Catching Up With Michael Meadows

Double Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Michael Meadows is targeting a future in international GT racing following a toe-in-the-water foray into the European Le Mans Series and the Spa 24 Hours.  Although the 26 year-old didn’t have the results to show for it – an unspectacular 12^th in class at the Red Bull Ring driving the ageing Gulf Racing UK Porsche preceding a difficult Spa, where gearbox woes thwarted a promising run for the Leonard Motorsport Aston Martin – Meadows emerged encouraged from the experience and is eager to return in 2015.

Meadows thoroughly enjoyed his first experience of 24 hour endurance
racing in the Leonard Motorsport Aston Martin. (Credit: Brecht Decancq)

“It was a great experience, not just the race but the whole event was so exciting and I’d absolutely love to do it again. I have to thank Aston Martin Racing and particularly Leonard Motorsport for giving me the opportunity to go out there with them and show what I can do,” Meadows said afterwards. 

“It’s definitely something I’ve got my eye on in future, the aim is to go back and try and win it one day. I want to do all the big races and the biggest championships that I can; I did the Le Mans support race this year and now I want to go on and do the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

Austria: A Learning Experience

Porsches have struggled all year against the all-conquering Ferraris in the ELMS and Meadows was under no illusions that the Austria weekend would be focused more on gaining useful experience and trying to match team-mate Adam Carroll, rather than the outright result.

“The main thing [to get used to] was the championship itself – the driver changes and the LMP cars going past you – rather than the car,” he said. “I’ve always been in one-make series and been at the front of whatever I’m doing, so that was interesting. It wasn’t too extreme at the deep end because it’s quite similar to the Carrera Cup car, a little bit more power and more grip perhaps, but essentially it handles in a pretty similar way.

“That particular car is a 2011 chassis RSR, so it’s lagging behind a bit in terms of development compared to the Ferraris and the Aston. We knew that going into the race we weren't challenging for victory, we were just trying to get some experience of the championship and get close to Adam Carroll. The pace was very similar between the two of us, so I was happy about that.”

The race-winning Signatech Alpine chases Meadows in the Porsche. (Credit: ELMS Media)

Despite the very evident differences between the GTE Porsche and GT3 Aston Martin, Meadows found the four hours of the Red Bull Ring a helpful precursor to the Belgian twice-around-the-clock classic.

“The longest stint I’d done in a car before the ELMS race was an hour in British GT in 2008 – not that fitness was going to be a problem – but it was just preparing yourself for it, hydrating and that sort of thing," he said. "In the ELMS race as the silver driver I got just over two hours running, which was good preparation as I was obviously going to be in the car a lot at Spa, and things like driver changes, the fact that you are waiting around a lot for your turn, setting the car up for three or even four drivers rather than just yourself. It definitely made Spa that bit easier.”

Spa: A Question of Survival

The 2014 running of the Spa 24 will long be remembered for the spate of terrifying accidents which littered the opening phase of the race, with red flags required to allow for Gentleman Trophy competitor Marcus Mahy’s extraction by helicopter following crashes that had already seen Tim Mullen and Andrew Howard admitted to hospital.

It was hardly the ideal introduction for a rookie in his first 24 hour race, but when the time came for Meadows' first stint the frenzy had thankfully settled down somewhat.

The early stages of the Spa 24 Hours saw several huge accidents, although it was
gearbox dramas which would account for the Leonard Aston. (Credit: Stefan Deck)

“I got in around midnight and by that time the race had been restarted after the red flags and everyone had calmed down a bit.” he said. “The first few hours were crazy, lots of mistakes came after the safety car from guys not taking account of cold tyres and full tanks of fuel, they just needed to calm down a bit and I think the red flags allowed the teams to give the drivers a bit more advice. When all the carnage was going off I was happy to be in the pit garage looking at the monitors; it gave me a chance to take it all in and learn before I got in the car and did my stuff. Watching it from the outside, I thought ‘what have I let myself in for here?’ I felt sorry for the guys in the cars during the red flags who got stuck out on track for an hour or so.”

After a productive night shift, a top ten finish in Pro-Am was on the cards, despite a tangle with Harold Primat’s HTP Mercedes at the Bus Stop that necessitated a brief stay in the pits, before gearbox problems struck with just two hours remaining. An eventual 37th overall was scant reward for their efforts.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get the result, but there’s not much we can do about it - it’s just bad luck at the end of the day,” he added. “I’m not sure the BOP was suited to the Aston that much, we were getting beaten by almost everyone else on the straights, but I loved it, it was great fun. I think I set the fastest lap for our car in the race so I was happy about that.”

Carrera Cup Return

Meadows' next goal is to seal his third Carrera Cup GB crown. (Credit: Porsche)

After sampling the Red Bull Ring and Spa Francorchamps, this weekend Meadows returns to his regular mount in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Snetterton with the aim of closing the nine-point gap to main rival Josh Webster, an unprecedented third consecutive title within sight.

“The third title is obviously the main aim and it’s by no means over," he said. "Being in the Carrera Cup has obviously been very good for my career, it’s given me the platform to show that I’m fast and I can win and be consistent and all those sorts of things. No-one has done three back-to-back before and that’s exactly what I want to do; it would be a great reward for myself and the team to repay the faith that all those people have shown in me.”

