The Grid.co.uk    the national & club motor racing website - est1998          

  ^News

mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk

LE MANS SERIES – 1000 KM OF SILVERSTONE – RACE REPORT

An almost perfect weekend !

The weather was mild all weekend long in England for the last round of the 2009 Le Mans Series at Silverstone, and even though clouds appeared in the sky on Sunday morning, they didn’t prevent SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH from standing on the podium with both of their cars.

The first free practice session started smoothly for the #13 Lola-Aston Martin LMP1, driven by Andrea Belicchi, Marcel Fässler and Nicolas Prost, even though a broken damper interrupted their set-up work schedule. After the team quickly changed the faulty part, the beautiful British car was soon back on track to find the best race setup. Andrea Belicchi set the fourth fastest time in qualifying, which demonstrated that

SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH worked in the right way for the race. Moreover, the crew posted the second fastest lap during the warm-up, and confirmed the car’s potential.

Andrea Belicchi had a good start to the race and fought for the lead with two of the works Lola-Aston Martins, as well as the pole-sitting Oreca car. These four cars took turns in the lead one after the other, depending on the pit-stops. Nicolas Prost then took over in the #13 and drove a faultless double-stint. He took the lead when he boldly passed the #007 Lola-Aston Martin into Stowe Corner. Emerging from the

pitlane in fourth place after a pit-stop to hand over to Marcel Fässler, it was not long before the #13 car was back in the lead of the race. Marcel consolidated the lead with his fast pace, but unfortunately the team were instructed by the race officials to make an unscheduled pit-stop to replace a damaged bodywork louver a few laps before crossing the finish line. Despite a short pit-stop to carry out the repair, the car finished second, whereas a great victory had been within reach.

Andrea Belicchi: “We could finish the race and we would have won it without this small problem. We have been fast all along the season. Second place is a good result, and I am happy.”

Marcel Fässler: “I am disappointed because I think that we could have won this race, but second place is still a good result. We demonstrated that, had the car been reliable, we would have clinched a good result at each race. I would have settled for second place at the beginning of the weekend, but as a race driver, I always want more! Especially because the victory was so close.”

Nicolas Prost: “We had a great race with a strong performance from all the drivers and we lose the race because of a technicality. This is life, but it is hard to swallow at the moment. The car and the Michelin tires were great, as well as our strategy. We did better than we were expecting because our pace during the free practice and qualifying sessions has not been good. We were there at the end.”

Nice and steady wins the race! That could be the motto of the team’s #33 Lola-Judd LMP2,(pictured above) which ran trouble free during the three-day race meeting. Through free practice, Jonny Kane, Benjamin Leuenberger and Xavier Pompidou worked steadily towards finding the best set-up for the race and didn’t try to chase one-off laptime glory despite the great potential of the car.

Jonny Kane put in a stunning lap in qualifying to take second place on the starting grid. It was an ideal position from which to try to clinch a well-deserved victory for the whole SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH.

Jonny kept his position at the start of the race and he widened the gap little by little between himself and his closest rival behind. The British driver took the lead of the LMP2 class after 32 laps and continued to lead until the end of his second stint. Benjamin Leuenberger then got into the Lola-Judd and by being fast and consistent, he kept the lead throughout his two stints. Taking over for the final part of the race, Xavier Pompidou only had to stoke the car home to the chequered flag and take a long awaited and well-deserved victory.

The #33 Lola-Judd also won the Michelin Green X Challenge at Silverstone. With two wins and two second places in the Michelin Green X classification throughout the season, the #33 Lola-Judd managed a huge 36-point lead over its closest rival. It was the icing on the cake for the #33 car, which could not have put a better end to the season.

Jonny Kane: “I am delighted with the result of the race. The car was good, as were the Michelin tires, so we could double-stint easily. We should have won the first race at Barcelona and the previous one at Nürburgring. It’s great that we’ve finally won a race now, thanks to a fantastic team and drivers’ effort.”

Benjamin Leuenberger: “This is a good result for Speedy Racing Team Sebah today. We had a highly competitive car and tires which were still consistent at the end of the second stint. I think that it has been the key to success and I am very happy.” Xavier Pompidou: “I am very happy with this team result. We have demonstrated our potential since the beginning of the season but we could not capitalise on it. I had two flawless stints and we were able to run with a more conservative pace from midrace.”

Bart Hayden, Team-manager: “It finally happened! We have tried so hard to win throughout the season but we have been struck by bad luck a number of times. It is fantastic to win today with the LMP2 car and to finish second with the LMP1 car. This is an almost perfect weekend, which rewards a true team effort.”

Photos : © SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH / V-IMAGES
 

SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH, SECOND AT LE MANS 24 HOURS ! 

The Swiss team achieved a superb result by finishing second in the LMP2 class in only their second attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

After a solid race, the team’s Lola #33 supported by REBELLION and LEMO finished just behind the works assisted Porsche #31 of Danish Team Essex. 

