LMP1 CONSTRUCTORS TITLE WRAPPED UP FOR LOLA

Lola sports cars once again set the pace and took the results at the Nürburgring in Germany yesterday during the penultimate round of the 2009 Le Mans Series. Aston Martin Racing took a clean sweep of the LMP1 podium with their Lola designed and built sports cars. Topping off the successful weekend was the news that Lola have won the LMP1 Constructors title with one race still yet to run.

Stefan Mucke, Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge dominated the 1000kms event to take a healthy lead in the 2009 title race. Their win yesterday at the challenging track in the Eiffel mountains ensures that they go in to the final round of the series at Silverstone with a seven point cushion over Pescarolo Sport drivers JC Boullion and Christophe Tinseau.

“It is definitely a great result to win my home race here in Germany,” commented Stefan Mucke after the race. “The team did a good job and we really had no problems in the whole race. Even at the end the car was perfect.”

Joining the #007 Lola Aston Martin on the podium were the #009 and #008 sister Lola Aston Martin B09/60’s respectively. Darren Turner and Harald Primat drove a solid race and led at stages during the pit stops. The third Lola Aston Martin of Stuart Hall, Miguel Ramos and Chris Buncombe celebrated third place after a tenacious race. Especially impressive was Buncombe, who apart from a short test the previous week at MIRA had no experience of LMP1 machinery prior to this race.

This 1-2-3 result is the first time in the Le Mans Series history that three cars from the same constructor have locked out the podium. It follows on from the first round at Barcelona in April when Lola became the first constructor to win both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes in the same race.

The Speedy Racing Team Sebah squad once again showed fantastic pace at Nürburgring throughout the weekend. The LMP1 Lola of Andrea Belicchi, Nicolas Prost and Marcel Fassler qualified third for the race with Fassler confirming his excellent knowledge of the track after years of competing on the 2.8 mile circuit.

In the race, Belicchi and then Prost held third place during the first two and a half hours, catching the second placed Lola Aston Martin driven by Swiss racer Harald Primat. Sadly for the team an electrical problem in the third hour lost the car valuable time but excellent work by the Anglo/Swiss team ensured a 7th placed finish in the LMP1 class and three more championship points.

The LMP2 class saw another podium position for Lola with the Racing Box trio of Filippo Francioni, Giacomo Piccini and Andrea Ceccato finishing in second place. This Lola-Judd B09/80 scored its third podium of the year and puts them still with a chance of wresting the LMP2 drivers title from the Quifel-ASM drivers, as they are still nine points behind.

The sister Racing Box Lola Judd of Thomas Biagi, Andrea Piccini and Matteo Bobbi scored a point for 6th position in the LMP2 class. A double podium for the new to LMP racing team looked very likely going in to the final half an hour of the race but a loose wheel and some accident damage to the rear of the Lola necessitated a bodywork change and lengthy repairs.

The Speedy Sebah LMP2 Lola-Judd battled hard in the early stages of the race with Jonny Kane fighting hard through the field after being forced to start from the rear of the grid. His team mate Xavier Pompidou suffered an accident in qualifying and the fact the team had to change tyres for the start of the race meant they had to take a penalty.

After Kane had driven brilliantly to get the #33 Lola back in to contention, Benjamin Leuenberger took over the driving duties. However, a broken water hose clip meant a lengthy pit stop. Xavier Pompidou then completed the race and took the chequered flag in 7th place, just outside the points.

RML once again showed podium position pace at the Nürburgring with Tommy Erdos running a comfortable 2nd during the first hour. Just in to the second hour the Mazda (AER) powered Lola LMP2 car stopped in the pits and was forced to retire with an engine related problem. The team now head to their home race at Silverstone intent on at least fulfilling the promise of the car and the hard work of the RML squad.

The final race on the 2009 Le Mans Series schedule takes place over the weekend of 12-13 September at the Autosport Silverstone 1000kms.

All pictures courtesy of John Brooks.

It's a Lola Aston Martin 1-2-3 at the start of the Nürburgring 1000Kms.



The winning 007 car led from the start and dominated the race.



A very unlucky race for the RML LMP2 car when it was forced to retire when in second in class.



Both Racing Box cars were very competitive in LMP2, this is the sixth in class car of Thomas Biagi, Andrea Piccini and Matteo Bobbi.



The Speedy Racing Team Sebah LMP1 car of Andrea Belicchi, Nicolas Prost and Marcel Fassler were very unlucky not to finish on the podium.



The 008 Lola Aston Martin of Stuart Hall, Miguel Ramos and Chris Buncombe finished third.



Another shot of the RML Lola Mazda of Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton.