Silverstone Saturday/Sunday 16th/17th April 2016
As I'm a huge fan of the fantastic LMP1/LMP2 prototypes seen in the World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series there was only one place to be on this particular weekend.
The night before, The Spectator was alarmed to see that Snow was forecast for Saturday morning! Knowing that Silverstone is always 10 degrees colder than what is actually forecast then I knew full well that snow would be a factor come the day itself! Travelling down the M1 it got gradually wetter and as the WEC cars came out for Practice at 9.00am sure enough the rain turned to snow and after only a few exploratory laps the session was red flagged as a steady fall of snow left the circuit treacherous and the grass became a whiter shade of green!
The ELMS has established itself in the past couple of years and a very good entry of 44 cars were seen at Silverstone. Closed to LMP1 machinery, the series is a chance for the LMP2 entrants to have their chance in the limelight. Taking off in a big way over the winter is the year old LMP3 class with 19 entries. The Ligier JSP3 is the car of choice with only the Murphy Ginetta providing variety in the class. 9 GT entries only which indicates that the ELMS sees it's future in a prototype way. Given the huge speed differential between GT cars and LMP cars it might not be a bad idea.
Following a wet qualifying the ELMS started at 2.30pm on a fully dry circuit. The anticipated chaos at the rolling start did indeed take place with contact throughout the field seeing cars in all directions from Club along the start line and into Abbey! Emerging with a healthy lead after the first lap was the G-Drive Gibson-Nissan in the hands of Harry Tincknell/Simon Dolan/Giedo van der Garde and it transpired into a fairly easy victory 4 hours later. Ex French Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez did challenge for the lead at around half distance but the Ligier-Nissan dropped back with a technical problem and finished 9th.
Another athlete turned racing driver, cyclist Chris Hoy made his LMP2 debut but blotted his copybook by spinning at Chapel causing a Full Course Yellow. The hordes of LMP3's were headed by the United Autosports car of Alex Brundle/Mike Guasch/Christian England while winning GT car the Ferrari 458 of Robert Smith/Rory Butcher/Andrea Bertolini was disqualified.
Completing the action on Saturday was qualifying for the WEC which consisted of 2 x 20 minute sessions for LMP and GT separately plus a Porsche Carrera Cup race that started on a wet track that dried rapidly during the 45 minute race. Dan Cammish winning with Dino Zamparelli 2nd. The 26 car field was extremely spread out around the long Silverstone GP circuit but the race was never boring as there were plenty of battles down the field.
The Porsche's 2nd race of the weekend took place bright and early on Sunday morning. I say Bright because thankfully the day dawned sunny and clear and dare one say it, it even felt warm at times on Sunday!! The top 3 of Saturday's race..Cammish, Zamparelli & Charlie Eastwood repeated the trick on Sunday morning but there was a very good battle for 4th position which raged until the final lap. This was the first time the Porsche's had supported the WEC/ELMS and it was good to see a National series gain exposure on an International meeting. A shame that there was no European F3 this year but the Porsche's put on a show and will make a great spectacle when they resume their place on the TOCA package.
At 12.00pm the WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone was given the Green light and it was the polesitting Audi of Marcel Fassler/Benoit Treluyer/Andre Lotterer that led away. Last season's champions the Porsche 919 of Brendan Hartley/Mark Webber/Timo Bernhard took chase and at the 2 hour mark held a comfortable lead. However in his eagerness to overtake Michael Wainwright's Aston Martin Vantage, Hartley misjudged the gap at the very fast Farm curve and clipped the Aston which then very nearly turned over the Porsche and both cars ended up out of the race in the gravel trap. Almost at the same time the Audi of Oliver Jarvis/Loic Duval/Lucas Di Grassi retired with engine failure so both the German manufacturers were down to one car each. Rivals Toyota also saw one of their cars puncture and lose a lot of time in the pits repairing the damaged undertray so it was effectively a 3 car battle for LMP1 honours. In what was always an enthralling race it was the Fassler/Treluyer/Lotterer Audi that won but after post race scrutineering it was discovered that the Audi's undertray was worn to excess. The number 2 Porsche of Jani/Lieb/Dumas thus inherited a victory that the team's number 1 car should have taken if Hartley hadn't have crashed. I never like to see a DQ in any race but after a 6 hour race this is especially galling. On a 33 car grid it was the LMP2's that were the most numerous and the class provided some good battles. The RGR Morand Ligier-Nissan of Felipe Albuquerque/Bruno Senna/Ricardo |Gonzalez winning out with 2nd and 3rd finishing on the same lap as the winner.
An interesting addition to the GT ranks were the pair of Ford GT's run by Chip Ganassi. A nice looking car spoilt by a very flat sounding exhaust. The team finished 4th and 5th in class while the AF Corse Ferrari 488 easily won the class.
A cracking weekend of Sportscar racing this was and despite the snow of Saturday morning it turned out to be a very good weekend. A large crowd was in evidence, especially on Sunday with lots of Le Mans regulars coming along for a look! Silverstone was it's usual self...i.e. not the best place to spectate at but the circuit does make an effort in trying to help the humble spectator. A fleet of double-deckers was used to ferry people around the perimeter and there was an air of a big event. Just a few more grandstands open would make it perfect...
A weekend admission ticket cost £40 and I didn't buy a programme but printed off the entry lists and was given a free handy mini guide at the gate.
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