Keeping
in touch with 24 heures du Mans 2007
|
|||
|
|||
| Interim
results Final results by class 1500hrs Sunday - end of twentyfourth hour and the race The spray on the Mulsanne Straight is dense as a very wet 24 heures du Mans comes to an end. Amazingly it looks as if all six Astons will finish. The lead AMR Aston (009) driven by Brabham is in fifth place. The Audi R10 TDI (1) wins driven by Werner with the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (16) driven by Bourbais second some 10 laps behind. In the LMGT2 class Adrian Newy drove some long stints in the Ferrari F430GT (78) coming 4th in class. 1400hrs Sunday - end of twentythird hour The safety cars are out in the very wet conditions. Bow waves ahead of the cars as they pass the start/finish line. The remaining Peugeot (8) is in the pits and is thought to have a "Bentley problem" with flooding in the cockpit affecting the electrics. Commentators are wondering whether the race will end with the safety cars still out as the wet conditions are so poor. 1200hrs Sunday - end of twentysecond hour (V8 webmaster has been out in the garage under the V8 for the annual "greasing of the nipples" on the front suspension!) 1200hrs Sunday - end of twenyfirst hour 1100hrs Sunday - end of twentieth hour 1000hrs Sunday - end of nineteenth hour The RML MG Lola (25) is out and listed as DNF. More The Lola (31) driven by Binnie is leading the LMP2 class in 13th overall and 34 laps behind the leader. The second LMP2 car is the Zytek 07S (33) driven by Fernandez which is 22nd overall and 52 laps behind the leader. The lead LMGT1 car, the Aston DBR9 (009) driven by Turner, is 6th overall and 24 laps behind the leading Audi. The second LMGT1 car is the Corvette (63) 2 laps behind the Aston. 0900hrs Sunday - end of eighteenth hour Pit crews and spectators have their eyes on the sky wondering quite when rain will arrive. The humidty is heavy and the temperature has fallen. 0800hrs Sunday - end of seventeenth hour The weather prospects for the race look worrying as a front with a great deal of rain is moving up from Spain and is estimated to reach le Mans around noon. Some very heavy downpours are expected. The RML MG Lola (25) is now 22nd only 2min 52.5sec lapping at 3min 51.3sec behind the Autorlando Sport (21) car lapping at 4m 12.1sec. On that basis the MG will be up with the Autorlando in under 9 laps. Dark clouds are approaching with reports of rain at Tours south of the circuit just before 0900hrs. 0700hrs Sunday - end of sixteenth hour The RML MG Lola (25) has made good progress and has reached 28th overall and 4th in the LMP2 class lapping at 4min 06.6sec only 2min 28.8sec behind the Zytek 07S (32) a lap ahead. Four Aston DBR9s are in the top six places in the LMGT1 class and the lead Aston (009) driven by Brabham-Rydell-Turner is 7th overall. The Audis are still one and two at the front. Erdos is back in the car now lapping at 3min 49.8sec and has moved up to 26th some 45.9sec behind the Team Modena (59) LMGT1 car. The MG is lapping 6 sec faster than the Team Modena car. 2300hrs Saturday - end of eighth hour As night falls and the air cools down, the RML MG Lola (25) is up to 42nd lapping at 4min 0.2sec. The car ahead, the Pescarolo Sport (41) an LMP1 car, is lapping at 3min 45.0sec so it seems the MG will not make further progress for now. The MG is running 7th out of nine in the LMP2 class. 2200hrs Saturday - end of seventh hour The RML MG Lola (25) is up to 43rd position lapping at 4min 4.9sec. The lap time has improved to 3min 58.1sec but is still running in 43rd. 2100hrs Saturday - end of sixth hour The RML MG Lola (25) is up to 46th lapping at 4min 01.6sec compared with a best lap of 3min 46.6sec. So the car is recovering. 2000hrs Saturday - end of fifth hour The RML MG Lola (25) is still in the pits, now in position 50, the last position of the cars still running. Ray Mallock's pit team worked wonders with an unbelievable workload. All the suspension was replaced, the rear crash structures were replaced, front and rear floors were replaced and all completed in an hour. The car is now lapping at 3min 56sec and making up ground. 1900hrs Saturday - end of fourth hour The RML MG Lola (25) has been towed out of the gravel trap - the rear wing is gone with substantial rear end damage. Amazingly the car is running again and making its way back to the pits although the tracking appears damaged as it crabs along. It made it back to the pits and it appears very badly damaged so if it can be fixed it will take a long time. In an interview the driver reported it felt like a suspension failure as the cause of the accident. 1800hrs Saturday - end of third hour At 1855hrs the RML MG Lola (25) driven by Andy Wallace has come off at the start of the Porche curves and hit the tyre wall rather hard. 1700hrs Saturday - end of second hour Shortly after the hour news came through the RML MG Lola had stopped on the Circuit with the driver working on the car. At 1716hrs the car was on the move again returning to the pits. At 1725hrs the safety car is still out as a team rebuild the damaged safety barrier at Tertre Rouge. The safety car finally went in at 1745hrs and race resumed. RML MG Lola (25) running again in 39th overall down from 12th and now 6th in class down from 2nd. 1600hrs Saturday - end of the first hour RML MG Lola (25) is running in 13th position and second in the LMP2 class behind the Lola AER (40). One of the three Audi R10 TDIs (3) driven by Rockenfeller came off heavily at Tertre Rouge and the safety car came out at around 1625hrs. 1500hrs Saturday - race starts - note the race started an hour earlier this year because of the French elections All times are French time, one hour ahead of the UK |
|||