Spa 24 Preview: Runners and Riders

There’s always something magical about a 24 Hour race and this weekend’s Spa 24 promises not to disappoint. The bumper 60 car entry for the fourth round of the Blancpain Endurance Series features representation from 11 manufacturers, with drivers from as far afield as Australia and Oman, including a few Le Mans, Nurburgring and Bathurst winners to boot, a combination that is sure to make for captivating viewing around the legendary 4.3 mile Belgian circuit. James Newbold takes a look at the ones to watch.

Pro Cup

Treluyer, Lotterer and Fassler could become the first trio in history to win
Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours in the same year. (Credit: FIA WEC)

It simply wouldn’t be an endurance race without an Audi heading the billing and the Spa 24 Hours is no exception, with three entries from 2011 winners Belgian Audi Club WRT. Nurburgring 24 Hour winners Rene Rast and Markus Winklehock, co-driven by Belgium’s own Blancpain Sprint Series champion Laurens Vanthoor, will carry the number one on their door and on paper stand an excellent chance of delivering Audi their third 24 Hour title of the year. 

But despite having less experience of the R8 LMS than their team-mates, you wouldn’t bet against the formidable partnership of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler becoming the first trio in history to hold the Le Mans and Spa crowns simultaneously (Luigi Chinetti in 1949 and Romain Dumas in 2010 are the only drivers to achieve this feat so far) in their first race together since clinching their third win at La Sarthe in June. Full-season trio James Nash, Franck Stippler and Christopher Mies complete WRT’s lineup.

Further Audis are entered by Sainteloc Racing – who currently sit third in the Blancpain standings – for Stephane Ortelli, Gregory Guilvert and Edward Sandstrom, fresh from an eye-opening run in the World Rallycross Championship in Mettet, while Czech single-seater team ISR make their first foray into GTs with Marc Basseng joining Filipe Salaquarda and Fabian Hamprecht. The Audi teams will all be hoping for a performance break after struggling badly on the Mistral Straight at Paul Ricard, with the Sainteloc crew the best-placed of the R8s down in fifth.

Spa marks the first 24 hour race for the Bentley Continental, which has won
twice already this season. (Credit: Brecht Decancq Photography)

Bentley are very much the in-form team heading to Spa after two consecutive wins at Silverstone and Paul Ricard that see Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane atop the Pro Cup standings. The new Continental GT3 is an unknown quantity over twenty four hours, but should certainly be in contention for as long as it remains reliable. The sister car of ex-F1 racer Jerome d'Ambrosio, Antoine Leclerc and Duncan Tappy has yet to hit the same heights, but without the bad luck that has dogged them throughout the season they have the pace to challenge.

The British team’s closest rivals this year have been the ART McLarens, often the class of the field over a single lap in the hands of Alvaro Parente. The Portuguese, who won at Monza with regular team-mate Gregoire Demoustier, will again be joined by Toyota WEC racer Nicolas Lapierre, the Frenchman eager to resume his rivalry with the Audis, while Kevin Korjus, Kevin Estre and Andy Soucek will look to get their title challenge back on track after a scoreless weekend at Ricard.

Von Ryan Racing have also entered an MP4-12C in the Pro Cup, with Kiwi V8 Supercar ace Shane van Gisbergen looking to recapture the electrifying pace shown at the Bathurst 12 Hours alongside experienced team-mates Tim Mullen and Rob Bell.

Mercedes won the 24 Hours in 2013 with Schneider, Gotz and Buhk (Credit: Eric Fabre)

It’s been a relatively quiet season so far by the lofty standards of HTP Motorsport, but the 2013 Spa winners have assembled a strong three-car team of Mercedes SLS AMGs to tackle the 24 Hours.  Bernd Schneider, who turned 50 this week, moves across to partner Harold Primat and Nico Verdonck, while Malaysian single-seater racer Jazeman Jaafar slots in alongside Blancpain Sprint Series championship leaders Maximillian Buhk and Maxi Gotz. A further change sees Xavier Maassen replace Lucas Wolf alongside Stef Dusseldorp and Sergey Afanasiev. Mercedes are also represented by Black Flacon Racing, who could be a dark horse to look out for with Adam Christodoulou, Yelmer Buurman and Mike Parisy poised to drive.

The Marc VDS BMW team also have a very strong entry in the Pro class as they attempt to make up for a disappointing Nurburgring 24 where both cars failed to finish. DTM racers Maxime Martin and Augusto Farfus will partner Jorg Muller, with Markus Palttala, Dirk Werner and Lucas Luhr, who replaces team principle Bas Leinders, sharing the second car.

The Motorbase-run Oman Racing team is the sole Aston Martin in the class, but Silverstone 300 winners Ahmed al-Harthy and Michael Caine will look to spring a surprise after finishing on the podium in British GT two weeks ago. They will be joined by touring car racer Stephen Jelley.

Pro-Am

Many of the fiercest battles in this year’s race will come from the Pro-Am category, as three factory-supported Aston Martins do battle with a cluster of strong lineups from Ferrari, Nissan and BMW.

