Le Mans Series - Hungaroring updates

[northo]

Team RLR will be sending updates all weekend from Hungary, so follow them on Facebook here or Twitter here

[northo]

Good day yesterday for Team RLR - car running well. 6 hours till the race.




If these backlights go out, you get a black flag...


Very noisy V8 Vantage next door






Warren Hughes giving a debrief on the car

[zac510]

Car running reliably?

Must have been a ripper lap by Watts in the Strakka!

[chevronb37]

He must be one of the best qualifiers in the business - seem to recall him sticking the Ginetta on pole at Portimao last year as well. Thanks ever so much for posting the photos up. Really looking forward to a 50-car grid of cars at Silverstone in three weeks.

[northo]

Car is running great - driver Warren Hughes was pretty pleased at the end of free practice three - Warren's interview

He was running P2 in class for some of the session and finished in 5th. For a small independent team on it's first outing, it was pretty impressive. He got caught in traffic in qualifying, and his tyres went off before he could take advantage of them, but we're looking forward to an exciting race tonight.

Danny Watt's qualifying lap was very impressive - the first time a P2 team has taken pole in the series. They are next to us in the pits, and the Strakka garage absolutely erupted! They are a very well backed team with a great car, and are the only team in P2 running development Michelins, but it was pretty amazing nonetheless. We're looking forward to getting out on track with them

Good luck to all the teams out here - and have a safe race.

[northo]

An hour in and there's been plenty of action. As I write this the standings are changing all the time with a Rebellion car off and I think out, and a Lola coupe off as well. Barry Gates started for Team RLR in 13th, but spun a few laps in at turn two and was then hit from the rear by a Porsche in turn one, and pinballed into the car in front. Barry brought the MG Lola back into the pits, and the boys worked as fast as they could to get it back out. He's now back on track and lapping fast, but has quite a job to do, but there's still a long way to go.

[E36Rob]

Thanks for the updates,

I am listening to Radio Le Mans, such a shame there is no TV coverage until 8pm tonight which is annoying!

Good luck!

[Red Firecracker]

It's being reported that Eurosport will have extra live coverage at 7:30.

ETA: Confirmed by Martin Haven tweet, 7:30 BE1, 8.00 BE2

Edited by Red Firecracker on Sunday 22 August 16:55

[northo]

All sorts of excitement here -the car is still running, and Warren Hughes has been putting in some great lap times, even passing the Strakka car, but we still have a long way to go.

[Red Firecracker]

P1 seems to be doing their level best to throw themselves into the garages so best of luck to you for a good overall result.

Nicely timed safety car for the Peugeot............

[Red Firecracker]

Silly me, that'll be Eurosport coverage of an empty tennis court in the rain.

[ellroy]

Seems to be on now.

[webby74]

Finally on now and mansells leading lmp1, and oreca pug well out of it

[Red Firecracker]

Eurosport pictures but no Radio Le Mans now. Not good.

Beechdean Mansell may be leading P1 but they're in 6th overall which is an incredible result for the 5 P2 cars in front of them. Beechdean Mansell should reach 4th by the end barring incident.

[Red Firecracker]

Well done Strakka, epic day for P2.

Bad luck RLR, but I'd say that was a good showing.

[zac510]

Still 1.5 more hours to go

http://en.justin.tv/lenda_urbana_tv#/w/334582368/3

[northo]

Red Firecracker said:

Well done Strakka, epic day for P2.

Bad luck RLR, but I'd say that was a good showing.

Thanks - from dead last to P18 after low oil pressure caused some additional problems, not least a collision. A good show for the team's maiden race, and we had good race pace once the problem was sorted, up there with the front runners. The MG Lola even managed to outpace the Strakka car for a while - it was a great moment when we saw Warren Hughes pass Nick Leventis on the pit straight.

A historic night for LMS and for Strakka Racing - a brilliant effort by them. We're looking forward to Silverstone now - the boys are up for it!

[Red Firecracker]

zac510 said:

Still 1.5 more hours to go

http://en.justin.tv/lenda_urbana_tv#/w/334582368/3

Now that was a race. Fantastic end and a marvelous result.

[chevronb37]

Great result - well done to Strakka and fantastic to get an HPD racing in Europe with a worthy team and drivers. Nicely tees up the P2 battle for Silverstone. Well done to Drayson in ALMS as well, sounds like there was a fag paper between the top four which is good news for that series as well.

[northo]

A few more photos from the event:


Watching the screens during qualifying















and yes, it was on the Beechdean car...