LMS 2006

Istambul Spa Nürburgring Donington Jarama

Istambul 2006-03-09

Qualifying Times

Think back almost exactly a year to the opening race of the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series and, as Hugh Chamberlain put it at Istanbul today, Saturday, after qualifying, "Who would have predicted that we would have won LMP2 last April?"

It's the same drivers for 2006, so that's Gareth Evans, Bob Berridge and Peter Owen (right), and although the car looks similar, it's the brand new Lola B06/10 with AER's also-new for 2006, 3.6 litre twin-turbo V8.
So the car looks similar, Hugh Chamberlain looks similar, but the drivers have all been getting stuck in to their fitness programmes since April 2005. Gareth Evans and Peter Owen have been the most recent to devote more time to fitness, and both look very well on it.Bob Berridge claimed his weight loss last summer. Peter Owen allegedly has some new racing boots for this year, but some merciless ribbing from the other two ensured that they stayed in their box.

The first session on Friday, on a very dusty track, but under fairly clear skies and in pleasantly warm temperatures, saw Peter Owen out first, then Gareth Evans, with Bob Berridge having most time in the car because he didn't race here last November. It turned out that the session was almost meaningless, in terms of times, because of the dust, but it went so smoothly otherwise that Gareth Evans (below) even got in the car again for another quick blast at the end.

Bob Berridge set the best time of the trio; a 1:46.209, sixth fastest overall, and fifth in LMP1. A solid start in fact, a very good start, and the Lola was instantly highly competitive (fifth in LMP1).

Saturday morning and it was still dry, although more overcast and cooler, and on a cleaner track (but still dirty off-line) Bob and Gareth were both in the forty-sixes, but there was a small "but'. "We had a fuel pick-up problem," commented Bob Berridge (what a distinguished pose, above!), "but they'd fixed it in plenty of time for the second session."

Gareth Evans (left, looking deadly serious / thoughtful) reckoned that his new-found fitness came in handy when he was sent out with the power steering set to the least assistance. "No-one told me to put it in position four," he said, "so I just muscled it around."

More ribbing, Gareth the victim this time: "Do we have to tell him everything?"

Although this team takes its racing deadly seriously, there's a real sense of fun when they're together: Istanbul may not have been the ideal choice of track for the opening race, but Chamberlain-Synergy is thoroughly enjoying itself, as ever.

More good news was that the team was very pleased with the latest Dunlop rubber and, with the castor adjusted, the only problem (referred to by Peter Owen) was that "we were bottoming out in Turns 10 and 11, so we've raised the car by a couple of millimetres. We'd also taken some aero off, and we would have had a better top speed this morning, but it was masked by the fuel pressure problem."

The quips and wisecracks were flying around, as usual, and Bob Berridge reckoned that even after along day at the track, they'd probably still be out in the Istanbul night clubs until five am on race morning. Perhaps that's Bob's version of fitness training? The three of them had "ragged' Warren Hughes (over at Team LNT) about his new silver race boots, and Peter Owen's similar attire was noticeable by its sudden absence.

So everything looked set up for the final session before qualifying, and each of the drivers had had sufficient to feel comfortable in the car around the sweeping Istanbul Park circuit, thanks to the continuing reliability (Peter Owen, below)… ....but then some rain fell in the lunchtime session. Bob Berridge was still into the 1:45s, but a misleading hour on the track saw Bob, the usual qualifying man heading into qualifying at 3:30 with a car that Hugh Chamberlain bluntly described as a bucket of … well, something unpleasant.

No doubt Julian Sole, the Lola's designer, wouldn't have appreciated the term, but he knows what these Chamberlain-Synergy boys are like. Such "technical' terms are misleading, because there's such a small margin between a good qualifying car or not, and a good race car or not.
Hugh Chamberlain: "We didn't give Bob (getting in just prior to the session, above - and looking very fit.. almost Coulthard-esque in the botty department!) a good qualifying car at all, but it is a good race car. I don't care where we are in relation to LMP2 cars, because we're not racing them for points - we're racing the LMP1s. The weather hasn't helped, and although we went in the right direction, straight away, at Estoril and Paul Ricard (with the car set-up) we haven't got it right here at least, not for qualifying."

The drivers headed off for their 5am appointment with their beds, confident that they'd got a reliable car, which Bob would start from tenth on the grid, sixth in LMP1, after he set a late 1:44.976.

Spirits were high and, with the crafty Hugh Chamberlain and Dave Lampitt overseeing race strategy, no doubt there's a surprise in store for the second running of the Istanbul 1000 kilometers for Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport. Last November, Evans, Owen and Guy Smith finished second in class, sealing Gareth Evan's LMP2 title by a single point (Bob and Peter each having missed one race thanks to other commitments). Another podium on Sunday?

PS Despite a damp/wet warm-up on Sunday, the pre-race mood is very much more optimistic: "Did you see me whistle past the Pescarolo past the pits?" asked Bob Berridge. In general terms, the team had "reviewed certain issues" and with less drag on the B06/10, it was very quick again - third fastest overall.