ROAL Motorsport took victory at Monza and splashed to a
 third place finish at Silverstone. (Credit: Brecht Decancq)

The Maranello’s hopes will be pinned on all-Italian trio Andrea Rizzoli, Stefano Gai and Francesco Castelacci, who currently lead the Pro-Am standings for the Scuderia Villorba Corse team courtesy of two second places at Imola and Paul Ricard.  They enjoy a slim five point advantage over ROAL Motorsport pair Stefano Comandini and Eugenio Amos, who are joined at Spa by Michela Cerruti and Stefano Colombo.

Fellow BMW outfit TDS Racing took maximum points last time out as Nick Catsburg and Henry Hassid finished a remarkable sixth overall. Their lineup is bolstered by the addition of Pierre Thiriet and Jens Klingman, with Olivier Pla, Nicolas Armindo, Benjamin Lariche and Eric Clement set to pilot the other car, while Ecurie Ecosse call on the services of British ace Alexander Sims, although much will depend on whether Oliver Bryant, Andrew Smith and Alasdair McGraig can keep the Z4 in contention.

Of AF Corse's four-car entry in Pro-Am, the formidable Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron combination which took victory at the Red Bull Ring last weekend looks the pick of the bunch with Alex Mortimer alongside, while Marco Cioci and Andrea Bertolini - the undisputed one lap king of the ELMS - may struggle to remain in contention with bronze-rated Belgian pair Louis Machiels and Niek Hommerson in the team.  

Lowndes fended off Buhk in a dramatic finish to the Bathurst 12 Hour. (Credit: Craig Lowndes)

But of course, all eyes will be firmly fixed on V8 Supercar legend Craig Lowndes as the 39 year-old returns to Spa for the first time since his lone season in Formula 3000 in 1997. The three-time series champion and five-times winner of the Bathurst 1000 has enjoyed great success in his recent forays into sportscars and took a memorable win for Maranello Motorsport in the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year despite relentless pressure from Buhk. And in Andrea Piccini, Michele Rugolo and Steve Wyatt, Lowndes has a team around him capable of making his return a memorable one.

Australia also has another entry to cheer in Pro-Am, with Roger Lago’s Lamborghini LP600 also making the trip from down under. Alongside owner-driver Lagos, Lowndes’ V8 Supercar enduro partner Steven Richards, a three times Bathurst 1000 winner in his own right, Steve Owen and David Russell complete a strong lineup.

Among the Aston Martin ranks, British GT champions Beechdean Motorsport welcome back Stefan Mucke, who qualified the car on pole last year. The German joins Jonny Adam, whose extensive knowledge of the Vantage has helped team owner Andrew Howard progress no end, while 22 year-old Daniel Lloyd will be making his 24 hour debut on only his second outing in the Aston Martin.

Stefan Mucke took outright pole last season in the Beechdean
Aston Martin. Will he do the same again? (Credit: Eric Fabre)

Mucke's regular WEC team-mate Darren Turner joins up with MP Motorsport, whose regular trio Richard Abra, Mark Poole and Joe Osborne will look to add to their Silverstone podium to keep up the Pro-Am championship hunt, while sister AMR outfit Leonard Motorsport welcome Pedro Lamy and double Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Michael Meadows alongside Paul Wilson and Stuart Leonard.

Don’t rule out the RJN GT Academy Nissans either. Wolfgang Reip helped Sir Chris Hoy to a debut podium at Spa in British GT two weeks ago and joins the burgeoning lineup of Alex Buncombe, Nick McMillen and Florian Strauss who lie third in the standings. Fresh from a fourth place finish alongside Luciano Bacheta in the ELMS last weekend, Mark Shulzhitskiy – who excelled in the Oak Ligier on his prototype debut at Le Mans of all places – is joined by Katsumasa Chiyo, Masataka Yanagida and Miguel Faisca in a second entry.

Of the rest, former GP2 champion Giorgio Pantano moves to join Fredric Vervsich, Karim Ojjeh and Olivier Grotz in a Boutsen Ginion McLaren, PGF-Kinfaun agreed a late deal to run their British GT rivals Paul White and Tom Onslow-Cole alongside team regulars John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh, and demon qualifier Franck Perera – who took outright pole at Silverstone – will attempt to show the manufacturers what they’re missing in the Pro GT by Almeras Porsche with Marco Bonanomi, Eric Dermont and Lucas Lasserre alongside.

Korjus Looking Forward To 24 Hour Debut

Kevin Korjus is looking forward to starting his first 24 hour race as the no. 99 ART McLaren crew look to bounce back from a non-score last time out at Paul Ricard.

Having made the switch from single-seaters over the off-season, the Estonian has combined outings in the European Le Mans Series and the Blancpain Endurance Series in a bid to gain more seat time in GT3 machinery. Despite not troubling the GTC leaders in the ELMS with BOP pitched heavily in favour of the Ferraris, ART have been right at the thick of the action in Blancpain, Alvaro Parente in particular enjoying a standout season in the Pro category. For his part, Korjus is pleased with his rate of progress and content to be close to the McLaren factory driver’s pace.

Korjus has impressed in his first season of sportscars and is set
 to make his 24 Hour debut at Spa. Credit: (Marc Da Mattia)

“I’m really enjoying it so far, I’m not looking to go back to single-seaters,” Korjus said while on ELMS duty at the Red Bull Ring. “They are a bit different because at Spa we will have three professionals and here we have a gold, silver and bronze driver, so basically I have to be the quickest!

