Tag Archives: Poulsen

That’s Entertainment – 6 Hours Of Siverstone

Last Sunday saw the runners and riders of the World Endurance Championship gather for the 6 Hours Of Silverstone with a smattering of new rules, new cars, cars and new faces.

Of the new rules the most significant was abandoning the safety car in all but the most extreme cases for full course yellow’s and this led to the race being disturbed for only 8 minuets over six hours and no unnecessary bunching of the field.

6 Hours Of Silverstone

Qualifying in the top LMP1 category was locked out by the two Porsche 919 Hybrids, reckoned to be more powerful than the 900hp Peugeot 908 turbo diesels, driven Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber with Brendon Hartley and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb which can be seen leading the pack of Audi’s and Toyota’s on the opening lap.

Thanks to an electrics problem that knocked out his telemetry and gave him a misfire Benoit Tréluyer is seen on the extreme left of the photo above as he fell all the way back to tenth place in the opening laps before the problem sorted it’s self out.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Shaytar / Bertolini / Basov, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Despite qualifying only 5th fastest in the GTE/Am category Russians Victor Shaytar, Aleksey Basov with Italian Andrea Bertolini came through to finish third in class and 18th overall, with their #72 SMP Racing Ferrari F458 Italia seen above on the Hangar Straight.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Perrodo / Collard / Aguas, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Seen turning into the fast sweeping Abbey above is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Frenchman François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard who with Portugals Rui Aguas qualified 4th in LMGTE/Am and finsihed 2nd in class and 17th overall.

Dalla Lana / Lamy / Lauda, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Only 30 seconds covered the top three LMGTE Am class finishers after six hours of racing, Canada’s Paul Dalla Lama with Portugal’s Pedro Lamy and Austian Mathias Lauda converted their LMGTE/Am pole into a first place in class finish, 16th overall, driving the #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 seen at Becketts above.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Rigon / Calado, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Slowest of the 7 LMGTE Pro qualifiers were Italy’s Davide Rigon and Britain’s James Calado but they dug deep and finished the race third in class, 11th overall, less than 30 seconds behind the class winners.

Porsche 911 RSR, Chevrolet Corvette C7, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

German Richard Leitz and Denmarks Michael Christensen qualified their #91 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR in 4th place behind three Aston Martin’s, by the end of the race the Aston’s had all fallen one lap down on the three class leading LMGTE Pro cars.

The 2nd in class, 10th place overall, finishing #91 Porsche is seen lapping the returning Labre Competition teams new LMGTE Am #50 Corvette C7 driven by Italians Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Denmarks Kristan Poulsen at Vale above.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Bruni / Vilander, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Winners of the LMGTE Pro class and 9th overall were Italy’s Gianmaria Bruni and Finlands Tony Vilander who qualified their #51 AF Course Ferrari 5th in class, the Ferrari is seen being chased by a LMP1 Toyota at the Arena.

HPD ARX 03B - HPD, Sharp / Dalziel / Heinemeier Hanson, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

While awaiting the delivery of a new pair of LMP2 Ligier’s the Extreme Motorsports team made their debut in the WEC with a pair of HPD (Honda Performance Developmant) ARX O3B’s.

The #30 HPD, seen above exiting Maggots, driven by American Scott Sharp, Britain Ryan Dalziel and Denmarks David Heinemeier Hanson qualified 4th in class and crossed the line third in class.

Regrettably the car was excluded because it was found in post race scrutineering to have been running with a thinner ALMS spec plank under the car than the mandated thicker WEC spec plank, this was a tough break for the popular US team.

Dome S103 Nissan, Leventis / Watts / Kane_6 Hours Of Silverstone

With the exclusion of the #30 the Nissan powered #42 Strakka Racing Dome S103 driven by Britain Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jony Kane was awarded third in class.

Watts ended up going into the kitty litter on the first corner of the first lap but with help from the marshalls the team recovered from last place to finish a respectable 8th overall.

Ligier JS P2 Nissan, Yacaman / Derani / Gonzalez, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Columbian Gustavo Yacaman, Brazilian Luis Felipe Derani and Mexican Ricardo Gonzalez qualified their Nissan powered #28 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2, seen at entering Becketts on class pole, but finished the race 2nd in class, 7th overall and 1 lap behind their team mates …

Ligier JS P2 Nissan, Rusinov / Canal / Bird, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Russian Roman Rusinov Frances Julien Canal and Sam Bird, who’s class winning #26 Ligier is seen above at Club.

Toyota TS040 Hybrid, Davidson / Buemi / Nakajima, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

At the head of the field representatives from all three leading manufacturers took turns at the lead after qualifying fourth reigning World Endurance Champions Brit Anthony Davidson and Swiss Sébastien Buemi, who were joined by the Japanese Kazuki Nakajima came through to a third place finish just 15 seconds behind the the winning car.

6 Hours Of Silverstone

After easily leading the opening 90 mins of the race from pole position Mark Webber had to retire the lead #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid with transmission issues before team mates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley had a chance to drive it, leaving the sister #18 front row starter driven by Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani with a small lead over the fast recovering #7 Audi driven by Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fässler and Andre Lotterer.

A fantastic battle between the two leading cars ensued from the half way stage of the race, which included this linked scrap with 50 mins to go, at the end of the day the inferior tyre wear on the faster Porsche swung victory away from them despite trying a two tyres only final stop.

Above Neel Jani slices past the LMGTE Am #96 Aston Martin driven by Francesco Castalocci, Roland Goethe and Stuart Hall while the #1 Toyota awaits to slice past the LMGTE Am Dempsey Proton Racing #77 Porsche driven by Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried and LMGTE Pro #99 Aston Martin driven by Alex Macdowall, Fernando Rees, and Richie Stanamay.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Fässler / Lotterer / Tréluyer, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

With 15 minutes to go the #7 Audi driven by Marcel Fässler had lead of over a minute when it was called in for a splash and dash stop. At the same time the #7 was also awarded a stop go penalty for an overtaking maneuver beyond the track limits at club.

