|
by Peter Radcliffe and Rick Wilson
With scrutineering going to plan for most teams, there were just a handful of minor issues to be sorted out. The Morgan spent what seemed an eternity in the main tent, but any disagreements were soon smoothed out. This kept the pair of PK Porsches waiting for some time, but good spirits in the team seemed to be to the fore and nobody seemed to mind. First cars down the Mulsanne on a chilly Sunday morning, were the four Audis, line astern. Quickly getting into a rhythm and setting the early pace. Leading the times after 4 hours (end of the morning session) were the three works Audis in number order. The sole LMGTP, the Bentley, was a respectable 7th overall. MG more than put the woes of last year's test day behind them, with an incredible display of speed and seemingly reliability too; the two works cars were setting a frantic pace, with the KnightHawk example following on, but still a good gap to the ROC Reynards. In LMGTS, the gorgeous Prodrive Ferrari set a stunning 3:52, way ahead of anything the Vipers, Corvettes and weight-penalised Saleens could offer and in LMGT, the Racers Group Porsche #81 was quickest, followed closely by the leading PK entry. The afternoon session continued where the morning session left off weather-wise, as the day continued cold but the rain held off despite some dark clouds. The wind was quite brisk, which moved cloud cover around fast and meant very changeable light conditions; a photographer's nightmare! The first hour ended with the few improvements in times other than the MG works cars which were now both down to the 3:40 region and lapping with much improved regularity. All three MG had had broken "cricket bats" stays bracing the engine according to Steve Knight and they had also had some problems with the rear Avon tyres this team uses. The car was porpoising at around just under 300 km/h, possibly due to the tyres. The excitement started in the sixth hour when Julian Bailey jumped to 5th in the times with a stunning 3.33.645 lap and the other MG was up to ninth about three seconds behind. We were at last seeing the potential of a real 675. The #12 Panoz had also moved up the list and was now seventh in front of the Lammers Dome and the Bentley. The real surprise happened in the seventh hour when Stephane Sarrazin displaced not just one Audi but all three from the top of the time sheets. Bentley too improved to displace the #27 MG but the MG works cars were still sixth and eighth. The Dallara remained at the head of the times for exactly an hour before Johnny Herbert in Audi #2 improved the top time by just one tenth of a second. Twenty minutes later Dindo Capello improved by a further two seconds with the fastest time of the day 3.30.296. The session ended with Sarrazin's time from earlier good enough to retain second in front of the other two works Audis. Mark Blundell however was not yet finished and the #27 MG ended the session fifth, Wallace sixth and Lammers up to seventh. The best Courage was the works car in 10th, best Cadillac was a lowly 16th behind the Ascari which did not improve on its morning time. MG ended the day with the top 3 times in 675, last years class winning ROC Reynard four seconds behind the private KnightHawk MG. Another non improver from morning times was the Prodrive Ferrari 550 but it was still three seconds clear of the Larbre Viper and four ahead of the best Corvette. The Racers Group Porsche GT3 was top of GT times Followed By the PK Sport and the #70 JMB Ferrari, The awesome sounding (and looking, depending on personal preference; there seems to be no middle ground on this one!) Spyker was sixth in class with the Morgan at the bottom of the time sheet after engine problems restricted the team to just 11 laps, but this car is not the car that they will have for race week. |
