Wednesday 25th August 2010

LMP1 Win For Beechdean Mansell (And PH Smiley)

Our boys bring home the booty after bloody Hungaroring battle

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There'll be celebratory ice-cream sundaes all round for the Beechdean Mansell team today, as they return to Buckinghamshire from the Hungaroring with an LMP1 winners trophy tucked under their arm.

A welcome win after trials of Le Mans...

The 1000km six hour Le Mans Series race was a war of attrition for the LMP1 category, as many of Beechdean Mansell's privateer rivals fell off or crashed out. It wasn't plain sailing for our guys either, as they faced enforced stops for tyre problems and to repair body damage inflicted by another car. In fact, the race itself was pretty unusual, as cars from the secondary LMP2 class filled the top six spots - and outright victory for the first time in the history of the series.

Our favourite team was six laps ahead of the nearest LMP1 car at the chequered flag, at which point jubilation ensued. And while we're not ones to brag, we can't help feeling the teensiest bit proud that PH's very own 'Smiley' now has an LMP1 win under his belt, too. (Woo-hoo, go Smiley!!!)

... now looking forward to Silverstone

The team's Ginetta Zytec was driven to victory by Greg and Leo Mansell, who - with the rest of the team - are now well and truly fired up for Silverstone on September 11/12th when Nigel will be back on the driving roster and the works LMP1 crowd will be back in action too.

"This is fantastic; to win in only our third race is an excellent achievement for such a young team at this level. Greg and Leo did a brilliant job in very difficult conditions and the car ran almost faultlessly for the entire six hour race, which is a testament to all the hard work put in by everyone in the team. Of course this puts us in a great position for our home race at Silverstone next month and we are going to enjoy ourselves," says Andrew Howard, Team Principal.

You can bet We'll be there to cheer them on!

Team RLR made a confident debut

As we're on the topic of 'plucky Brits', we should also give a mention to LMP2 debutants Team RLR, who steered their MG Lola EX265 from the back of the field of 37 to finish 18th overall.

The team actually started from 13th on the grid after a good qualifying run, but a spin in the opening laps saw them back in the pits for 20 minutes with a lot of catching up to do.

Drivers Barry Gates, Rob Garofall and Warren Hughes clawed back places to finish 8th in LMP2 - a perfect confidence booster for a team also looking forward to Silverstone in a few weeks. Well done chaps!

[[AJ]]

Wow, well done guys. Really proud to see them do so well. Must be great for PH to have the smiley in such a prestigious position too. Lets hope for a less dramatic, but more exciting return to Le Mans next year too. Keep it up!

[crofty1984]

Well done chaps!
Did I read it right that Nigel was not driving?

[BelperJim]

Congratulations all involved! Hope they can carry the success through to Le Mans 2011.

[PetrolAholic]

POTW Please

And well done lads, nice to see some home grown talent !

[GrahamG]

crofty1984 said:

Well done chaps!
Did I read it right that Nigel was not driving?

Yes you did

[chevronb37]

Shame it was at Hungary where the LMP2 cars were so quick, otherwise it might've been outright victory. Looking forward to Silverstone.

[nsmith1180]

Ahh it was a fairly epic race. Couldn't get video but the Radio LeMans coverage was its usual bang up job. LMS and ALMS on the same day but still coped well. I screamed myself horse encouraging the Mansell boys on and loved it when the Pug broke.

[turbo-ww]

Well Done Guys

[tonym911]

Not meaning to be a sourpuss but what's Nige doing on the podium if he wasn't driving? Shouldn't he be looking on proudly at his sons' achievement, rather than tagging along?

[Vladimir Pukin]

tonym911 said:

Not meaning to be a sourpuss but what's Nige doing on the podium if he wasn't driving? Shouldn't he be looking on proudly at his sons' achievement, rather than tagging along?

Showing off those funky new shorts!

[nsmith1180]

Someone has to go and get the team cup I suppose??

And why not, the only reason he wasn't there is the recovery from Le Mans.

[tonym911]

Still think it would have been cooler for him to take a back seat on this occasion. As it is, it smacks a bit of Paul Teutul Sr hogging the launch glory for bikes he had no hand in building.
Then again, I don't suppose Nige was ever cool.

[Fartgalen]

Well done chaps.

[Hungry Freak]

[Asterix]

Very good!

Le Mans was such a disappointment - great to get a win under their belts so early.

[HereBeMonsters]

Awesome stuff.

I take it the diesels weren't running then? Shame they didn't have a chance to beat them.

[nsmith1180]

HereBeMonsters said:

Awesome stuff.

I take it the diesels weren't running then? Shame they didn't have a chance to beat them.

The oreca matmut pug was running, and breaking down and generally having a bad day.

[Papa Hotel]

Yay!

[matc]

Great result, bet old Nige is loving being back on a podium again!

[Rs2oo]

tonym911 said:

Still think it would have been cooler for him to take a back seat on this occasion. As it is, it smacks a bit of Paul Teutul Sr hogging the launch glory for bikes he had no hand in building.
Then again, I don't suppose Nige was ever cool.

Its not just the drivers who win the race, without daddy, where would they be ? perhaps they wanted Nigel up there with them, as a close family and proud of their dads achievments who wouldn't ?