Interlagos: LMS- Series race report

1-2 FOR PEUGEOT AT HISTORIC MIL MILHAS
For the teams and drivers who made the special effort to compete in the final race of the 2007 Le Mans Series, the historic Mil Milhas, their effort was rewarded with a fantastic event on a legendary circuit.
The sight of the Le Mans Series GT and Prototype cars once again racing into the night, including the Pescarolo, Pierre Bruneau and Peugeot, evoked memories of Le Mans in June.
With second place behind their teammates Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy were rewarded with the drivers' title, and Peugeot the teams' title by just 3.5 points from Pescarolo Sport. It is the first time that a diesel car has won the Le Mans Series title. "We started in January with a completely new car and the team have made it a reliable and a fast car," said Sarrazin who, with Lamy, has won three times this season.
Minassian and Gene won the 27th edition of the Mil Milhas Brazil for Peugeot, the pair's third win this year and they finished third in the drivers' standings behind their team-mates, and Pescarolo's Jean-Christophe Boullion.
The pair had a comfortable race, which went to the full 1000-mile distance in less than nine hours having run at an impressive pace in mostly dry conditions. Just one safety car period, when Pierre Bruneau's Pilbeam refused to turn through Turn 1 in the eighth hour, interrupted Peugeot's run to an historic win.
Minassian and Gene ran to a safe fuel strategy and took victory by 12 laps. Pescarolo's challenge for the title was a valiant effort by the team, but a broken wishbone early in the second hour put paid to their chances.
Lamy had a scare as early as the pace lap when his Peugeot 908 HDI FAP failed to get away from the dummy grid cleanly, and the pole sitter watched the entire field pass him as he sat on the front row. A problem with the clutch master cylinder was rectified before the field came round to start the race, but it was an early sign of what was to come. In the fifth hour the car lost four laps with a light problem, and lost further time when the team made a precautionary stop to check the source of sparks which lit up the track in the dark.
Finishing on the Le Mans Series podium for the first time this year was the Creation of Jamie Campbell- Walter, Felipe Ortiz and Stuart Hall. The team was worried early in the race by high water temperatures, and a spin by Ortiz after contact with a GT2 Porsche, but it was an otherwise faultless event for the little British team which made the trip having contested the final two races of the American Le Mans Series.

"LM" P2
Michael Vergers, Karim Ojjeh and Juan Barazi took class victory in their Gulf-liveried Zytek, their second successive win in the series and their third podium of the year.
The battle raged between the Zytek and the Embassy Racing Radical for much of the race, but was ultimately decided by a broken rear wishbone which put Warren Hughes's Embassy car into the gravel in the sixth hour.
"We were not up against the slouches of the class," joked Barazi after the race. "It was a long race and we wanted to drive it at a chilled pace, but they didn't let us."
For the Embassy team, the suspension failure lost them any chance of challenging for the win.
"We would have liked to have finished on the podium on merit with speed an reliability," said Hughes, who shared the car with Darren Manning and Mario Haberfeld. "We had a good race with the Zytek, we have a new car coming next year and with Darren and Mario we make a formidable lineup, so I hope we can all be together next year".
Pierre Bruneau's Pilbeam had a disappointing race after making a big effort to get to the Brazilian event. The car did not fire in time to take the start and though it did get going quickly, a long stop to repair bodywork preceded the accident in the eighth hour with Bruneau at the wheel.

"LM" GT1
The battle between Aston Martin and Ferrari continued in Brazil. In the end, a gear selection problem cost the Corvette its six lap lead over the Aston Martin and left Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Patrice Goueslard to take second.
Roland Berville, Gregor Fisken, Steve Zacchia and Fernando Rees took a clear win after almost nine hours of racing.
"Our car was very good, fast and we just had some bad luck with the gearbox, but this is racing," said Beretta.
"LM" GT2
Marc Lieb, Xavier Pompidou and Marc Basseng finished a successful season for the Felbermayr Proton team by taking their third victory of the year.
The three drivers had a relatively problem-free race; their only scare came when Basseng challenged the James Watt Automotive Porsche of Danish driver Allan Simonsen for the lead midrace and the two collided, damaging the front of the Felbermayr Proton car.
"It has been a successful year -- I have won two 24 hour races for Porsche and three 1000km races, but unfortunately this time we didn't take the Le Mans Series title," said Lieb.
The battle for second place raged between the two JMB Ferraris with the newly-crowned champion Rob Bell taking third place in the car shared with Ben Aucott and Philipp Peter, behind the sister car of Alexandre Funari Negrao, Alexandre Sarnes Negrao and Andreas Mattheis.
"We have had a good race in GT2, a tough fight particularly between Ferrari and Porsche this year," said Bell. "The three of us really enjoyed the circuit and we are happy to be here".
Lemans-Series.com

Race results - Mil Milhas Brazil.