“I don’t think we’re too far away [in Blancpain], everyone has quite a similar pace,” he continued. “Last time in Q3, Kevin Estre had an engine blow up so he didn’t do a lap, at Silverstone I did my first qualifying it was my first set of new Pirelli tyres ever so I didn’t take the maximum out of it, but I was still sixth and Alvaro was second which is not so bad. Alvaro has always been there, so he has done an incredible job, but I think we’ve been a bit unlucky!”

Korjus currently sits fourth in points with team-mates Kevin Estre and Andy Soucek. After finishing third at Monza and second at Silverstone, Korjus believes the pace was there to fight for the win at Paul Ricard before bad luck hit.

Korjus took a maiden sportscar podium at Monza and also
tasted the champagne at Silverstone. (Credit: Brecht Decancq)

“First of all the engine blew up in qualifying so we had to change it and started from last. Kevin Estre made the start and one of the gentleman drivers hit him big time up the rear, so we had a puncture and lost the brakes. It was quite a lot of damage, so we lost a lot of points.”

With 24 hour races renowned for their attritional nature and the championship-leading Bentley untested over such a distance, Korjus knows that a good finish at Spa could prove decisive in closing the gap on their title rivals and is looking forward to the challenge.

“Last year, the guys only did 7 laps in the race, so hopefully we can finish this year!” he said. “Even from the beginning of the season we have improved the car quite a bit and it’s almost better every race. This is the most professional team I’ve ever been in, we’ve always the best McLaren and we can’t have any complaints.”

Spa 24 Preview: Inside Line with Joe Osborne

Joe Osborne gives James Newbold the lowdown on his preparations for the Spa 24 Hours, MP Motorsport’s rivalry with fellow British GT team Beechdean Motorsport and the Balance of Performance issue.

The Aston Martin and the BMW are completely different, they have different strengths they use to make up the laptime. The BMW doesn’t have as much power, but it has a great chassis and a lot of downforce it can use to get its time from corner-speed, whereas the Aston is a little bit rawer, but it has loads of power to make it up down the straights. Being in the BMW don’t help when I’m in the Aston Martin the week after, but it doesn’t hinder either, so there will be a few positives I can take away I’m sure. We know what the positives of the car and we know the weaknesses of it, so it does give you a chance to exploit it and muscle round it as best you can, but it doesn’t help as much as you would imagine.

Osborne heads to Spa hoping to close the gap on Pro-Am 

championship leaders Scuderia Villorba Corse. (Credit: Gary Parravani)

The test went really well. It was the first time we had Darren Turner in the car and it’s great to have a guy of his calibre there. It was my first time driving with him and the wealth of knowledge and experience he brings is just going to make the whole team, drivers, mechanics, engineers, everybody up their game. And that’s exactly what you need for a big blue-ribband event like the Spa 24 Hours; you can’t have any part of the team being a weak link. When you have 60-odd cars all in the same GT3 spec you’ve really got to be on the top of your game in order to get a half-decent result, which we obviously need to keep the championship hunt alive.

We’re just lobbying for a bit more straightline speed, but we’re not going to be the ones claiming that we’re the worst car out there. I think we’re right in the middle of the BOP, I don’t think we’ve got the best car but we haven’t got the worst car either. It’s just the lack of straight line speed makes it tough to pass, so we’d be happy to trade off some extra straight line speed for a bit more weight that would mean we’d lose a bit of performance round the corners. But I don’t think we’re a million miles away. Probably the Bentley and the Nissan are the strongest, they’ve got very good chassis anyway, even though they’re big cars. By the time you’ve got that turbo power down the straights, those things are absolutely flying past us. On one lap at Ricard [Alex] Buncombe took around ten lengths out of me up the straight, so it’s tough to keep pace. The BOP is close, but it could always be closer. I’d expect the Audis to get a break, the Bentleys and the Nissans to get a hit and then I think everyone will be pretty happy.

Osborne is looking forward to reprising the battle with British GT
 adversaries Beechdean Motorsport. (Credit: Gary Parravani)

It should be a good fight between us and Beechdean in Pro-Am, on paper you couldn’t really pick between the two teams. I’m not going to be the one that lies and says there’s not a bit of inter-team rivalry there! The cars are prepped in the same workshop by AMR and Prodrive, even down to the mechanics looking over them in the week before, so there’s going to be lots of friendly hostility. In terms of the driver line ups, they probably couldn’t be much closer either. The gents Andrew Howard and Mark Poole are very similar, but I’d probably say Mark’s got the upper hand over a longer stint because he’s got that fitness over Andrew; Me and Dan Lloyd are pretty similar, not full time in the Aston Martin but seem to do alright; then you’ve got Richard Abra versus Jonny Adam which is going to be an interesting fight, both works drivers on their junior scheme and then [Stefan] Mucke versus Turner is going to be another pretty tasty battle. I don’t think you can call it to be honest!