Race Result

Race Report

The second Le Mans Series visit to Istanbul didn't see the second running of the Istanbul 1000 kms: this one was shortened to a four hour race, or 715 kilometres, but for Chamberlain-Synergy that was just about the only negative aspect of this opening round of the 2006 Le Mans Series.

Jan Lammers was sitting in Carlo's "Le Chien Qui Fume' hospitality awning (shared with the Chamberlain-Synergy team, among others) after the race, and having seen the yellow team come home third in LMP1, he was moved to remark that "it's great to see how much they enjoyed their third place." This team is certainly at the top of the pile when it comes to enjoying its endurance racing, and as remarked upon at the end of the practice and qualifying page, everything was really looking up on race morning with Bob Berridge setting the third best lap time, behind the Pescarolo and Lammers' Dome.

Behind that performance lies a tale though. Paul Thomas is the team's race engineer, but he was absent this weekend, having to be at Valencia for the opening round of the GP2 series.
"We sent Paul the data after qualifying yesterday," recounted Bob Berridge, "and he emailed us back to say that he reckoned the car must have been just about undriveable on Saturday."
That had certainly been Hugh Chamberlain's view after qualifying, Bob having pulled one out of the bag to somehow set a 1:44 lap time in the 20 minute qualifying session.
"The lads worked late last night to put Paul's recommended settings on the car for the race, and it was transformed in the warm-up," commented Bob before the race start.

Less downforce was the most significant change made to the Lola B06/10, and suddenly there was Bob Berridge "whistling past" the pole position Pescarolo in the warm-up. Ironically, that was on a damp track, with lap times nearly 20 seconds slower than in qualifying. The team had taken downforce off the Lola, yet it still had enough but more importantly, it now it had its straightline speed back.

Now the three drivers could go racing, even though the track was damp at the start. But there was a drama to come before the lights. "We "lost' one of the air jacks when we changed tyres (from slicks to intermediates) before the start," said Dave Lampitt. That would mean some frustratingly slow pit stops for the B01/60 and almost certainly the loss of one race position at the end of the four hours.

Bob Berridge got the car's race underway, at 11.30 on Sunday morning, in marked contrast to the style exhibited by Jean-Marc Gounon in the factory Courage (one of the Lola's six LMP1 rivals). The Frenchman nudged the RML P2 Lola into the pit wall before the start line! then charged off towards the front… led the race… and dropped back to eighth (on wets). Bob Berridge had a different plan: quite simply, he calmly moved up the order, from tenth on the grid to ninth on lap 1, eighth on lap 2, seventh on lap 4, sixth on lap 6….. fourth on lap 9… second on lap 12…… in fairness, some of the improvements were because most of the prototype drivers had started on wets or intermediates, and pit stops were needed, for slicks, on the drying track but it was still a mightily impressive first dozen .

Bob came in for his slicks on lap 14, and it was a long stop… "Without the jack problem, we'd have been second in class: that was the only problem we had."
He slipped way down the order to fifteenth, but with lap times tumbling into the 1:47s, then the 1:46s (eventually into the 45s), the #19 car moved back up the charts: eleventh at 55 minutes, tenth at one hour... and blasting past the faster GT2s.

That soon became fifth, fourth in P1, behind the scrapping hybrids from Pescarolo and Creation, the Barazi Courage (the P2 leader having a dream-like race) and Jan Lammers' black and white Dome (Alex Yoong at the wheel). The Lola was quicker than the Lister one place behind it and with two of the P1s ahead due to retire at about the mid-way point of this shortened event, a podium place was there for the taking.

Bob dropped a place at 90 minutes when he pitted to hand over to Gareth Evans another slow stop, as explained above and now the 2005 P2 Champion set about completing a double stint. Or would he though? At an hour and three quarters into the event, the organisers informed the teams (via the timing screen) of a fact that came as no surprise to many: the race would be shortened, owing to insufficient fuel being available at the track. But not by an hour, or say 180 or 200 km, but by nearly 300 km, or over an hour and a half.

A bulletin was issued stating that drivers would need to complete a minimum of 40 minutes on the track in order to score points: suddenly the teams were faced with totally revising their strategy mid-race. Thanks to Peter Owen's gracious good nature, the juggling at Chamberlain-Synergy simply resulted in Gareth Evans completing his planned double stint, leaving Peter Owen to complete the last half hour not enough to score points. "It was simple: I was happy that the right thing to do was to keep Gareth in the car to use up his fuel in his second stint. The team's result was the important thing," said Peter Owen (among other things) after the race.

So Gareth was the only one of the three drivers to complete his planned allocation of "seat time' but that's the way things go when unforeseen circumstances crop up. Other teams were faced with much more difficult situations, with their drivers not necessarily as easy going as Peter Owen. So there was Gareth Evans rattling off the often in company with Martin Short in the Rollcentre entry, as the fastest P2 car, Short's Radical, fought its way back from an early delay. These two changed places for fifth overall in the third hour of the race… and then changed again and again. 'I don't really know why that was," said Gareth afterwards. "I was just maintaining my own pace. The Radical obviously performed brilliantly and it was a huge blow and bad luck for Rollcentre to go out so near the end of the race.'