Jonny Kane, Benjamin Leuenberger and Xavier Pompidou drove faultlessly to obtain this result in a race made difficult by the heat and the many interventions of the safety car. 

Jonny KANE: “It is fantastic!  It is the first time that I’ve finished the 24 Hours and it‘s in second position. I took great pleasure at the wheel, it hasn’t hit home yet that we’ve achieved such a great result!  The team managed to keep the car running, even when we encountered a few minor problems and they called the rights shots with the strategy. 

Benjamin LEUENBERGER: “It is a great emotion for me, it was fantastic to stand on the podium in front of such a big crowd. It is like a dream which becomes reality. It was my birthday Thursday, so this second place is very a nice gift! Thank you to all the team who’ve done a remarkable job all week.” 

Xavier POMPIDOU: “Enormous! It is really an enormous thrill for me to stand on Le Mans 24 Hour podium for the second time, eleven years after my first time (2nd LMP1 in 1998).  SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH is young in prototype and now is part of Le Mans legend, it is a great reward for the people and the partners who support this programme.  

The other car of SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH, number 13, LMP1 Lola - Aston Martin also finished the race after being delayed at twenty-two hours into the race by a gear box failure.

The Lola driven by Andréa Belicchi, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost was heading for a very good result while fighting with Team Kolles Audi for 6th place in the general classification after 21 hours of the race and 3rd of the “petrol” prototypes.  After managing to replace the faulty gearbox components, the car re-entered the race and crossed the line in fourteenth position. 

Andréa BELICCHI: “the gearbox locked in 4th gear and I could not change ratio any more. I managed to bring the car back to the pits and the team carried out a repair which kept us in the race. It is disappointing to see a good performance disappearing like this, but that’s racing. Even so, it’s a great achievement to make it to the finish.” 

Neel JANI: “It was my first time at Le Mans and I must say that I am captivated by it. I am used to racing against competitors alone in my single-seater, but here the challenge is also towards ourself to deliver the right pace, with teamates. I would like to be back the next year and why not to aim at the victory if we can fight the diesel with better regulations.” 

Nicolas PROST: “It is disappointing to lose a good result so close to the goal, but we showed that we are on the pace of the best private teams such as Pescarolo or Oreca. We will continue to work hard and improve to be in front of the next time.” 

With one second place in LMP2 and the two cars making it to the chequered flag, SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH came away from the race happy with their results in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours.

1000 KM OF CATALUNYA  - RACE REPORT

The 2009 Le Mans Series season opening 1000 km of Catalunya race on the Barcelona circuit saw both LMP1 and LMP2 Lola coupes of SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH taking the chequered flag, but after a frustrating race. 

The #13 LMP1 Lola Aston Martin had a brilliant start with Andrea Belicchi at the wheel, jumping from fifth place on the grid to second place at the first corner. After 1h30 of the race the team showed their strategy skills during the two safety car periods bringing the car into the leading position.

With only 90 minutes remaining in the race, all the hopes of the team were shattered with an alarm on the engine water temperature.Two long stops were necessary to fix the failure that ruined their race result.

The team managed to get the car to finish the race in seventh place with two points in the championship as a small reward for the work they put in over the weekend. 

Andrea Belicchi “ I had a really good start and then I was able to fight in front of the race, the car was good and consistent during the stints. We have the right car to lead race, so now we want to win them !” 

Nicolas Prost “The traffic is sometimes not easy to handle, but I became more and more confident. Without the technical problem we would have finished on the podium, we passed Bruno Senna and just after that we had the water temp alarm.I hope that Aston Martin will find the origin of the failure we had to prevent any other water cooling system problem.” 

Marcel Fassler “When we had the alarm with the water temperature, I thought the race was over when the car was pushed back into the garage and my engineer ask me to get out, but the team did not want to give up so easily. We lost a lot of time, they fixed the problem and we went back on to the track to take the chequered flag and score two points.  

In LMP2, the team’s race was nearly ended when #33 Lola – Judd driver Jonny Kane came for his first pit stop. Suddenly the car lost all electrical power and a quick change of battery did not solve the problem. After a long time in the garage to replace the master switch, the car was sent back to the track for a nearly impossible recovery.

Xavier Pompidou and Jonny Kane both put in really strong stints and recovered position after position to catch the seventh place at the finish line. 

Jonny Kane: “ we showed a very good pace during the race, we had all we needed to win the race but a little luck. That’s the way motorsport goes and it’s not always fair. We salvaged two points, they could make the difference at the end of the season.” 

Xavier Pompidou : “ a very frustrating race, all started well then this problem came without any notice. After the electrical fault was fixed we were the fastest LMP2 on the track, which is good for the next races. Nothing is final for the championship, were are ready to fight for a full recovery in the classification.”