The Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Racing powered team will have left Silverstone yesterday as equally as frustrated as they did the round before at Spa Francorchamps as yet another race within the European Le Mans Series saw them struggling for overall pace.
Having had to revise the three-driver line up for the third time in as many races with Frenchman Francois Heriau this time joining his countrymen Marius Fossard and Valentin Hasse-Clot within their #59 AMR Vantage LMGT3 for this penultimate round of the season.
The initial settling in period for their new driver looked promising within last Thursday’s private test where the #59 figured amongst the fastest in class over those two sessions before rebounding up, down and then up through their class again during the two Free Practice and bronze driver test sessions before then heading into Qualifying.
During that session, Heriau did eventually finish third fastest within class on track at least before he was (post session) adjudged to have impeded another car for which he received a three-position pace drop ahead of the start to Sunday’s four-hour race.
What had, however, gone unseen by us at the time was the change in BoP for their car in-between Spa and Silverstone which meant for a big reduction in both the car’s overall power and energy availability albeit touched with a slight reduction in its minimum base weight so with Silverstone always being a speed circuit – the loss of outright speed together with longevity on track would always come at a cost overall in performance.
Track action got off to its now usual chaotic self as the forty-five cars of the LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3 classes jostled for position during those opening laps under what was still then a warm and drying track after some overnight rain left for some tricky conditions offline. During that time Heriau settled into a mid-class P7 racing position to end his first hour behind the wheel in a similar position.
As the race entered its second hour, the forecasted rain eventually arrived at the Northamptonshire circuit – gently at first and not necessarily presenting itself as too much of a problem before the rain slowly intensified over time with the ever-changing track condition lead to various issues on track with contact. The first major incident came at the ninety-minute mark when two LMGT3 cars tangled at the end of the International Straight that would bring out the Safety Car for the first time.
By the time the race got back to green some forty minutes later, it was definitely full wets all round as rooster tails became prevalent as the #59 car found itself unable to make headway in class as its bronze driver finished his minimum drive time.
Into the final ninety minutes and the #59 car did elevate itself up to as high as sixth in class with Fossard behind the wheel so there was still time on the race clock if only the car had the speed and control in the wet as further Full Course Yellows again interrupted the racing. Fossard would, however, become victim to the next such caution as he would spend an elongated visit to a gravel trap just prior to their final stop where he would eventually swap over to Hasse-Clot. However, the damage had already been done to the teams race as since lost a lap to its rivals in class and like their memories of Spa – once you lose the lead lap, there is nothing that you can do about it with the series not operating any wave arounds.
The #59 car would again finish the last of the LMGT3 runners, tenth in class but with championship hope already long gone that mattered not other than yet another dent to their already dented pride as the series moves onto Portimao in a months time.