But as Hugh Chamberlain had pointed out earlier in the meeting "we're racing against the other P1 cars, not the P2s."
The other P1 cars were down to the Pescarolo and the Lister soon after half the revised race duration, and the "allocation' of the second and third steps on the podium came down to that jack problem on the Lola.

With 40 minutes left, Gareth Evans was third overall, over half a minute ahead of the Lister but the #19 Lola was due to pit, for the last time, very soon. Peter Owen duly took over with just under 29 minutes left, but was passed by the Lister of former F1 man Nocolas Kiesa on his out lap. Peter's task was a simple one: bring the car home. He duly did just that, to secure a podium for the new Lola on its maiden European outing leaving Peter with the duty of tellingAutosport's sports car correspondentexactly what he thought of a prediction that the yellow Lola would be lucky to score a podium finish this year. Is that why the guys are smiling so much?

Gareth Evans had indeed played "a blinder" (according to H. Chamberlain). The challenge this year is even greater than in 2005, but a podium first time out was the ideal start for the Chamberlain-Synergy Lola AER.
"It's a brilliant engine," summed up Bob Berridge, "and there's even more to come from it soon."

RML's highly experienced mechanics and engineers were asked to draw upon every ounce of skill and determination in order to overcome the challenge of a race that was almost over before it had begun. Thomas Erdos, taking first stint in the Istanbul 1000 Kilometers, had not even reached the starting line in RML's MG Lola EX264 before he'd been tipped into a spin by an over-eager prototype driver behind him. On a surface made slippery by light drizzle there was no chance of correcting the slide, and the car slammed heavily into the concrete pit wall.

"The move was completely ridiculous!" exclaimed the bemused Brazilian. "Why take such risks at the start of an endurance race? It makes no sense!" The remains of the car were taken back to the garage where, given the time available, the team began the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the entire front and rear left-hand suspension assemblies, as well as the rear wing supports and other ancillaries in between. "I cannot heap enough praise on the guys for what they achieved today," said Adam Wiseberg, Managing Director of the AD Group, the principal team sponsor. "I doubt anyone else could have done it quicker." In fact, it took less than an hour.

From last place -- by some margin -- Thomas Erdos was rapidly up to speed, and setting the pace in the LMP2 category. Although there remained no realistic chance of a representative result, valuable championship points were at stake. Erdos completed a double-stint of almost two hours before handing over to Mike Newton, who maintained the car's excellent progress. Unfortunately, mid-way through what should have been a six-hour race, the organisers announced that a miscalculation in the amount of fuel available meant there was insufficient remaining for the scheduled distance and the duration was shortened to just four hours.
Mike Newton drove on to the abbreviated finish, crossing the line in 26th position from 36 starters, sixth in LMP2. "It's the best be could have hoped for, considering the mess the car was in at the beginning," he said. "But we've put a marker down for the season, and demonstrated that we have not only the car but also the driver combination able to take the measure of anyone else out there." During their respective stints, each RML driver had been consistently fastest in the LMP2 class.

"It's hugely disappointing to have something so totally out of our control ruin the first race like this," declared Ray Mallock, team owner at RML. "It was a great effort by everyone in the team to get the car back on track, and the three points won today could end up being crucial at the end of the season." Phil Barker, team manager, was especially satisfied by what his crew had achieved. "I'm chuffed to bits," he said. "They did us proud - pit crew and drivers alike. Tommy was fastest overall during his stint, and that speaks volumes. It takes something special to put a car back together again like that and have it perform to perfection."

Spa 2006-05-12

Qualifying Times

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RML's

Race Result

Race Report

The RML pairing of Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos were denied their first class win of the 2006 Le Mans Series season by a chance puncture in yesterday's Spa 1000km. In a race characterised by bizarre accidents and extended pace car delays, the MG Lola EX264 took the chequered flag second in LMP2, fifth overall, just half a lap behind the class-winning Chamberlain Synergy Lola of Amaral, Angel de Castro and Burgueno.

A brilliant start from Erdos had suggested that the RML MG could have been on course for an even more impressive victory, with the EX264 lying second overall as the cars streamed up the hill beyond Eau Rouge to begin the opening lap. Behind the leaders, however, a major accident was unfolding that would see four cars damaged beyond repair, and as many as eight others sustaining scars that would remain with them for the rest of the six-hour race. A safety car was deployed immediately, but after two the race had to be suspended while the track was cleared. The surviving cars were forced to sit out the 40-minute delay on the pit straight, the teams prevented from attending to them, or their drivers, under parc ferme conditions.

No sooner had the cars moved off again than another accident ensured a further six behind the safety car before racing proper could resume. For half an hour Erdos pressed on hard, and was lying second in class, sixth overall, when the right rear tyre ruptured soon after clearing Eau Rouge. "At first I sensed just a slight twitch from the rear, but then it gave way completely, very suddenly. That's not a nice feeling when you're doing 260 kph," said an understated Brazilian. With virtually a full lap to complete it was a painfully slow journey back to the pitlane, but Erdos managed the five kilometers without sustaining further damage. "That cost us the best part of four minutes, and we were knocked out of sequence by maybe half a stint," explained Phil Barker, Team Manager.