Because it is so close, I don’t think there’s a lot you can personally do. You need the rub of the green to make sure you’re not involved in any stupid accidents that can rule you out of the race. It’s the old cliché that you can only do things wrong in a 24 hour race and that to finish first, first you must finish, but I really do think it’s true. With the number of cars that are all doing the same sort of speed, it’s not going to be easy to overtake. In the Aston we’re going to struggle to get past the gent Ferraris and the amateurs in the Nissans, or even the Mercedes because their straight-line speed is so strong. We’ve had the rights act read to us by our engineer Dave Wilcox to make sure the car is back in one piece after every stint, then you can take a look after 18 hours at how much risk you want to take and were you’re ultimately going to finish.

MP Motorsport will undoubtedly benefit from the addition of
factory ringer Darren Turner. (Credit: Aston Martin Racing)

I’ve done the Spa 24 hours three times now and the Silverstone 24 hours twice and had every sort of result as well. That really changes how you feel because when you’re leading there is that bit more adrenaline in the body which is harder to get rid of. If you’re not looking at a decent result then you can relax a little more naturally. I’ve done two out of the five without sleeping and been absolutely fine, then the other way I’ve probably caught an hour or so during the race.  I don’t get that tired and I think the adrenaline really carries you through. The sports nutrition guys are so good now, they’re telling you exactly what you need to be eating and when, so you’ve got the right release of energy when you need it instead of the peaks and troughs you get if you’re just on the Red Bull or high sugar stuff. They’ve got it down to a proper fine art, which it makes your life a lot easier for sure.

From a driver’s point of view, you’re just trying to make sure the week ahead is as relaxed as possible, no long days at work or late nights, just making sure you’re on top of your game as much as you can. Hydration is the biggest thing that we get told to be aware of, so in the week leading up to it we’ll be massively over-hydrating to make sure the body is ready. During the 24 hours itself we’ll have a physio with us, so as soon as we’re out of the car we’re straight on the table making sure we’re getting all the knots out and getting prepped for the next stint. It’s a little bit more effort involved in the preparation, but there’s not a huge amount more we can do. Even though its only three hour races usually, you still want to be on the top of your game there anyway; if you’re not doing the right preparation for the three hour race but you’re doing it for the 24 hour race then that’s not right, you should be 100% focused for every single race.

ELMS Red Bull Ring: Signatech Deny Jota Back To Back Wins

Signatech Alpine became the third different winners in as many races at the Red Bull Ring to seize the championship lead and deny Jota Sport a perfect post-script to their Le Mans 24 Hour victory. After Nelson Panciatici had surged from fifth to third during the opening phase of the race, Paul-Loup Chatin’s stellar treble stint put the defending ELMS champions firmly into the mix, allowing Oliver Webb to capitalise on a slow final pitstop for Jota and pass Simon Dolan for a lead he would never lose.

“We gained a load of time in the pitstops which made my life a lot easier,” a triumphant Webb said afterwards. “We were both on similar strategies with the tyres, so I knew that if I pushed hard it would be a good fight and luckily we managed to get the lead and pull a decent gap.”

Defending champions Signatech Alpine took their first win of 
the 2014 season at the Red Bull Ring. (Credit: Eric Fabre)

In the early phases of the race it looked like Jota’s to lose. High on confidence after Le Mans, Harry Tincknell pumped in two laps good enough for pole on Sunday morning and Filipe Albuquerque comfortably lead away from Michel Frey at the start, despite a safety car to recover Timur Sardarov’s stranded BMW that wiped out his early advantage.

But as Frey’s challenge faded – the decision to double stint the soft tyres they qualified on backfiring heavily – the Signatech Alpine rose to the fore with the relentless Chatin at the helm, eventually overtaking Dolan and managing to hold off Tincknell for a number of laps, before the Brit managed to find a way past at turn three. But given the short time remaining, Tincknell could only build up a small buffer before handing back to Dolan, much of which was eradicated by a delay in the pits. 

With Dolan in his sights, Webb pounced, taking the lead with a decisive move on the inside at turn two. Dolan attempted to fight back immediately on the run down to three, but ran wide and brushed the rear of the Alpine, breaking a front diveplane, which left Webb to cruise home unchallenged.

“The problem was it didn’t come off, it just sat up and was dragging. That cost us a second a lap,” Dolan reported. “It’s infuriating because you know it’s going to fall off at some stage and it fell off with two laps to go, which was a bit too late. I think it would have been a lot closer had that not happened, but I think probably in the end the result was fair. All credit to Paul for doing three in a row; that was hard out there today.”

“It was just a question of strategy, we know we cannot win every time so we can be happy with a second place and we have no doubts that we will be strong until the end of the championship,” Albuquerque added.

Race Performance eventually came home third, with Franck Mailleux bagging the fastest lap on lap 126 to cap a solid weekend’s work, while Mark Shulzhutskiy and Luciano Bacheta kept out of trouble to finish fourth on the latter’s prototype debut for Greaves. 

Race Performance completed the podium despite a tyre gamble
 that failed to pay dividends. (Credit: ELMS Media)

Behind them, fifth represented scant reward for a weekend that promised much for Morand Racing on Christian Klien’s home turf. After Pierre Ragues ran out of fuel entering the pits, Gary Hirsch was tasked with making up for lost time and pulled an excellent move on Dolan to get back on the lead lap, only to be hit with multiple penalties for pitlane speeding and white-line violations which meant Klien was too far back to trouble the podium places, although he did give the Austrian crowd something to cheer about with a late pass on Tom Kimber-Smith.

"We’re here to race, my job was to fight. I pushed and now that’s it, we have to analyse and look forward,” said a despondent Hirsch, who was on for a podium despite the early delays. “Considering the car was on the medium tyres for two stints we were still strong. It’s very disappointing, there’s nothing more to say.”

In GTE, AF Corse’s Matt Griffin, Michele Rugolo and Duncan Cameron headed Matteo Cressoni and Thomas Kemenater in a Ferrari 1-2-3, despite starting down in 12^th after a fuel miscalculation in qualifying. 

The first two hours were dominated by Dan Brown in the Gulf Racing UK Aston Martin’s most competitive showing of the season so far. Starting third after a brilliant qualifying effort by Stuart Hall, Brown made short work of the pole-sitting SMP Ferrari of Sergey Zlobin and set about building a healthy advantage over the chasing pack, headed first by JMW’s Daniel McKenzie and then consequently by Kessel Racing’s Cressoni as the Brit began to struggle with his brakes in the searing heat. 

Brown shone in the early stages of the race in the Gulf Racing Aston. (Credit: ELMS Media) 

However, Roald Goethe was unable to continue Brown’s good work and gradually slipped back down the order, leaving Kemenater out in front but with a charging Griffin hot on his heels after a good first stint from Cameron.

Soon enough, the Irishman drew alongside Kemenater into turn one, used the exit kerb to avoid making contact and completed the move around the outside of two before scampering off into the distance. The move was investigated by the stewards but thankfully no further action was taken. Kessel tried one last roll of the dice by electing not to change tyres at the final stop, but Rugolo easily had enough in hand to regain the lead and pull out a 30 second gap by the finish.

“If I had got a penalty, I think it would have been really wrong,” said a relieved Griffin, who now leads the championship. “[Kemenater] was defending the inside, so I braked late around the outside. I ran wide to give him space, then lifted so he got another run on me and I had to pass him again into turn two, which was a cleaner pass.

“We knew we were really quick in a race run, qualifying didn’t go that well, but we set fastest lap again so that shows just how strong we were. It was just a case of getting past that car and getting my head down. It was really hot out there today; my race boots melted to the pedals on the car, as did Michele’s.”

After George Richardson kept JMW in the mix in the middle stint, it was left to team returnee Rob Bell to bring the car home in third under constant pressure from Pierre Kaffer.

Bell resisted late pressure from Kaffer to seal third for JMW. (Credit: ELMS Media)

“There’s not many times you feel sick watching a race but my heart was definitely in my mouth there!” admitted McKenzie afterwards. “I was concerned, that was probably one of the hardest races I’ve had to watch. We were running a little bit low on fuel, so Rob had to do a bit of conserving to make sure he had some left for the end.

“It’s a brilliant result, we came in with high hopes from Imola and I think we’ve now moved up to third in the championship as a result, which is great. Looking back on today I definitely won’t be disappointed with third. It was really quite warm in the car, the first stint felt like forever but we just kept plugging away.”

Beset by gearbox problems, Andrea Bertolini could only recover to sixth – he admitted later he was lucky to finish at all – while Hall brought the Aston Martin home an encouraging seventh in a performance that did not go unnoticed by their rivals.

“Dan Brown and McKenzie in the JMW car did an awesome job to do a double stint in that heat, they’re definitely the strong men of the ELMS pack this weekend,” added Griffin. 

Meanwhile, SMP Racing were untroubled in GTC as Ferrari took another podium sweep. Luca Persiani, Kirill Ladygin and Aleksey Basov dominated the race ahead of team-mates David Markozov, Olivier Beretta and Anton Ladygin, with Adrien de Leemer and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli rounding out the podium for AF Corse. Despite a promising showing in qualifying, McLaren were unable to challenge in the race, with the Alex Brundle-led no. 98 crew the best of the rest in fourth.

Qualifying

Harry Tincknell recovered from a spin to secure pole position for Jota Sport, four tenths clear of nearest challenger Franck Mailleux and 0.8 seconds faster than last year’s pole time set by former Jota driver Oliver Turvey. It marked the team’s third consecutive pole in as many races and crucially another point gained after their non-score at Silverstone.

Tincknell was delighted to preserve Jota's 100% qualifying record in 2014. (Credit: ELMS Media)

“We’ve certainly got the qualifying performance down to a tee at the moment,” he said. “I’m very happy to maintain the 100% record and score another point for the championship. We’re still playing catchup after the DNF at Silverstone, but I think every point counts and maybe those points for pole might make the difference.

“Of course qualifying is one thing but the race is completely different. It’s a long race, but we proved at Imola and Le Mans that we’re the team to beat at the moment, so hopefully we can have another good result – we certainly have the pace and there’s a lot of confidence flowing around our team at the moment.”

Tristan Gommendy was third in the TDS Ligier on its first outing in the ELMS, while home hero Christian Klien shaded Nelson Panciatici for fourth.

In GTE, Ferrari man Andrea Bertlolini took his second pole position of the year for SMP Racing, but the changes to the Balance of Performance meant it was a Porsche that gave chase, with factory ringer Richard Leitz making a one-off guest appearance with Proton Competition.

