LMS Barcelona - Ferrari GT2 winner! | FerrariChat
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LMS Barcelona - Ferrari GT2 winner!

Discussion in 'F1' started by jknight, Apr 9, 2008.

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  1. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #1 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    1000 KM de Catalunya
    Reported crowd for this first LMS race at Catalunya was 28,000 - fantastic crowd considering Spain is not so much sports car oriented but rather MotoGP and F1. This past weekend was absolutely beautiful in Barcelona (Montmelo) at the Circuit de Catalunya for the first race of the LeMans Series for this season. 47 cars were on the grid for the LMS race and about a similar number for the Radical European Masters and VdeV and somewhat less for the CER (Classic Endurance Racing) events. It was also the first race for three new coupes -> Charouz Racing Lola B06/80/Aston Martin (LMP1 - lovely car); Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80/Judd (LMP2) and the first Spanish prototype - Epsilon-Euskadi ee1/Judd (LMP1). The Lola/Aston took third overall and third in LMP1 - not bad for it's maiden run - watch for this one at the LeMans 24 Hour. GT1 had five cars, Rik's Aston with Antonio driving took class pole and was leading the class until a fuel problem caused it to retire. GT1 was won by Luc Alphand's Vette, the Saleen second and the Russian Lambo took third. This was also the first European running for the Porsche RS Spyder. Three LMP2 teams had them - Horag (they were at Sebring), Team Essex from Denmark and the Dutch team Van Merksteijn Motorsports with Jos Verstappen as a co-driver - this is one fast purple Spyder. These Spyders are running under ACO regs unlike the ALMS Spyders. GT2 was won by the pole position car of Virgo Motorsports with Rob Bell and Gianmaria Bruni (third driver for Risi). GT2 had a total of 4 F430's, Spykers, a lovely Aston Martin Vantage and numerous Porsche 997 GT3 RSR's. LMP1 was won by Peugeot #8 with Nic Minassian and Marc Gene (Ferrari F1 Test driver). Audi #2 with Mike Rockenfeller and Alexandre Premat took second and the Lola/Aston was third (overall and LMP1 class). My guys (Audi #1 - Allan and Dindo) were in 4th place. Allan had taken the lead in the race but a cut tire and broken alternator belt were not their friends on Sunday.

    One of the highlights (perhaps we can convert more folks over to sports cars?) was that our ticket for the weekend was a whopping 12€ which included full track access (except for the suites) and paddock access. We got free color catalogs at the gate and the first table in line at the autograph session had more for the taking. We sat in many of the grandstands and doing a comparison of F1-LMS costs, my seat on the start/finish line at the beginning of the race is something like 485€ for Sunday of the upcoming race. WOW. We found one of the best seating areas with the most action is at Revolt Banc Sabadell just before the chicane and turn to the start/finish line - Section G, zone 14 on the track map or ticket map (seats 265€ or 285€ for F1 race). The tunnel at the right end of the main (principal) stand got you into the infield and paddock area. Other tunnels got you into beautiful areas of the track. We walked just about the entire track - lots of elevation changes. If you go to the Circuit de Catalunya, it is easy access from Barcelona Sants (main train station), connect to train to Montmelo, getting off train go under tracks to station, right at station to top of hill, at intersection go left and keep going for about 30 minutes. After passing an old unoccupied house, go left on the road thru the trees up to gate 4 and you're there. There's a lovely hotel Barcelo Sants just above the train station and we found an Ibis Hotel right at the circuit by gate 3!

    This race provided some of the best racing we've seen in quite a while. When you have three LMP1 cars three wide coming down the very fast front straight which is followed by a sharp right hand turn and all three want to be first into the turn - that's racing at it's finest (Dindo came out first in that little soire). It doesn't get any better.

    Next race in two weeks time at Monza. Another fast circuit! www.lemans-series.com

    Carol
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  2. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #2 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  3. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #3 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  4. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #4 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  5. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #5 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  6. tonyc

    tonyc Formula 3

    Oct 19, 2003
    1,665
    Monterey, CA
    Full Name:
    Tony C
    #6 tonyc, Apr 9, 2008
    Thanks for the report and great pics Carol! Hope to see you at Laguna Seca again this year!
     
  7. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,465
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    #7 ProCoach, Apr 9, 2008
    Thank you so much, Carol! The Lola/Aston is beautiful and I love the Escort sharing the front row with the Lola T70 prototype. How was the VdeV race? That's the type of car I race here. Thanks again for the photos, they're terrific!
     
  8. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #8 jknight, Apr 9, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  9. yzee

    yzee F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 16, 2005
    9,128
    Bodegata
    Full Name:
    Michael
    #9 yzee, Apr 9, 2008
    Great pics. Vintage M1's in there? No. 33 LMP1 is cool. But everything I own is Black
     
  10. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #10 jknight, Apr 10, 2008
    Tony, Peter, Michael - thanks very much for your kind comments.

    Tony, we are planning on Laguna Seca so do definitely want to visit with you again.

    Peter, actually that wasn't the front row - there were many cars ahead of those and also behind them. John was right when he said it's going to get very loud when they start! Those guys race for real. They reported to have a full grid of 50 cars. Others were a Ford GT, Pantera, loads of Porsches, several M1's, Corvette, etc. We didn't watch the VdeV's run. They had a race following the 1000 km race which didn't start until about 6 pm and we had the half-hour walk to the train station, so we had to leave (we were in the paddock when they ran on Saturday).

    Michael - yes M1's, several in fact and what a lovely sound when they went past by themselves. Two of them challenged each other for most of the race. Black must be your favorite color, black Avalanche as I recall? Looking forward to seeing you and Peter at Mid-Ohio.

    Just wanted to add a comment about my post 3, photo 2 & 5. It was most interesting to watch the medical team and ACO folks look at the cars in depth to determine how to get the driver out if it were necessary.

    I was just looking at the entry list thus far for LeMans - guess you guys read that Tafel pulled out and per ACO rules the slot goes to the next in line which is not necessarily a class replacement, thus their spot went to a P1 car. Peugeot is also running three cars - the three drivers for one of the cars are all ex-F1 guys #9 is Christian Klien, Franck Montagny, Ricardo Zonta; #8 is Lamy, Sarrazin, Wurz; #7 is Minassian, Gene, Villeneuve.

    I hope my Audi guys can find some additional power, put the gremlins to rest and be very strong at Monza in a couple weeks. I'd love to see Audi show up with a coupe (they had an R8 one long ago). I really believe that coupes have a distinct aerodynamic effect over the open cockpit cars.

    Thanks guys, you're great!

    Carol
     
  11. Senna3xWC

    Senna3xWC F1 Rookie

    Nov 30, 2006
    3,152
    NYC
    #11 Senna3xWC, Apr 10, 2008
    Carol:

    great pics! Thanks very much :D
     
  12. jknight

    jknight F1 Veteran

    Oct 30, 2004
    7,821
    Central Texas
    #12 jknight, Apr 11, 2008
    You're welcome Ted. It nice to have the small group of you guys who are also interested in sports cars. I think perhaps all too often the strong success of Ferrari and factory drivers, ex-Ferrari drivers and other professional drivers in the various series is overlooked.

    Carol
     
  13. kraftwerk

    kraftwerk Two Time F1 World Champ

    May 12, 2007
    26,826
    England North West
    Full Name:
    Steve
    #13 kraftwerk, Apr 12, 2008
    Thank's for posting great pic's Carol.

    I will really miss going there this year..
     

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