Fitted with fresh tyres Erdos was soon setting his fastest of the race, and within half an hour was back up to tenth overall, third in LMP2. A faultless driver-swap had Mike Newton into the car for the middle two stints, and he maintained the MG's recovery, rising to fourth overall and second in class as the race entered its third hour. His mid-stint pitstop, combined with another awkwardly timed safety car period, cost RML one place as the delayed Zytek LMP1 came through en route to third overall. Erdos then completed the final hour and a half, steadily drawing nearer to the class-leading Chamberlain Lola, before eventually crossing the line after 131 a mere minute behind. "One more mistake and Tommy would have had him!" insisted Phil Barker after the Lola had spun for the second time in the closing minutes.

"I'm really pleased with the performance from the whole team today," said Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director for AD Holdings. "The difference between first and second came down to a single puncture, but we demonstrated that we have the pace and the reliability to win."

Ray Mallock, RML's Chief Executive, agreed "That puncture at the beginning of a lap cost us the race," he said, "but finishing second gains us useful points towards the championship."

A Lola LMP2 podium lock-out was the highlight of the latest round of the Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps over the weekend.

The unique 1-2-3 result was backed up by pole position by the RML team, who also had a sensational start to the race when Tommy Erdos ran 2nd overall in the early frenetic stages of the classic 6 hour event.

However it was theChamberlain Synergy/ASM team that scored a superb debut win and a brilliant 4th overall on the iconic Spa circuit. Angel Burgueno/Miguel Angel De Castro and team owner Miguel Amaral celebrated their B05/40’s second consecutive win at Spa, as last year the now LMP1 trio of Bob Berridge/Peter Owen and Gareth Evans had also triumphed.

The Iberian trio started the race from second place on the LMP2 grid but were soon running as high as second overall with ex British F3 racer Burgueno marking himself out to be a future sportscar star.
“We are not surprised to win LMP2 because that is what we wanted and expected to do,” said the confident Spaniard. “We are maybe a little bit surprised about where we were with the LMP1s but we did know we were very competitive. We were very happy with the set-up, it was really comfortable to drive and no stress to keep a good pace. We lost out on the overall podium by a little but the car was perfect, I did a 2:08 in my first stint and then an hour before the end I did the same again.”

There were some nervous moments in the dying stages of the race for the team as Amaral endured a couple of spins, one at La Source and the other, a heart stopping gyration at Eau Rouge. But the Portuguese driver/owner was highly delighted with the Lola and the fantastic way his team performed, saying;
“The car was faultless. This was our first race and we expected some minor problems but they never really came.”

UnfortunatelyChamberlain Synergy’s LMP1 entry for Berridge/Owen and Evans retired from the race on lap 3 when Peter Owen lost control of the car on cold tyres behind the safety car. The unfortunate Humbersider hit the wall coming out of the La Source hairpin and damaged the B06/10.

It had been a hectic start for the Chamberlain Synergy crew as the team decided to make a driver change during the race stoppage. Owen replaced Berridge and the AER powered Lola went back in to the race only for the accident to intervene in what on the whole had been a positive weekend for the team. Qualifying 6th, Berridge and crew were hopeful of a strong result but now the team must prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours next month.

If not for a puncture in the first hour of the race,RML would have been fighting for second overall, the position that Erdos brilliantly pulled off at the start of the race. However, RML’s perennial bad luck struck again when the puncture meant that Erdos was forced to complete almost an entire lap of the 4.3 mile circuit with the errant tyre.
“The puncture early on probably cost us a lap and a half, I have no idea where we picked it up, I definitely didn’t drive over any debris, but the Chamberlain guys drove a very strong race,” concluded Erdos.
An impressive double stint by Mike Newton made sure that when he handed back over to Erdos, the Brazilian was able to make up for lost time and bring the car up to 5th overall and second in class for the AER powered car. The Wellingborough based team now head to Le Mans to defend their LMP2 class crown.

Binnie Motorsportcompleted the Lola podium hat-trick as Bill Binnie/Sam Hancock and Allen Timpany claimed the cars best ever result in the LMES/LMS.

The Zytek engined Lola B05/40 had undergone a successful test at Donington prior to Spa and it paid off for the team with Hancock turning in some impressive times in the Anglo/American car.
Despite a small alternator problem in the early stages the car came through to claim 6th place overall as well as rounding out the LMP2 podium. It was a result that left team owner/driver Bill Binnie very happy indeed. Sam Hancock too was delighted with the teams second podium (after Sebring) on the trot. But it was an anxious start for Hancock who suffered at the hands of the safety car, which was brought out after a multi car incident at Radillon on the opening lap.
“After the slowness of the safety cars - everyone's engine temps were soaring, and we were about to blow an engine,” stated Hancock. “The rising temperature triggered a domino effect in the electronics and the alternator stopped working, but I lost the dash and the gearshift. I realised that I could have one or the other, so I chose the gearshift (!), but we didn't know if the battery was charging. As I passed the pits I got one flash of data to the team, and they could see that the battery wasn't charging, so we had to change the alternator. I was on a bit of a mission after that. We recovered a lot of ground. Bill was really going for it at the end. We haven't really set the car up too well, we had too much downforce, but the team will have it perfect for Le Mans."