“The car was really good from the beginning of free practice one, but the race will be a lot more difficult,” warned the Italian.

Bertolini carried his searing pace from practice to qualifying. (Credit: ELMS Media)

Stuart Hall was another to benefit from the changes to the BOP, qualifying his Gulf Racing UK Aston Martin a season’s best third place ahead of Rob Bell’s JMW Ferrari, while Silverstone winner Matt Griffin languished down in 12^th, needing to pit for fuel by the time his tyres were up to optimal temperature.

“I was a little bit cautious everywhere, especially at the last corner, but we just managed to get it all together,” said a delighted Hall. “I knew we could do it, it was just a question of making sure I didn’t get any traffic, didn’t make any mistakes and piecing it all together. I left it pretty late but managed to pull it out of the bag! 

"Hopefully that’s hopefully given Dan an opportunity at the front of the field now to get on with his race. He’s been driving very well this weekend, we’ve been very evenly matched.”

After skipping Imola, Jan Magnussen returned with aplomb to give the all-Danish Formula Racing Ferrari GTC pole on his first visit to the circuit since the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix, although Kevin Korjus was not far behind in the resurgent ART McLaren. 

Hall Delighted With Stellar Qualifying Run

Stuart Hall was delighted with a stellar lap run that saw the British driver qualify the Gulf Racing Aston Martin third on the grid, their highest in a difficult season so far. In a session that reflected the performance equalising measures implemented on the eve of the race in an attempt to halt Ferrari’s prolonged spell of domination, Hall made it three different marques inside the top three places as Andrea Bertolini’s SMP Ferrari headed the Proton Competition Porsche of Richard Leitz.

Hall was one of the stars of qualifying to put the Aston into the
 mix for the first time this season. (Credit: ELMS Media)

“We’ve had a bit of a tough year so far, the BOP hasn’t been in our favour,” said the 29-year old, who shares with Dan Brown and Roald Goethe. “Now the Ferraris have been pegged back a bit, so we’re there or there abouts, which is better than we have been.

“I was a little bit cautious everywhere, especially at the last corner, but we just managed to get it all together and came over the line with a 29.8. I knew we could do it, it was just a question of making sure I didn’t get any traffic, didn’t make any mistakes and piecing it all together. I left it pretty late but managed to pull it out of the bag! Hopefully that’s hopefully given Dan an opportunity at the front of the field now to get on with his race. He’s been driving very well this weekend, we’ve been very evenly matched. 

“You always want to go quicker, but I don’t think we would have beaten Bertolini; [the Ferrari teams] can’t complain about anything if he’s on pole by four tenths," he added. "Potentially we could have got closer to Leitz, but he’s always going to be hard to beat in a Porsche in his back yard. There’s always ifs and buts, you speak to every driver in the pitlane and they’ll all tell you the same thing. I’m just fortunate that I was able to string a lap together, not screw it up and give us a chance.”

(Credit: Own Photo)

The 29 year-old has pinned his hopes on a top six finish come the race, although he expects the Aston’s prohibitive fuel range will cost them time during the race relative to the swarm of Ferraris.

“I’m struggling to do an hour, we’re going to have to do a lot of fuel saving to try and eke our maximum driving time out, but my maximum driver time is only one hour 15 and I’ll be lucky if I do 58 minutes at this rate,” Hall said.

“We’re just going to try and do our best. The Aston is running well here and its very kind on its tyres, always has been. We’ve just got to all have a good race, make no mistakes, and it will be nice to get a top six at the end of it. We’ve just got to be up for a fight and see what happens after four hours.”

Bacheta Back To School

Luciano Bacheta enjoyed an encouraging start to his first weekend of sportscar racing at the Red Bull Ring, despite describing the Red Bull Ring as a “mental” place to learn the ropes.  The 24 year-old had not raced since a truncated Auto GP deal with Zele Racing last season, but secured a deal with Greaves to complete the European Le Mans Series alongside GT Academy graduate Mark Shulzhitskiy, in what he hopes will lay the foundations for a full season in 2015.

“I’m enjoying it much more than I expected, it’s completely different to single seaters,” said the Briton after practice. “It’s a bit more of a team sport; until you cross the line, the team, the driver, everyone is working together. There’s a lot to take in – mainly in terms of managing fuel consumption and managing the car – and the team hasn’t been here before either, so there’s a bit for all of us to learn, but it’s been alright so far. 

"The most important thing is to finish and complete our strategy as intended without any silly things going on. This is all prep for me getting into endurance racing, I’m pretty sure I’ll be staying here for a while yet.”

Luciano Bacheta makes his debut aboard the no. 28 Greaves Zytek
this weekend alongside Mark Shulzhitskiy. (Credit: ELMS Media)

The tight confines of the 2.6 mile circuit means there is little room to breathe before encountering slower traffic, which Bacheta admits has taken some getting used to, but his confidence is building with every session and the race can’t come soon enough.

“It’s pretty crazy out there with the GT cars, pretty much every pass has to be done on the brakes because there’s not a great deal in it in a straight line. That was a big shock. It feels like I’m doing a trackday at Snetterton, when there’s all sorts of cars out there and you just have to dodge them!” he said.

