GRAND PRIX GREATS TACKLE LE MANS
Former Mclaren Formula 1 team-mates Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both got their first taste of the Le Mans circuit at the official test day last week ahead of their respective LMP1 debuts this year.
Two-time world champion Alonso impressed by setting the fastest time of the day yesterday [Sunday] aboard the Toyota TS050 HYBRID he shares with Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi.
Alonso set the pace in the morning also, with a 3m21.468s benchmark, before lowering that with a 3m19.066s in the afternoon to finish almost a second clear of the sister Toyota handled by Kamui Kobayashi.
Alonso completed 40 laps of the La Sarthe circuit – around 339 miles of running – across the day. The Spaniard said he had worked hard on his preparation for his Le Mans debut, and confessed to watching as much as 16 hours of onboard footage from last year’s race as well as running many sessions in the simulator.
When asked if he’d watched the available footage [16 hours’ worth] from the car of Buemi/nakajima and test driver Anthony Davidson during last year’s race, Alonso said: “Yes, I watched all of that and some races from the past also, videos, the lap from Kamui in qualifying on the internet – I think I am as prepared as I can be.
“Obviously the real track and the real conditions are always different because you don’t have the uphill and downhill on the simulator. The adjustment to the speed difference between cars and to the traffic is something that you develop only in the real car and with a good number of laps.
“I got some longer runs than [the other drivers], but the programme was quite even. I did about 10 per cent more than the others. But it was a lot of fun out there – the track is beautiful and fits perfectly with the LMP1S. It was enjoyable and we got the info we needed from the test.
“It was a very good day for the team. We obviously prepared for this test in the best way possible before the big race. The car felt good from the first lap and everyone was happy straight away. Then it was just getting familiar with the circuit.”
Despite topping both the morning and afternoon sessions, the sole remaining LMP1 manufacturer team did not enjoy a sizable pace advantage over its privateer rivals.
The #3 Rebellion Racing R-13Gibson driven by Mathias Beche twice managed to split the factory cars, finishing 0.360s and 0.614s behind Alonso respectively.
The sister #1 Rebellion of ex-porsche drivers Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer with Bruno Senna was fourth fastest in both sessions, two seconds back.
The Russian SMP Racing team annexed fifth and sixth in both sessions with its BRE Engineering BRE-AER BR1S, with the car crewed by Button, Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin finishing as the fastest of the two.
Button, who is also making his Le Mans debut this year around his commitments racing with Honda in Japanese Super GT, said he found the track a baptism.
“I was reasonably happy [with his running], but in the morning I just found it another world – driving around here in a car I don’t really know. I found it quite disconcerting,” said Button, who completed 20 laps across the day, setting a best time of 3m24.002s – comparable to the car’s best of 3m21.603s set by Petrov.
“But we made some good changes over lunch, and I was much happier with the car in the afternoon. I had a lot more confidence. High speed, good confidence, and the braking was much better too. A lot of the corners here are very tight and they come up on you very quickly, which is very different from what I’m used to. I definitely got to grips with it in the afternoon, much happier. But you always want more running, and new tyres.
“We lost some time in the morning with a sensor issue, which was a shame. Then we had another little issue after lunch, so our track time was quite limited. I only ran one set of tyres, not a new set. I did 20 laps, but learnt a lot. This place is all about building confidence and gaining time. You can go out and be as quick as you can, but there’s a big chance you’ll go off. You’ve really got to respect this circuit. It’s tough!
“I feel very confident now at the end of the day, but I’d rather have had another 50 laps.”
The new Ginetta LMP1 machines struggled, finishing the test almost nine seconds off the ultimate pace. The quickest car of Oliver Rowland/alex Brundle/ Oliver Turvey was still behind the two fastest LMP2 machines.
The outings come as the car’s first real group test, after they were withdrawn from the Six Hours of Spa due to funding issues for the TRSM [Manor] team. The cars ran with their highdownforce aero kit still fitted, with a new low-drag variant due to be ready for testing during race week.
Ginetta’s Lawrence Tomlinson told Dailysportscar.com: “We’re here to compete, and to show that we are serious about LMP1. This is a five- to 10-year commitment from Ginetta and the commercial issues for TRSM have meant that our testing programme has been massively delayed, that shouldn’t be confused with our intention to take this programme forward.”
Best of the rest
The Dragonspeed team topped the LMP2 times with Nathanael Berthon putting its ORECAGibson 07 ninth in the overall order. His effort left the car he shares with Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez just 0.024s ahead of the IDEC Sport ORECA of Paul-loup Chatin.
FIA Formula E points leader Jean-eric Vergne put his G-drive ORECA in third place. The leading Ligier entry was United Autosports in sixth.
Porsche jumped ahead of Ford in the battle to top GTE Pro, with Patrick Pilet fastest in the #93 CORE Autosport-run 911 RSR, beating the sister car of Gianmaria Bruni by a 10th.
Andy Priaulx was third in the lead Ford GT, just 0.361s behind.
Aston Martin had a difficult first LM24 test with its new Vantage AMR challenger. Marco Sorensen was involved in a heavy accident on the run to Indianapolis corner. While the Dane escaped injury, the team has confirmed that it will have to build up a fresh chassis for the race due to the damage.
The sister car of Alex Lynn/ Maxime Martin/jonny Adam brought up the rear of the class, just shy of five seconds down on the leading Porsche.
The Dempsey-proton Porsche squad moved to the top of the GTE Am times at the end of the afternoon session, which was brought to a premature finish by a fourth red flag of the day.
Julien Andlauer set a 3m55.970s in the #77 911 RSR to knock Giancarlo Fisichella’s #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE off the top of the times.