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Lola at Le Mans: After 20 Hours

With over three quarters of the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours completed, Lola sports cars were in the thick of the action as the race went in to its final stages this morning.

This years epic endurance classic has proved to be one of the most gruelling in recent years with only 32 of the 55 starters circulating. There are still five of the ten Lola LMP cars in the race at 11.00am, with four hours left to race.

The RML squad currently lie in 3rd place in the LMP2 class with Andy Wallace driving the HPD powered Lola LMP2 Coupe. His team mate Tommy Erdos battled valiantly in the early morning to momentarily wrest 3rd place from the #35 Oak Racing Pescarolo, which had been the teams target for much of the race.

However, in the 19th hour, the Highcroft HPD LMP2 that had spent most of the race in 2nd position suffered mechanical problems, allowing the RML entry up to 3rd. With Erdos due to complete another triple stint before the end of the race, an attack for 2nd place could be very much on the cards for the team.

The Aston Martin Racing Lola’s were for so long running in 7th and 8th positions. That changed quickly when the leading Peugeot retired just after 7am but the promotion to 6th place was short lived as Harold Primat was forced to pit with a gearbox problem, which took just over an hour to rectify. Stefan Mucke rejoined and instantly started climbing up through the order and the V12 powered Lola is presently in 12th place overall.

The 009 Lola Aston Martin inherited the 6th place that 007 was forced to submit and the trio of Darren Turner, Sam Hancock and Juan Barazi cemented that position with some consistent lappery despite two off course moments for Barazi.

Signature Plus had enjoyed a quiet and efficient race with their Lola designed and built LMP1 car. Pierre Ragues, Frank Mailleux and Vanina Ickx were in a comfortable 8th place but on Ickx’s out lap, just after the 19th hour began, the Belgian crashed at Mulsanne 1, damaging the front of the B09/60 and losing several positions. Just before 11am the team were forced to retire due to chassis damage.

Drayson Racing once more battled against huge odds after several problems throughout the night. A persistent suspension problem on the Lola-Judd LMP1 coupe and a brief spin at Indianapolis meant further pit stops for the vibrant new team. Refusing to give in, the doughty team ran impressively in 19th hour with Emanuele Pirro lapping very competively and placing 12th in LMP1 and 38th overall.

A relatively quiet early morning for the Kruse Schiller team was followed by drama in the 17th hour when just after 07.30, Jean De Pourtales impacted the Arnage tyre wall, damaging the front of the open cockpit Lola LMP2. A very efficient repair by the German team was nullified by a separate incident minutes later when the rear floor and bodywork was damaged after contact with another car at the Dunlop Curves.

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Standings after 20 Hours

1. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi R15 330laps
2. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi R15 330laps
3. Wurz/Davidson/Gene P1 Peugeot 908 329laps
4. Kristensen/McNish/Capello P1 Audi R15 328laps
5 Panis/Lapierre/Duval P1 ORECA Peugeot 908 327laps
6. Turner/Hancock/Barazi P1 AMR Lola-Aston Martin 318laps
7. Jarvis/Albers/Bakkerud P1 Kolles Audi R10 318laps
8. Ayari/Andre/Meyrick P1 ORECA 01-AIM 309 laps
9. Watts/Kane/Leventis P2 Strakka HPD ARX-01 306lap
10 Charouz/Lahaye/Moreau P2 Oak Pescarolo 300 laps
11. Mucke/Fernandez/Primat P1 AMR Lola-Aston Martin 300laps
12. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 RML Lola HPD 298 laps
13. Brabham/Franchitti/Werner P2 Highcroft HPD ARX-01 290 laps
30. Noda/Pourtales/Kennard P2 KSM Lola-Judd 234 laps
32. Pirro/Cocker/Drayson P1 Drayson Lola 195 laps

R Mailleux/Ragues/Ickx P1 Signature Lola-Aston Martin
R. Prost/Andretti/Jani P1 Lola-Rebellion
R. Boullion/Belicchi/Smith P1 Lola-Rebellion
R. Pirri/Cioci/Perrazzini P2 Racing Box Lola
R. Lewis/Burgess/Willman P1 Autocon Lola-AER

After 20 Hours there were 32 cars still running