Qualifying Robbie Kerr qualified the works Zytek O4S on pole position on his Le Mans Endurance Series debut at Silverstone a full 1.6 seconds clear of the chasing Audis. Second and third on the grid were the team Veloqx Audis. Minassian was fourth fastest in the Creation car that he will share with Jamie Campbell-Walter. Jean-Marc Gounon set pole position in the LMP2 class, qualifying the Courage Competition prototype 11th position overall. The GT pole-sitting Cirtek Motorsport Porsche did not go out in the second session, the team changing the gearbox of the car driven by Nurburgring winners Adam Jones and Sascha Maassen.
Stephane Daoudi improved the qualifying time of the JMB Ferrari 360 Modena in the afternoon session, but it was not enough to depose the Cirtek car. Stephane Ortelli and Emmanuel Collard were third in their Freisinger Motorsport Porsche, Ortelli having been involved in the accident with Jamie Davies’ Audi.
The Chamberlain team was faced with a race against time to prepare the TVR Tuscan for the second qualifying session after Jonny Kane crashed heavily during the first session without setting a time. The team completed its task, and the car was qualified 11th in the LM-GT class. Race
Allan McNish gave the British fans something to celebrate by winning the 1000km of Silverstone as Audi dominated the podium. McNish and co-driver Pierre Kaffer finished the five and a half hour long race a lap clear of the Team Goh car of Rinaldo Capello and Seiji Ara, with the second Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx car of Jamie Davies and Johnny Herbert in third.
Front Dunlop challenger for a podium position was the private DBS Zytek of the Creation team driven by Nicolas Minassian and Jamie Campbell-Walter which ran no lower than fifth and at some points up in second place until an gear selection problem forced retirement. In the LMP2 class the Courage team took victory ten laps clear of the Gerald Welter team in second.
The Dunlop-shod Palmyr team took the final place on the LMP2 podium after the all British Tracsport team was hit by starter motor problems on its final driver change of the race with under an hour to go. Labre Competition took the GTS category thanks with the Barron Connor Racing Ferrari of Mike Hezemans, Jean Denis Delatraz and Andrea Piccini second. The all British Graham Nash Motorsport line-up of Phil Benett, Paul Wight and David Leslie was third on Dunlops. It was in the GT category that Dunlop had its greatest success taking the top seven places. Roman Rusinov and Stephane Daoudi claimed victory for the JMB Racing team, with Piers Masarati helping the Sebah Auntomotive team to second in class followed by Farnbacher Racing in third.
Graham Shuter, Dunlop Motorsport said: “It was an excellent event. We had no tyre problems and the Creation ran very quickly and comfortably until mechanical problems hit. It’s great to see it on such a fast pace. To be on the LMP2, GTS and GT podiums is fantastic but to take the top four GT places is very rewarding and the class is now wide open with one round to go, so Spa will be very exciting.”
Also running at Silverstone was a round of the British GT Championship running on Dunlop tyres. A total of 2700 tyres were taken to the track to service 63 cars competing over the weekend.