“Our long run pace is pretty good, Mark and I are working well together and maybe our single lap pace isn’t great, but our consistency is, so hopefully we’ll be strong for the race. That’s a nice problem to have because qualifying isn’t everything. 

"I’d love a podium; that might be a bit ambitious, but think if everything goes smoothly and we pull our fingers out then we’ll be in a decent position.”

ELMS Red Bull Ring: Saturday Notes

Jota Sport arrived at the Red Bull Ring on a high, bearing stickers that attested to their dramatic late victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours. That success still hasn’t quite sunk in for Simon Dolan, but the British driver is well aware that attentions must now turn to securing another maximum points haul towards their European Le Mans Series title challenge after winning last time out at Imola.

“Obviously for us there’s some unfinished business here from last year, we should have won but we got a pitlane penalty which threw that away,” said Dolan. “We feel good here and I think we’re quick. It’s just a question of getting back into the track, it’s one of those where you just need a few laps to remember and get back into it, and when you do it’s very rewarding, so I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be more about tyres than anything else because it’s so warm, making the right choices is going to be fairly key. But we’re all fairly calm and under control.”

(Credit: Jota Sport)

At just 16 years of age, Matt McMurry made his own little piece of history at Le Mans by breaking Ricardo Rodriguez’s half-century old record to become the youngest man ever to start the Le Mans 24 Hours, also beating Gunnar Jeanette’s youngest finisher record set in 2000. Next in his sights is a breakthrough podium in the ELMS, which he hopes will help cement fourth place in the standings.

“The first time I got in, one lap in it starts pouring,” he said. “I had all the rain, then I had sunset, the middle of the night, sun rise and the end, so I got all the cool ones! It feels good, it was just tonnes and tonnes of experience in these cars and now we’re going to do the season in the ELMS and try to be really successful there. Right now I think we’re tied for fourth in the points and I think we’ll be able to improve again, so hopefully we can finish on the podium.”

McMurry is gunning for his first podium finish at the Red Bull Ring. (Credit: ELMS Media)

Matt Griffin was last week informed of the sad news that his WEC team, RAM Racing, with whom he won the ELMS GTE title last year, has been forced to cease operations following a difficult Le Mans 24 Hours. Back once again in the European Le Mans Series, the Irishman is determined to make up the lost ground on fellow Ferrari outfit SMP after an incident for Mirko Venturi at Imola cost the Silverstone winners the chance of back-to-back wins.

“It’s gone well so far, we were P2 in free practice after quite a messy run, so we’re reasonably happy,” he said. “It’s really tough around here; the nature of the track means the times are super close, there are a lot of first gear hairpins where it’s hard to make an advantage on another driver. Where our car is potentially very strong is on the long runs, in fact it’s probably a bad thing for qualifying but a good thing for the race because we’re not seeing hardly any tyre degradation, so that could be really good for the race.  P2 is good, I’m happy to be in the mix in such a competitive field where it’s really hard even to make the top seven or eight. 

"We just need to be super consistent over the race. At Silverstone we had the fastest lap and at Imola too, so race-wise we’ve probably been the quickest, but we haven’t been super-quick in qualifying. Fifth place at Imola because of the issue we had has put us a little bit behind where we need to be in the championship and with only three rounds to go it’s hard to make that up, but we’ll be trying our best. The plan is to push flat out and try to get the deficit down and win the championship.”

Nielsen is relishing her ELMS opportunity with the IMSA Matmut team (Credit: IMSA Performance)

ELMS debutant Christina Nielsen welcomed the opportunity to return to racing in Europe with the IMSA Matmut Porsche team. The 22 year-old Dane has been based in the US this season, racing an NGT Motorsport GTD-spec Porsche in the Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 Hours alongside her commitments in the IMSA GT3 Cup. This weekend marks Nielsen's first time in an RSR, but she is certainly not unfamiliar with the brand, with whom her father Lars Erik has a long history.

“It’s great to be back racing in Europe, I only have to fly maybe one or two hours!” she joked. “I couldn’t see any reason why I wouldn’t want to do this, the guys here have a lot of experience and they speak English!  I’ve driven with Nicolas Armindo before as well, so I know him.

“I come from a Porsche family, my dad used to race Porsches for many years and I like the cars very much,” she added. “I’m definitely open to other brands, but right now we’re sticking with Porsche and I like where I am. It’s a strong brand and they compete in a lot of series so there’s a lot of doors open. I mean if someone called me and asked me if a wanted to be a factory driver then I wouldn’t say no!”  

Lyons aspires to join fellow Brits James Calado and Sam Bird in the
World Endurance Championship in the coming years. (Credit: ELMS Media)

Lastly, Michael Lyons has spoken of his desire to graduate to the World Endurance Championship with AF Corse. The 23-year-old Briton, a regular with the Italian team over the past three seasons, currently lies ninth in the GTE standings with Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini.

“I think everyone that’s in the European championship looks to the World Championship,” he said. “I’ve been with AF Corse for three years now, every year we’ve progressed and hopefully we can make the final step and have a run at Le Mans. I raced there this year in the Group C support race, we had a few things that meant a result was not possible, but our pace was great, it was a great experience and now I know the track. So like anyone in sportscars, that’s the dream.”