NürburgRing 2006-07-16

Qualifying Times

The Nurburgring can often throw up unpredictable weather but the 2006 1000km race weekend found the weather gods in a good mood clear blue skies, sunshine and a cooling breeze Perfect!
But the #19 Chamberlain-Synergy Lola team had a trying start to the weekend, finding in the first 90 minute practice session on Saturday morning that the car's set-up and gearing were a long way short of the ideal for the challenging Grand Prix circuit. Peter Owen, watching team mate Gareth Evans' progress on the superb MoTec telemetry screens, immediately observed that the car was not even able to pull enough revs to get to sixth gear on any part of the circuit during the session. "We're way off," said Owen and the looks on the faces of the seasoned Chamberlain-Synergy crew, bolstered this weekend for the first time by Malcolm Swetnam, signalled their agreement.

Here's Peter Owen taking over from Gareth Evans. It was time to think again and the team got to work as soon as the session came to a close. That was a particular problem as this round of the Le Mans Series was just a two day race meeting, all practice and qualifying taking place on Saturday, with the 1000km race taking place on the Sunday - with just a short early morning warm-up session on day two, to sort out any last minute niggles. What this timetable meant in practice is that the changes required to the set-up of the car had to be done quickly and under pressure. The car wasn't quite ready for the start of the early afternoon practice session: a little more valuable track time ebbed away, but from there on in things started to look much, much better for the crew of the #19 car.
The second practice session was the last track time available before qualifying later in the afternoon and it found the Lola in much better fettle, Bob Berridge bringing the car into the top ten, well in touch with the leading cars."That was way better, not perfect but we're heading in the right direction now, there are more changes to come before qualifying," explained Gareth Evans, below.

Again the crew descended upon the Lola and the next set of changes again gave the team a major step forward, Berridge storming round in the 20 minute qualifying session to lie fourth overall on the timesheet at one point. Fourth became eighth as others improved, but the qualifying time of 1:47.510 was an encouraging result for the team's Saturday labours. "We'd have been quicker still if we'd not lost the time earlier," Berridge offered as he packed his driving kit away for the night, "but that will do nicely for the race, six hours is a long time."
The team's focus is always on the actual race itself, rather than the preliminaries such as practice and qualifying.

Thomas Erdos came through qualifying this afternoon at the Nürburgring in Germany to claim his fourth pole position on the trot aboard the RML MG Lola EX264. Adding to his class poles in the first two rounds of the Le Mans Series, and the dominant performance he gave in qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, this fourth front-row slot comes as some reward for the continuing hard work being put into the car's development by the RML team.
With the Le Mans Series weekend being compressed into two days, Saturday saw two practice sessions of an hour-and-a-half each, followed by a twenty-minute qualifying period. Erdos topped the times for the LMP2 category on each occasion, causing some consternation during the second free-practice period by setting second-fastest time overall. "We came here with a chassis that was already very well sorted," explained team principal Ray Mallock. "In addition, we've also made some fresh changes to the suspension for this weekend, and they've clearly worked. As we do with any project, we're moving forwards all the time, constantly developing and improving the package."
Qualifying for Round 3 came towards the end of a busy day around the impressive German circuit, and followed on immediately after a twenty-five minute saloon car race. As a result the track conditions had deteriorated somewhat, and Erdos was unable to match exactly his previous pace, but an early flying lap of 1:46.672 was sufficient to set the MG almost two seconds clear of its nearest rival in the class, and allow the team to call the Brazilian back into the pitlane to sit out the final minutes in the shade. "The car had a bit of oversteer, compared to the last practice session, but I think that could have been down to the track," said Erdos afterwards. "We made a few changes to address that, but decided not to go back out again and save the tyres for the race instead." The cars must start the race on the same tyres they use in qualifying, and good grip from fresh rubber during the early laps can be vital.

Mike Newton (right) will partner Erdos in the six-hour race on Sunday, the two drivers taking it in turns to pilot the MG EX264 around the five-kilometer circuit. "Tommy always does an excellent job, and he's dominated the class once again," said a delighted Newton. "The steady programme of improvements we've been implementing during the course of this season is clearly showing its worth, but looking after the car will be critical tomorrow. It's going to be a long, hot, dry race." The competition is growing increasingly close in the LMP2 category, with new cars entering the championship, and others also demonstrating improved performance. "It's great to achieve pole here at the Nürburgring," admitted Erdos, "but it will be a tough race. There are so many cars here on very similar times, but if we can stay out of trouble, I'm confident we can do well. The car is working beautifully, and with our on-going development, we're managing to keep just ahead of the rest. I believe we have a good chance."
After being the innocent party in a start line shunt in round one, and suffering an untimely puncture in round two, the team currently lies second in the championship. On pace and performance, the RML MG Lola should perhaps have won both those first two races, but Round 3 is their chance to set the record straight.

