LMES Rd 2 ~ Spa

Thursday 8th May 2009

Free Practice 1 (local time 4.30pm-6pm)

Great plans were afoot to concentrate on Dunlop tyre compounds and suspension ahead of Le Mans next month. But as so often is the case at Spa the weather had ideas of its own. The rain fell for much of the 90 minute session putting all plans on the back burner for another day. The track began to dry out for a few laps at the end of the session.


Saturday 9th May 2009

Free Practice 2 (local time 9.45am-10.45am)

The first thing you do at Spa – looked to the sky. For the second practice it was thankfully dry but very chilly. It did mean the team could squeeze in some of the planned work from the day before.

Qualifying (local time 1.30pm-1.50pm)

Rob was behind the wheel for qualifying but just as he exited the pit-lane the red flags were waved. A bit of drama followed. With the timing screens freezing and the television cameras not picking up on Rob the commentators, who like the rest of us were unaware what had caused the stoppage, pondered whether Rob in the #92 was in difficulty. Joining the press in the press room, Gimmi was just as perplexed – did Rob have a problem? The answer was far from it. Sensibly, Rob was cruising the tyres home (and Spa is a very scenic track!). So was it a dramatic return to the pitlane for Rob? “It couldn’t have been last dramatic” said the Geordie, unaware of the raft of speculation, “the moment I was on the track the red flags were out and I just wanted to bring the tyres back in the best condition possible”!

After a short break the pitlane reopened and it was a mad dash 14 minutes of qualifying. Rob put in a 2m23.145 to put in 4th spot. However, in post-qualifying scrutineering the Team Modena Ferrari was found to be underweight and dropped from their 3rd place effectively raising the JMW Motorsport to 3rd and fastest Ferrari. However, the team know there’s so much more in the car…

Chief Engineer, Steve Bunkhall remained optimistic however. “We did make some changes for the handling from the morning and actually they proved not to be in the right direction so we weren’t as quick as we should and can be! But we’re not worried as we know where the change needs to be made and that should be okay for tomorrow’s race. The Porsche are the ones to beat this weekend and I’d say Spa suits them more than us but we will look to take the race to them”.

Steve’s views were echoed by Rob “Porsche do have a large advantage here and we have a lot of work to do. We could have gone better in qualifying, but the changes we will put in place are obvious to us, there’s no mystery and we’ve learnt from today’s session. We’re heading into this race optimistic and I’m sure it’s going to be very entertaining race, plus who knows what the weather will throw at us – this is Spa!”.

Sunday 10th May 2009

Race (local time 12.50pm-6.50pm)

Starting from 3rd on the grid, Gimmi was at the wheel of JMW Ferrari but with a prototype car going off on the warm up lap it was literally just metres under the green flag until the safety car came out for the first of several appearences of the day. Gimmi put in a strong first stint and it was clear the JMW Ferrari was on impressive pace and able to keep within striking distance of the Porsches, which were more suited to the Spa circuit.

Handing over to Rob, he continued the good work but elsewhere on the track numberous prototype accidents were leading the track to become debris strewn. Safety car periods kept the concertina effect going in the field and with Rob putting in strong laps and up to 2nd.

The lead Felbermayr Porsche of Lietz and Lieb was one of the first cars to fall foul of the debris on track with a puncture. Now with the lead, Rob handed over to Gimmi who drove a 3rd stint as if his life depended on it! In a flying display, Gimmi was lapping his LMGT2 rivals and building an enviable lead which Rob eagerly ran with when he returned to the wheel.

A further safety car period all but ate that lead away but the JMW lap times remained impressive and the lead was solid. With Gimmi ready for the final stint of the race, and everyone holding their breath as the Porsches continued to battle hard to regain their advantage a tyre issue on the final handover put pay to their victory drive. Gimmi battled back to the pit and with the problem resolved was back out in 4th and on a charge.

With one hour left it was obvious the team would settle for no less than a podium. Soon up into 3rd, the last moments of the race were to be intterupted by the safety car after a huge crash for an LMP1 car. With just a handful final race laps under green Gimmi came to the chequered flag in 3rd for 4 vital points.

But then like every good action film there was a further surprise twist!

The winning car of Team Felbemayr was excluded from the result due to technical non-compliance. As such the JMW Motorsport was promoted to 2nd.

However, Team Felbermayr have appealed the decision and as such the results for the LMGT2 class will not be confirmed until after the decision of the Court.

We will keep you posted!

Gimmi Bruni "Our average lap times were very encouraging. We have certainly made a big step forward so I am happy. We did have an issue but we win as a team and when we don’t we are a team! We have a learned a lot about the car and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season".

Rob Bell "We’ve made a lot of progress since Spa and were essentially able to keep Porsche in our sights when we knew this was a circuit they could excel at. That increase in pace is certainly very encouraging ahead of Le Mans and the car felt good".

Update

The Team Felbermayr appeal was upheld and the stewards decision overturned, thereby reinstating their 1st place. As such JMW Motorsport have been confirmed with the 3rd place position.