Sunday, 11th November 2007
1. Minassian/Gene Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 374 laps LMP1
2. Sarrazin/Lamy Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 362 laps LMP1
3. Campbell Walter/Ortiz/Hall Creation Autosportif Creation CA07 Judd 358 laps LMP1
4. Collard/Bouillion/Primat Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 354 laps LMP1
5. Barazi/Vergers/Ojjeh Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S-Zytek 351 laps LMP1
6. Zacchia/Rees/Fisken/Berville Aston Martin Racing Larbre Aston Martin DBR9 329 laps GT1
7. Lieb/Pompidou/Basseng Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 326 laps GT2
8. Negrao/Negrao/Mattheis JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT 324 laps GT2
9. Aucott/Peter/Bell JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT 323 laps GT2
10. Dumbreck/Hezemans/van Splunteren Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 321 laps GT2
11. Gavin/Beretta/Goueslard Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6-R 320 laps GT1
12. Figueiredo/Boesel/Visconde Dener Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 318 laps GT2
13. Longo/Serra/Serra JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GT 318 laps GT2
14. Belicchi/Chiesa/Kane Speedy Racing Team Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 316 laps GT2
15. Felbermayr Jr/Ried Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 302 laps GT2
16. Hughes/Manning/Haberfeld Embassy Racing Radical SR9-Judd 278 laps LMP2
17. Felbermayr Sr/Ried/Stuck Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 235 laps GT2
18. Bobbi/Drudi/di Simone/Lambert GPC Sport Ferrari F430 GT 234 laps GT2
19. Hesnault/Barff/Hartshorne/Perrier Thierry Pierrier Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 232 laps GT2
20. Westbrook/Simonsen/Washington/Daniels JWA Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 228 laps GT2
21. Werner/Ehret/Nielsen Farnbacher Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 226 laps GT2

22. Rasmussen/Thiim Markland Racing Corvette C6 Z06 212 laps GT2 23. Rostan/Bruneau/Bonifacio Pierre Bruneau Pilbeam MP93-Judd 203 laps LMP2

Peugeot wins Empire Trophy at Silverstone

LMP 1
The fifth race of the 2007 Le Mans Series came to life in the final hour with some fantastic racing and cruel luck hitting competitors and contributing to an unusual result. Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene won the race in their Peugeot, only their second win of the season, but their team-mates Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin were denied their second place after a puncture in the third hour damaged the rear bodywork, and the car was called into the pits for repairs with just minutes remaining. That meant that the car was not classified, and with their second place, Emmanuel Collard and Jean- Christophe Boullion move to within two points of the leaders with one race, the Mil Milhas in Brazil, remaining. Collard had put on a magnificent show in the final hour, hounding the Charouz Lola of Stefan Mucke and putting the German under intense pressure. The Lola was on old tyres, the team having overtaken the Pescarolo in the pits by not changing the rubber, and Mucke used the traffic expertly to fend off the Pescarolo until the handling became too bad and Collard slipped through. The German was denied third place by Lamy before the Portuguese had to pit, and was denied even his fourth place when the steering failed just 15 minutes from the end of the race. That elevated the Rollcentre Pescarolo onto the podium for the first time this year, Joao Barbosa and Stuart Hall taking a deserved third having kept out of trouble and run at a competitive pace, finishing four laps off the winners. Fourth was the Creation Zytek of Jamie Campbell-Walter, Hiroki Kurosawa and Felipe Ortiz which led the race in the second hour. Fifth was the Arena Motorsport Zytek of Tom Chilton and his 16-year-old brother Max, who was impressive in his mid-race stint before a track rod broke off the car, putting the youngster onto the grass. “The team repaired it in two minutes,” lamented Chilton. Alexander Frei and Jonathan Cochet took sixth in LMP1 in their Courage.

LMP 2
It was a race of attrition for the category, won by the Barazi Epsilon team of Michael Vergers, Juan Barazi and Karim Ojjeh who had performed beautifully throughout the race to take the win by a lap from the Team LNT Zytek of Tom Kimber Smith and Danny Watts. The pair had driven hard, Watts up to third overall behind the Peugeots in the opening laps! Vergers had passed the Embassy Racing Radical SR9 of Darren Manning and pulled out a lead, consolidated by Ojjeh against Warren Hughes who looked safe in the Embassy car before he slid off the track. Though he returned to the pits, it was a long stop as the car refused to fire up, and they dropped to a disappointed ninth in class. The ASM team also had its turn at the front of the field, but they, too, lost time when the marshals insisted that they repair the louvres over the front wheel which had been damaged by tyre pickup from the circuit. Two laps was their penalty as they sat in the pits, and the took third place by that margin ahead of the RML Lola of Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton. They lost time with bodywork damage in the opening quarter of the race, and had to keep an eye on high water temperatures almost throughout the race.