Race Result

Race Report

Hopes were high for the race, a start from the fourth row in a car which had already proved to have good early pace boded very well indeed.
Bob Berridge would take the start ….but then disaster: as the cars left the grid for their formation lap behind the pace car, the #19 Lola was left stationary. Bob Berridge's body language said it all, and as the marshals moved to push the car away, it seemed at first as if Chamberlain-Synergy's race was over before it had even begun.
But then, amazingly, the car found drive and rocketed away, Berridge making up for lost time, unable to take up his grid position but having just enough time to join the back of the train of cars before the race began. But what had happened on the grid to delay him in the first place?
"Unbelievable bad luck!" he said later. "As someone handed me my helmet it looks as if it hit the switch for the paddleshift. The car started fine but when they moved off I couldn't select a gear. It took me a few moments to realise what had gone wrong. Very, very frustratin'!"
So it was a pumped up Berridge who took the start, diving toward the pit wall to go inside the Rollcentre Radical as the pair crossed the line to start the race, and continued to make rapid progress through the slower GT cars.

"We had to abandon our usual conservative strategy at the start. The only way to make up any of the lost time was to go for it."

The Lola was well up to the task as the GT2 runners were rapidly dispensed with, followed by the faster GT1 cars. Berridge continued storming up the order, and by the half hour mark he was in an astonishing tenth place overall, having passed a grand total of 34 cars in the process or put another way the Lola had passed a car for position on average once every 53 seconds in the first half hour of the race.
"We'll have to make him angry more often," said Gareth Evans, watching the telemetry from the pit garage." He drives faster when he's p***ed off!"
It was Evans who was due to take the wheel next, Berridge handing the Lola over in 6th place overall after a storming double stint.
As the pit stop sequence wound out the Lola stabilised in 11th slot. It was now time to switch back to a slightly more conservative pace, the opportunity to make up ground (and time) had been grabbed with both hands and it was back to the plan. "Drive it quickly and finish the race." It's a tactic that has served the team well.

Gareth fulfilled the brief perfectly, fast and steady lap times kept the car in touch with the pack ahead and out of the clutches of those chasing behind. And in the endurance racing game fast, steady and (crucially) reliable is a successful combination.
Whilst the Lola was proving its reliability, others were beginning to fall by the wayside. That meant that any threat from behind began to evaporate and also that cars ahead of the #19 car began to hit trouble.
Evans handed over the Lola to Peter Owen after a fine and controlled stint, Peter rejoining in tenth place with his job list matching the "fast and steady" brief too.
Once again the stint went perfectly. Peter Owen measured his pace beautifully: the car was delivered back into the welcoming, gloved hands of Bob Berridge still in tenth place after a faultless run. "I felt good after that one," a beaming but rather warm Owen said immediately afterwards: the Gareth Evans and Peter Owen stints had offered the opportunity for Berridge to go hunting for further progress.
It wouldn't be too long in coming. Fast times from Berridge and problems for others left the car seventh overall with 90 minutes to run.
He wasn't done yet either. With a full blown LMP2 battle directly ahead, including the car the "Three Musketeers' took to the class title in 2005, there were rich pickings ahead.

Berridge was soon right with Angel Burgueno (in the ex-Chamberlain-Synergy Lola B05/40, now run by Portugese outfit ASM) for sixth place and was now lapping regularly in the 1:49s. Clearly in no mood to hang about, Berridge found a way past both this car and the Rollcentre Radical SR9 on the very next lap: fifth place now and just 15 seconds shy of LMP2 leader Thomas Erdos in another LMP2 Lola. With the gap closing for fourth one of the harsh realities of motorsport battles loomed large. Berridge was due a routine but essential pit stop for new rubber and a full tank of fuel.

Cue a repeat performance, Berridge repassing Burgueno for fifth, but then running wide under braking and dropping behind again. The Radical was now ahead of both battling yellow Lolas, but Martin Short was struggling whilst the Erdos MG Lola was the latest car to hit trouble dropping to the foot of the top ten.
After a couple of laps making up the ground lost to Burgueno, Bob Berridge made the move stick and with Short pitting to hand the Radical over to Joao Barbosa, the #19 car was now sitting in a most impressive fourth place.
All too soon though it was time for the #19 car's final pit stop, Berridge staying aboard for a third consecutive stint and rejoining 20 seconds behind the still battling LMP2 cars. And it was this battle that was to present Berridge with a further boost up the order, Barbosa and Burgueno clashing on track, the Radical spinning off and Burgueno penalized with a 60 second stop/go penalty. That was more than enough for the Chamberlain-Synergy man to claim fourth overall, and he'd hold it to the end of the race just off the podium, but after starting 44th on track the Lola boys would surely be delighted?
A wry smile from Berridge though is as good as it gets - "I'd rather have started eighth and finished third." Fair comment really after the woes at the very start of the race, but what a chase for the Lola! Fast and faultlessly reliable, despite being pushed harder than the team planned. That bodes well for the team's next outing on home ground at Donington Park in August.
The switch to the LMP1 class has already proven to be a very good one, with excellent finishes at two of the three 1000 kilometre races so far (third at Istanbul, fourth here). That leaves the crew of #19 equal second in the points, with the Swiss Spirit team, on 11. The crack Pescarolo outfit is out of reach already, with 30 points (three wins out of three) - but it's looking like an excellent race for runner-up spot.

