Donington Park ELMS - 14/04/2001   Friday Free Practice   Several observations put this series into perspective. The line up of trucks in the paddock absolutely reflects the level the A or E LMS operates at. The intent with which the top four GT cars enter the pitlane – as they would in the race, every time – suggests a desire to save fractions that isn’t apparent in other series. And the cars themselves? It may be downright chilly here, but cars such as these, driven at this pace, are a magic sight. The hour’s free practice this morning - the second and last chance to adjust the car’s before Qualifying this afternoon – saw the Audi R8s take up the expected 1-2-3, but the Gulf car split the Joest cars. Perhaps the real potential of the silver R8s was Tom Kristensen’s 1:21.004, a full second faster than Johansson in the #7 2000 model R8. Biela / Pirro were two tenths down on the privateer car, and only a tenth ahead of the Chrysler. That was Beretta again, and this car is the surprise of the 900 class here. The Courage was much quicker than yesterday (with full power), but a second and a half slower than Beretta’s best. Another half second down was the best of the Panoz LMP07s. Brabham and Magnussen are happy with the reliability of the car, but the Dane feels that “we still have some way to go with the car and the engine to be competitive at the Le Mans Test Day.” The Westward Panoz had a quick spin round the back of the circuit, but Jay Cochran set a good 1:25.022, slightly quicker than the lead Ascari. Ben Collins: “If we find a clear lap, we can improve by a second and a half. It should be easier in Qualfying, without the GTs.” The newer Ascari was in trouble with oil and water mixing, probably in a heat exchanger and therefore a straightforward matter to solve. A locking brake saw this one off the track before that. The Barbour Reynard was outside the 90 second bracket, only completing seven flying laps before coming in for a ratio change. Eric van de Poele was looking at “a 2.5 second improvement on set-up alone.” Very early days for the revised 675 Reynard, which Kieron Salter reckoned still has some scope for weight saving. It was a second and a half down on the Rowan Pilbeam, which is currently using a 3 litre V6, as in the FIA SCC, but larger restrictors allow it to develop 40 more bhp. Carbon brakes will be fitted for Le Mans. The Konrad Saleen was appreciably quicker than the newer RML car, which was lacking front end grip. The BMW Motorsport and Job entries are in another league in GT. The Job Porsches had to have some interesting rear end mods. removed in scrutineering yesterday, but they are still massively quicker than any other 911s. They’re not as quick as the V8 BMWs though, which have been 1-2 in both sessions of the meeting so far. The M3 GTRs are visibly quicker in a straight line, and all the BMW drivers seem to be on a mission to leave their pit as fast as possible, with some lovely black lines left on the tarmac. Johnny Mowlem was two and a half seconds down on the Job cars in the lead Seikel Porsche, and followed by the Kye Wankum entry, the two PK / Ricardo cars and the second Seikel entry. It looks like staying cool and dry, and it’s Qualifying next. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport