RE: Aston Martin Snatch Le Mans Series Win
Monday 6th April 2009
Aston Martin’s new LMP1 car has secured a maiden victory in its first Le Mans Series outing, during the Catalunya 1000km in Barcelona.
Aston Martin Snatch Le Mans Series Win
Lola Aston Martin's new LMP1 car wins on Le Mans Series debut
Two Aston LMP1 cars were challenging for honours at the race, but the 007 car of Charouz/Enge/Mücke eventually took the chequered flag first after qualifying in third place and having to battle hard in the closing stages of the race.
A spin from sister car 009 (Primat/Ramos/Turner) 40 minutes before the chequered flag forced a safety car period, that allowed Mücke to take advantage of the bunched pack and claim the lead with 20 minutes to go. Mücke then ran on to secure the win with a lead of 14.8 seconds over the Pescarolo Sport Judd car.
Both cars were unaffected by mechanical problems during the race, and until Ramos spun the 009 car both LMP1 racers were running in the top three.
“I obviously have mixed emotions” Ramos said. “I’m very disappointed and sorry for what happened when I was in the car, but I am delighted for the team.”
The Le Mans race series continues on 8 May with the 1000km of Spa.
Discussion
can't wait...dandarez said:
Is it THAT hard to mention GINETTA?
First ever Le Mans for the marque.
On POLE for start on Sunday and had to begin race real with flat spot tyre. Still came 5th overall and second Ginetta Zytec LMP2 cames second in class, just beaten by Lola-Judd.
Must be. They're obviously just not as sexy as the Lola's in the dodgy shade of blue.First ever Le Mans for the marque.
On POLE for start on Sunday and had to begin race real with flat spot tyre. Still came 5th overall and second Ginetta Zytec LMP2 cames second in class, just beaten by Lola-Judd.
The start was decidedly dodgy as well (apparently the Ginetta braked upon seeing the green light...)
The Kolles Audi's were surprisingly lack lustre pace wise as well.
Dr Imran T said:
Audi run the R15 now not the R10 I believe. The R15 is an LMP1.
But the Kolles Racing team are running last year's Audi R10s in the Le Mans Series.Audi (Team Joest) are only running the R15 at Sebring and Le Mans (although it would be great to see them running some more later in the year as well).
chevronb37 said:
Ahonen said:
Dr Imran T said:
Audi run the R15 now not the R10 I believe. The R15 is an LMP1.
The factory runs R15. Two R10s are run by the private Kolles team, who struggled a bit.ellroy said:
i was referring to the factory lmp1 teams, privateers in last years cars don't really give a true indication of Aston being in with a shout come june or not. I suspect they'll do well against the petrol cars, but that Audi/Peugeot may well have the legs on them. More's the pity.
Looking good for a win in the 5th 'petrol class' as some of the enthusiasts call it 
Edited by zac510 on Tuesday 7th April 21:46
zac510 said:
ellroy said:
i was referring to the factory lmp1 teams, privateers in last years cars don't really give a true indication of Aston being in with a shout come june or not. I suspect they'll do well against the petrol cars, but that Audi/Peugeot may well have the legs on them. More's the pity.
Looking good for a win in the 5th 'petrol class' as some of the enthusiasts call it I must admit to having a slight 'issue' with the Lola-Astons as well. As the engine they are running is from a *cough* production *cough* car they run a larger restrictor than the other petrol P1's, which have dedicated race engines. Picky I know, but I'm always slightly dubious of equalising performance through this method. It's taken a few years to try and successfully equalise the diesel to petrol performance for instance (and is still failing). Ach, June will tell, as always!
Red Firecracker said:
zac510 said:
ellroy said:
i was referring to the factory lmp1 teams, privateers in last years cars don't really give a true indication of Aston being in with a shout come june or not. I suspect they'll do well against the petrol cars, but that Audi/Peugeot may well have the legs on them. More's the pity.
Looking good for a win in the 5th 'petrol class' as some of the enthusiasts call it I must admit to having a slight 'issue' with the Lola-Astons as well. As the engine they are running is from a *cough* production *cough* car they run a larger restrictor than the other petrol P1's, which have dedicated race engines. Picky I know, but I'm always slightly dubious of equalising performance through this method. It's taken a few years to try and successfully equalise the diesel to petrol performance for instance (and is still failing). Ach, June will tell, as always!
As for equalising the petrol and dismal engines, well, that's clearly just politics by the ACO. If you've got two big manufacturers going head to head, are you really going to squeeze them on performance to the point where a Pesky Rolo or Ginetta might win ? Particularly if one of your big manufacturers is French
Nick M said:
In fairness the Aston engine is a relatively big lump and isn't anything like as small and compact as the Judd and Zytek engines for example. It really is more of a race prepared production engine than a bespoke race engine. Plus it sounds nicer
As for equalising the petrol and dismal engines, well, that's clearly just politics by the ACO. If you've got two big manufacturers going head to head, are you really going to squeeze them on performance to the point where a Pesky Rolo or Ginetta might win ? Particularly if one of your big manufacturers is French
Don't get me wrong, totally agree with what you've said (especially about the slightly nationalistic bent of the ACO....). I just think (and have done for a while) that air restrictors are a maybe stab in the dark way of approaching the problem.As for equalising the petrol and dismal engines, well, that's clearly just politics by the ACO. If you've got two big manufacturers going head to head, are you really going to squeeze them on performance to the point where a Pesky Rolo or Ginetta might win ? Particularly if one of your big manufacturers is French
Still, the LMS series organisers seem to be doing a good enough job of creating gaps in the race order with the spec fuel that is allegedly rather poor.
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