Once again, good luck deserted Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton in the Le Mans Series 2006 when a bizarre brake-pad failure pitched the RML MG Lola EX264 out of the LMP2 lead and into the gravel. Erdos, who was setting the class pace around the Nürburgring in Germany at the time, was heading the category by a comfortable margin when the incident occurred. "It's not the kind of experience I'd care to repeat," he said later. "I put my foot on the brake and the pedal went straight to the bulkhead. The car wobbled a couple of times and then went into a 360-degree spin. I was lucky to escape the gravel trap, but it was a scary moment."

Up until this point the MG had dominated the LMP2 category and looked set fair for a richly deserved victory. Erdos had established a healthy advantage during his first double-stint before losing ground as a result of an extended pitstop, on this occasion to remedy an alternator belt failure. He fought back to second place before the start of the third hour. Mike Newton, driving the two middle stints of the race, maintained the car's excellent pace, and made up yet more ground before handing the MG back again, still lying second. Within minutes of starting his second double-stint, Erdos eased through into the class lead once more, and having overtaken the Rollcentre Radical, soon converted that into a comfortable lead. He continued to pull away cleanly, and as the race approached its final hour, was lying fourth overall and enjoying a margin of more than half a minute over the Radical. His pace was exemplary, but he'd no sooner set a fastest lap of the race than the front left brake-pad suddenly disintegrated.

Erdos was able to bring the car carefully back to the pitlane, where the team replaced the disk, calliper and all pads, but in doing so lost not only the lead, but also a further five laps. With less than an hour to go it was an unrealistic hope to think that so much ground could be recovered, but the Brazilian set-to with determination, establishing a string of new fastest laps, including one of 1:49.148 that would stand as quickest lap for the class. "I was a bit upset," he admitted later, "but that shows the confidence I have in the team. I know the guys wouldn't send me out again in a car that wasn't perfect." He battled gamely, and made up significant ground, but the RML MG EX264 crossed the line in fourth place.

"Our car and driver combination clearly had the pace to win here today," said Ray Mallock, team principal at RML. "To have a brake failure cost us the race is especially frustrating." Phil Barker, team manager, was understandably crestfallen. "From where we were at the time, we were comfortable with one stop to the flag. It was all on schedule for the win. I can hardly believe it."

Donington 2006-08-27

Qualifying Times

Thomas Erdos maintained RML's unbeaten record by claiming his fifth consecutive LMP2 pole during yesterday's qualifying for Round 4 of the 2006 Le Mans Series at Donington Park.

On this occasion Erdos had to dig deep in order to find the extra half-second he needed to secure the honour. He had headed out on track in the RML MG Lola EX264 quite early in the session, and set a time on only his second true flying lap that might, under normal circumstances, have been thought sufficient to claim that valuable front-row slot. The screens displayed a best for the #25 MG of 1:21.998, and with almost a second's advantage over the next challenger in LMP2, he and RML Team Manager Phil Barker felt sufficiently confident in bringing the car back to the pitlane and saving the tyres for the race.

No sooner had Erdos climbed out of the car, however, than Stuart Moseley popped in two quick laps for the #21 Bruichladdich Radical SR9, one bettering the MG by a mere thousandth of a second, and the next by almost two-tenths. There was a brief exchange between Erdos and Barker before the Brazilian was climbing back into the cockpit and the MG was heading out onto the track once more. His very first flying lap was a 1:21.557, almost half a second quicker than his previous best, and generously adequate in terms of reclaiming pole. Job done, Erdos returned to the pits, while Moseley continued to pound round the circuit, unable to improve on second place.

"It was good to get pole again and retain our unbeaten record for the year," said a hugely satisfied Ray Mallock, team principal at RML. "It was very tight this time. The Radical has been very quick all weekend, but Tommy was able to meet the challenge." Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director for AD Holdings, the team's principal sponsor, was very impressed by the display from Erdos, and in particular by his ability to refocus on the task. "That was a tremendous effort, and by far the most exciting qualifying we've had all season," he said. "All credit to Tommy. He got out of the car, probably thinking he'd done all that was necessary, and then had to get back in and start all over again. Doing that is one thing, but finding another half second is very impressive. That's the mark of a truly great driver."

The driver in question (below) was typically modest, and his concerns were largely for the engineers who make such performances possible. "You have to consider so many issues under circumstances like that. Do I go out and risk the tyres, or do I save them for the race?" said Erdos. "We decided that there was sufficient left in the tyres that it wouldn't be such a risk, but it was also important for the team. The guys work so hard, and getting pole is one way of rewarding them for their efforts. It proves we have the fastest car, and they're the ones who've built it. I just had to give it a go, for their sake, but that last lap was a bit of a wild ride!"