GT1
Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari took their fourth win of the year, and opened their lead to seven points in their Team ORECA Saleen S7R before the Brazilian race. The pair drove flat out throughout the race to take the win by a lap over the Team Modena Aston Martin, driven by reigning Le Mans champion Darren Turner and team regular Antonio Garcia. Turner and Ortelli had locked horns in the final hour of the race, the Frenchman gaining the upper hand and steadily pulling away. That was just our pace, said Turner. They were followed over the line by the Luc Alphand Aventures +44 1462 637568 Agency Limited Jacques Nicolet took victory in the Classic Endurance Racing series at Silverstone behind the wheel of his Chevron B21. With 43 cars taking the start the momentum gained throughout the season continued in the fifth race, and no fewer than 12 cars have qualified for the Le Mans Classic in 2008. There is no doubt that the CER would be a highlight of the Le Mans Series weekend in 2008. The Radical World Cup had another two great races. While Jonathan White and Daniel Rowbottom dominated both races in the SR3 class, the front-running SR8s had tougher times. Stuart Moseley and Derek Johnston had perhaps the most eventful races with a win following a third place in race one completed by Stuart Moseley driving innovatively for the last four laps using the master switch to drive the car with its throttle stuck open. Andjej Dzikevic took another win. Runner-up slots were taken by Bernd Rubig and Ross Kaiser respectively while Shaun Balfe and Nigel Taylor took a third place in race two – a one place improvement on race one. With two races remaining in the inaugural 207 Spider Cup, Dino Lunardi (RBA) has played a potentially decisive hand by winning the weekend’s two races at Silverstone. He tops the provisional points table and is favourite to claim the top prize: a test day at the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. Three other drivers are still in contention; Grégory Guilvert (Lompech Sport), Julien Briché (JSB Compétition) and Julien Schell (Pegasus Racing). The last encounter of the year at Magny- Cours, where the 207 Spider Cup will feature as part of the Super Série FFSA programme in October, and it promises to be an absolute thriller, with four drivers still in the hunt for the title. Given how close the gaps are at the sharp end of the leaderboard, nobody will be able to afford to make the slightest mistake.

GT2
Virgo Motorsport took their fifth podium of the year, their second win, and that was enough to confirm Rob Bell as the champion driver for Ferrari. The Briton shared the car with Gianmaria Bruni for the first time this season as his regular co-driver Allan Simonsen had other commitments. “I had expected to go to the final race just five points ahead,” said Bell, “but when the Porsche stopped I had mixed emotions. It is never nice to see a competitor stop, but at the same time our race was not finished yet.” That Porsche belonged to Marc Lieb and Xavier Pompidou, the 2005 champions. Lieb, who also won the title in 2006 with Joel Camathias, drove down the pitlane having suffered a broken lower wishbone which had taken off the left rear wheel. It was a bitter disappointment for the Felbermayr Proton team which saw all three of its cars retire. Raymond Narac and Richard Lietz took their first podium of the year, finishing second and a lap down on the Ferrari, while Mike Hezemans and Peter Dumbreck delivered Spyker its best finish of the year when they finished third.

Top Spot Finishers LMP1
1. Minassian/Gene, Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP, 195 laps
2. Collard/Boullion, Pescarolo Sport, Pescarolo Judd, 193 laps
3. Barbosa/Hall/Short, Rollcentre Racing, Pescarolo Judd, 191 laps
4. Campbell-Walter/Ortiz/Kurosawa, Creation Autosportif, Creation CA07 Judd, 188 laps
5. Chilton/Chilton, Creation Autosportif, Zytek 07S, 187 laps
6. Frei/Cochet, Courage Competition, Courage LC70 AER, 173 laps
LMP2
1. Barazi/Vergers/Ojjeh, Barazi Epsilon, Zytek 07S, 187 laps
2. Kimber-Smith/Watts, Team LNT, Zytek 07S, 186 laps
3. Amaral/de Castro/Burgueno, Quifel Team ASM, 185 laps
4. Erdos/Newton, RML, MG Lola, 184 laps
5. Lienhard/Theys/van de Poele, Horag Lista Racing, Lola B05/40, 183 laps
6. Binnie/Timpany/Buncombe, Binnie Motorsports, Lola B05/40 Zytek, 182 laps
GT1
1. Ortelli/Ayari, Team ORECA, Saleen S7R, 181 laps
2. Garcia/Turner, Team Modena, Aston Martin DBR9, 180 laps
3. Vosse/Blanchemain/Dumez, Alphand Aventures, Corvette C5-R, 177 laps
4. FIsken/Zacchia/Franchi, AMR Larbre, Aston Martin DBR9, 175 laps
5. Policand/Goueslard/Alphand, Luc Alphand Aventures, Corvette C6R, 174 laps
6. Perazzini/Cioci/Tavano, Racing Box, Saleen S7R, 174 laps
GT2
1. Bell/Bruni, Virgo Motorsport, Ferrari 430 GT, 173 laps
2. Lietz/Narac, IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche GT3 RSR, 172 laps
3. Hezemans/Dumbreck, Spyker Squadron, Spyker C8, 171 laps
4. Belicchi/Chiesa/Kane, Speedy Racing Team, Spyker C8, 170 laps
5. Bonetti/de Simone/Bobbi, GPC Sport, Ferrari 430 GT, 169 laps
6. Caffi/Zardo, Scuderia Villorba Corse, Ferrari 430 GT, 168 laps