The #7’s lead was just 37 seconds after the splash and dash and less than 10 seconds after the penalty stop, but there were not enough laps left for Neel to chase the #7 down and with a winning margin of less than five seconds it was the Audi Sport Team Joest drivers who’s names were added to the base of the 110 year old Tourist Trophy at Silverstone.

Despite starting with an electical failure the #7, seen passing the 3rd placed #1 Toyota in the Arena above, came through to win by covering a record 201 laps.

Thanks for joining me on this “That’s Entertainment” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Chrysler 300D. Don’t forget to come back now !

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2014 World Endurance Champions

For todays blog I’ll be reflecting on the championship winners from the World Endurance Championship.

Toyota TS040 Hybrid, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The 2014 World Endurance Drivers’ Championship winners are Britains Anthony Davidson and Switzerland’s Sébastien Buemi who drove the #8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid to four victories from 8 starts and are seen above on their way to winning the opening race at Silverstone. Toyota also won the 2014 World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship taking 5 victories in total.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Italian Gianmaria Bruni and Finland’s Toni Vilander driving for the AF Corse Ferrari team won their class four times to secure the 2014 World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers, Ferrari also won the 2014 World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers.

Lola B12/60, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Five class victories for Switzerland’s Mathias Beche France’s Nicolas Prost and Germany’s ‘Quick’ Nick Heidfeld were enough to win the 2014 LMP1 Private Teams Drivers’ Trophy for the Rebellion Racing trio, who’s second Toyota powered car claimed the other three victories to ensure Rebellion Racing won the 2014 FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams.

Oreca 03, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The marginally superior reliability of the SMP Oreca 03 and the absence of a regular team mate meant that Russia’s Sergey Zlobin claimed the 2014 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers on his own with just one class win at Le Mans. The Nissan powered SMP team also won the 2014 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams.

Aston Martin Vantage GTE, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Dane’s Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson won the LMGTE Am class four times with Nicki Thiim in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, but raced to four 2nd place finishes in Nicki’s absence to secure the 2014 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers and help Aston Martin win the 2014 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams.

Thanks for joining me on this “2014 World Endurance Champions” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the inspiration behind the Belchfire Runabout. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Serviceability – Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE

In 2012 Aston Martin returned to racing a GT programme with up to three Gulf sponsored works cars, split between the Pro and Am subdivisions, appearing in last seasons Le Mans Series races.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

The GTE is similar to the previous GT2 incarnation of the Vantage V8 though it is lighter, features improved cooling for the driver, has improved aerodynamics and also improved serviceability which means that the motor can now be changed in an hour without altering the suspension settings where as previously the same operation took four hours.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

The dry sump lubricated 4474 cc / 273 cui V8 motor produces 600 hp that is transmitted to the rear wheels by a six speed X-trac sequential semi automatic gearbox that is operated by paddle shift from the steering wheel. A carbon fiber prop shaft is fitted between the gearbox and rear axle.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

To bring the car to rest ventilated disc brakes are used with six pot calipers on the front and four pot calipers at the rear.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

Helping to keep the dry weight down to 1195 kgs 2634 lbs are a lithium battery, carbon fibre body panels and seat.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

At Le Mans last year two GTE’s were entered the #97 Pro car driven by Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner finishing 19th over all 3rd in class while the #99 Am car driven by Danes Allan Simonsen, Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen after 31 laps.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

Last season Aston Martin finished 2nd in the LMGTE Pro series with one class win and six further class podiums. At the time of writing the week before Le Mans Aston Martin are leading both the Pro and Am 2013 LMGTE series.

Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE, Donington Park

The #99 featured today is seen at a test day at Donington Park prior to the Silverstone Six Hour race where the car driven by Jonathan Adam, Andrew Howard and Paul White failed to finish.

Thanks for joining me on this “Serviceability” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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RIP – Allan Simonsen

Simonsen, Poulsen, Nygaard. Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Allan Simonsen, who was born in Odense Denmark, won the Danish Formula Ford Championship in 1999. When the money for his open wheel aspirations ran out he found he was in demand as a driver of GT cars and ended up running in 30 to 40 events a year across the globe driving models from Ferrari, Porsche and more recently Aston Martin.

Such was his enthusiasm and the demand for his services that in 2007 by missing the last race Le Mans GT2 Series he gave up his chance to become champion in order to drive in the Australian GT Series which he won outright the same year with a pair of Mark Coffey Racing Ferraris.

Two years later Allan Simonsen won the 2009 Asian Le Mans GT2 series driving a Ferrari F430 for Team Farnbacher. Allan also competed in the Australian International V8 Supercar Championship and made seven starts at Le Mans with a best finish of second in class in a Farnbacher Ferrari.

Known as a ‘cheeky chappie’ Allan teamed up for a full season in LMGTE Am driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE with fellow Danes Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen for 2013. Their car is seen winning the LMGTE Am class at Silverstone in April above.

Having qualified for LMGTE Am class pole at Le Mans and with a victory well within the teams grasp Allan lost his life while at the top of his game after an accident at Tetra Rouge on lap two of the 24 hour classic last Saturday.

His family bravely asked the Aston Martin team to race on in Allan’s memory when informed of the tragedy. A Danish flag flew at half mast for the remainder of the race while overall race winner and fellow Dane Tom Kristensen dedicated his victory to the memory of his fallen friend.

Condolences to Allan’s family and friends.

RIP Allan Simonsen 1978 – 2013.

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