The team can now look ahead to the six-hour, 1000 kilometer race with some confidence, although practice and qualifying have proved that competition at the top of LMP2 has been growing steadily more intense as the season has developed. "The (works) Radical team has thrown a lot of resources at this round, including drivers," observed Adam Wiseberg. "We always knew we were going to have to be absolutely perfect to come away with a good result. After that qualifying run from Erdos, everyone in the team's fired up and ready to go. We'll just see what's happened by the time we get to half-six tomorrow afternoon!"

Race Result

Race Report

RML's Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos recorded their maiden class win of the 2006 Le Mans Series yesterday with victory in LMP2 at Donington Park in the penultimate round of the season. The books may go on to record what might appear as an easy and dominant performance, the RML MG Lola EX264 having taken the chequered flag some twelve laps clear of its nearest rival, but in truth this was a hard-fought and challenging six-hour race that was only decided in the closing minutes.

That RML had a fight on their hands became evident during Saturday qualifying. With an unbroken record of straight poles this year, Thomas Erdos laid claim to his fifth consecutive front-row start with his second flyer, and appeared comfortably clear of the rest of the LMP2 field. So much so that the team returned the MG to the garage to conserve the tyres for the race, only to see Stuart Moseley in the new Bruichladdich Radical ease ahead by two-tenths of a second in the closing minutes. There was time enough for one more flying lap, and Erdos made it count, finding the best part of another half second to clinch pole and retain his unbeaten record. It was, however, nip and tuck at the top, and the prospects for the race looked anything but certain.

From the rolling start, Erdos made the most of pole to establish an early class lead as the challenge from Moseley's Radical faded with a coolant leak. Half an hour into the race, however, and the Brazilian was coming under pressure from a charging Sam Hancock in the Binnie Motorsports Lola B05/42. The Briton made an impossible lunge as the two descended on the Fogarty's Esses, but Erdos was fortunate to see the late challenge in his mirrors and hang wide. This saved both cars from certain damage, but set the MG skittering across the gravel. Hancock was through, but within three laps it was evident that the RML MG had collected a slow puncture. Pitting for a change of tyres cost Erdos almost a full lap, but over the course of the next two hours he drove at a remarkable pace to regain all the lost ground, including the LMP2 lead.

Erdos ended his mammoth stint and handed over to Mike Newton just seconds before a blow-out, ironically for the Binnie Lola, brought out the safety car. It was cruel timing for Newton, but it gifted the Rollcentre Radical, pitting a lap later, a generous ninety-second lead. For almost two hours the gap waxed and waned as the two middle-stinting drivers traded times so much so that when Erdos regained control of the MG for the final 160 minutes, the margin stood unchanged at ninety seconds. Steadily, lap-by-lap, the gap narrowed. With forty-five minutes still to run it had fallen to seventy, but with both cars yet to complete their final pitstops the race was by no means over. Mathematically, Erdos could catch the Radical, now being driven by Rob Barff, but it was marginal.

With twenty minutes to go, disaster for Erdos as a vibration at the rear caused a wheelnut to work loose. He was forced to make another pitstop, just as Barff brought the Radical into the pitlane for its final scheduled stop. The RML pit crew leaped to their task, and had the MG back out again in moments, but not so the Radical. After five and a half hours, and with a lead extended by the MG's wheelnut problem, the Rollcentre car refused to restart. Try as they might, the engineers couldn't coax life back into the engine, and while they toiled Erdos swept by on the pit straight and into the lead.

With the next LMP2 runner a dozen laps in arrears, the pressure was off, and Erdos cruised to the chequered flag to secure a richly deserved win. "It was a great race; a fantastic race," enthused Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director for the team's principal sponsors, AD Holdings. "It was very close all the way. We seem to have had so much bad luck in the past, but today was when it all happened to everybody else." Ray Mallock, team principal, shared that viewpoint. "I'm very proud of the team once again," he said. "They worked superbly to secure this win. We didn't have a large amount of good luck today, but others had worse than we did. We offer our sympathies to Rollcentre, but it's nice to secure our first Le Mans Series victory of the year."

Phil Barker, team manager, had watched the drama unfold from the pit wall. "What an amazing finish, and what an eventful last twenty minutes. For once, everything fell our way," he said. "We were very unlucky to lose out under the safety car, and that made the rest of the race much more difficult for us. The puncture also meant that Tommy had to do two very long stints, but he rose to the challenge and drove a fantastic race." Ten points for the class win takes RML to the top of the championship table, with Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos now also sharing the individual race for the drivers' title. "We're delighted to have won," declared Newton. "It was a cruel twist of fate each way, but we'll enjoy this one, and it means we're well placed as we head towards the last round at Jarama."

That final race takes place on September 24th, and just three points separate RML, on 26, from the Barazi Epsilon squad in second place, with drivers Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos having the same advantage over Michael Vergers and Juan Barazi. Six further drivers from two other teams are also in with a shout, so there's everything still to race for in Spain.

Jarama 2006-09-24

Qualifying Times

Race Result

Race Report

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