marshals pulled me 500-yards back to the barrier rather than push me just back onto the track, which cost us five minutes rather then 30-seconds. It is just one of those things, it’s racing, and it’s disappointing. I know it is not my fault, but you always think you could have done something to avoid it, we had second pretty much in the bag and could have maybe achieved more from the race at the end.”

Antonio charged hard in the final laps, setting the car’s fastest race lap and bringing it back into a points scoring position, finally claiming eighth at the end.