Silverstone LMES - Driver of the Race

[Mal]

So who was your driver of the Race. There were a lot of very mature drives and some rather silly ones.

For me it has to be McNish, who really showed his class, The safety car situation cost him nearly a lap and his stint after the rain eased (hour 5 I think) was brilliant.

Special mention also to Nic Minnasion, Xavier Pompidou and Tommy Erdos.

[iucrmh]

How about Stephane Ortelli in the last stint, getting into the car after McNish had driven for the bulk of the race, on old tyres, for his first stint in the dark and holding off JCW and setting the fastest lap of the race. A true professional. Not the first time that McNish and Ortelli have proved a great partnership.

[The Badger]

Nishy would be my first choice too . Im also getting very impressed with Miss Ickx ..... She can certainly hold her own !!! Seems Vasiliev is starting to shape up too , he did a good job with Bouchet in the MenX 550 .

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Nishy would be my first choice too . Im also getting very impressed with Miss Ickx ..... She can certainly hold her own !!! Seems Vasiliev is starting to shape up too , he did a good job with Bouchet in the MenX 550 .

The MenX was driven by Janis, Kox and Pergl.

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by Mal

So who was your driver of the Race. There were a lot of very mature drives and some rather silly ones.

For me it has to be McNish, who really showed his class, The safety car situation cost him nearly a lap and his stint after the rain eased (hour 5 I think) was brilliant.

Special mention also to Nic Minnasion, Xavier Pompidou and Tommy Erdos.

The driver of the safety car he had fasted lap for ages!

[panoz.lmp1]

Wolfgang Kaufmann in his A:Level Porsche in the first two hours ... fifth overall in the rain and leading the GT1 by one lap.

[tblincoe]

Kaufmann for sure

[Bramzel]

Kaufmann indeed.

[Dan Friel]

Pompidou was the class act in the rain. quicker than all of the GT1 cars as well.. and going around the outside of LMP1 cars at Woodcote!

[thepits!]

Originally Posted by tblincoe

Kaufmann for sure

Agreed. Had problems on the Friday, so Tiemann never got out in the dark. Eventually finished 3rd in class behind a couple of Ferraris's.
Job well done

[Marshal]

McNish, absolutely blinding through slower traffic at Becketts

[TheNewBob]

I don't know who was driving them at the time but at the start in the first few laps in the wet I did notice the LNT TVR's overtaking like nobody's business - weather it be GT1 or LMP2 - altho this did only last for a few laps. I say well done to anyone who drove in the dark too - in less than idea conditions

[nick_andrews]

Kaufmann for the GT1 wonders, Mcnish in LMP1...he was just stunning to watch going around the outside of slower cars and other prototypes at Stowe! Ickx also, and Ortelli for his final stint

[Joe Taylor]

Pompidou and Kaufmann, though I expect that the A:Level Porsche was really helped by the weather - negates the lack of power and rear engine makes it easier to get the power down.

[Fab]

Mc Nish, Minass and Pompidou.

[924nut]

For me it has to be Alan McNish - the way he barely lifted in that final stint to chase down the lead on top of what I thought was a great first stint.
As for others Tommy Erdos drove sensationally putting the RML Lola MG onto class pole and mixing it with the big boys in LMP1 for the first hour when he was running 3rd
but great credit to virtually everyone for great drives in awful conditions

[Alfaholic]

My vote goes to Xavier Pompidou for getting a GT2 class car well into the top 10 during the first hour. A close second would be Alan McNish for his final stint.

[Edgar Jessop]

Well I saw something very impressive watching Porsche #76 from the outside of Luffield.

I know nothing about Franco Groppi/Luigi Mocchia/Mike Rockenfeller other than what's in the Speedsportmag database. I don't even know which was was driving around the long safety car period but one of them was REALLY good!

I suspect from what I've been researching since then it was Mike Rockenfeller


Of course we know that the trick on a streaming wet track is always to drive off the racing line - to find tarmac away from where the oil and rubber has gone down. Well the #76 Porsche was visibly brilliant!! Driving right round the absolute outside edge of the track and then putting the power down demonstrably much earlier than anyone else to accelerate away down the Pit Straight! It was visible the time it gained every lap as it disappeared from view past the end of the pit garages! So full marks to that driver!!! Strangely very few other drivers picked up on it even when they were in close proximity and went so radically wide there to copy! And those that did [like Andrew Kirkaldy] took a good few laps to work it out!

[SALEEN S7R]

For me its got to be Mcnish, another sterling performance. Erdos deserves a mention too however, had the RML Lola up to 2nd overall for a while, just a shame Newton isnt up to his level, still hes improving.

[eddsc]

That was Mike Rockenfeller. He was a rather frustrated young man, because he feels that his speed is offset by the relative lack of from his partners. Still, he's got so much talent, he almost managed the impossible - Lieb and Pompidou though, you can't beat the likes of two pros..
I suspect there were more great drives out there than we'll ever really know about. McNish, Minassian, Ortelli, JC-W, Kaufmann, Erdos etc etc. Add Simonsen to that list - he couldn't see - literally.
MC

[Woolley]

I had nowhere to put my entry list where I could see it and then it disintegrated in the rain, so I'm a little stuck for names. Porsches #76 and #90 had some impressive drivers some of the time, Erdos, Short and Campbell-Walter are all worthy of mention too. Most fun was the #99 (I think? sorry, forgotten now, but it was red & white) Ferrari who treated Luffield like a rally corner for much of the race.