A fairly good weather was at the start of the 2009 annual of the 1000 Kilometres race at the Nürburgring. All 38 present cars took the part in the race and everything went well with no incidents and damages in the first corner and laps. Because some of the cars were moved back on the grid for various modern reasons (damaged engines and tyres replacements) it took several laps before some of the LMP2 returned back to their proper positions after running through the GT field. This all helped for example Lucchini to ran very high in class during the early laps.
Stefan Mücke took the early lead ahead Darren Turner in the same Lola Aston Martin factory cars followed by private Aston Martin-powered Lola of team Sebah. After a few laps Bouillon in the Pescarolo, the main Aston Martin's opponent, lost some time on track and fell down behind both Audis and even the Signature private Courage-Oreca. In the meantime, Ginetta-Zytek settled well fourth. The third factory Aston Martin was slow and well down the order this time, just ahead of the LMP2 leader Olivier Pla at the wheel of a Ginetta-Zytek. The Pescarolo continuously recovered through the LMP1 field to take fourth at the end of the first hour but it would be everything good we would see from the car this weekend. Four minutes later it turns to the pits with a broken gearbox and never rejoines.
Ten minutes later we lost another LMP1 car, the Kolles Audi number 15 hits the barriers after Giorgio Mondini lost control while overtaking a backmarker in a Ferrari. This might have been the moment that prevented team Kolles and Audi from the first podium finish this season. In the meantime another LMP1 car had been in the pits for some time, a Lavaggi. Despite it is quite common that the Lavaggi pits and returns back during the races, this time it was not the case. Thus we have only 7 LMP1s left after only 100 minutes of the race, and four of them were Lola Aston Martins. In the middle of the race the Aston Martin 007 had problems with tyres after using the same set for more stints so the Aston Martin 009 easily moved ahead, becoming a second and the only other leader in the race. The third position belonged to Sebah Speedy Lola Aston Martin for almost half distance of the race before problems with electronic halted its progress. During the second hour it ran much quicker than the factory car 009 and closed it very much.
The Speedy Lola problems and the slow co-driver in the Ginetta-Zytek opened the way for the remaining Kolles Audi to run as high as third - something we predicted during our practice sessions report. The slow Aston Martin 008 was next and apart from the private and improving Signature private Oreca there was nothing competitive left in the LMP1 class. In the middle of the fourth hour, the Audi makes unscheduled pitstop, probably some small problems to sort out, but it looses its third position effectively letting factory Lola Aston Martin trio running 1-2-3. Audi returns fourth, relatively close to the Aston Martin 008 but it never recovers to a podium finish. The positions would remain the same, just numbers 009, which led for a longer period in the second half of the race, and 007 swapped positions a couple of times before 007 settled well for the win. Only other notable happening in the LMP1 class became after Dany Watts returned back to the Ginetta-Zytek to replace slow Leventis and tried to recover the car. He managed to move ahead of the Singature car but soon after he crashed the car while going through the traffic touching walls on both sides of the track. It was the end of the race for them. The Signature Courage-Oreca then finished easily fifth in LMP1 but less than a lap ahead of best LMP2 car. The last classified car in LMP1 was in the end the Speedy Lola, which had been repaired after a long time in the garage and then set some very quick laps until the end of the race though running really down the order.
LMP2 race report
The prototype 2 class had only one leader all the time and it was Ginetta-Zytek in hands of Pla and Amaral. They were usually much closer to the regular LMP1 field than to anything else in their own class. Behind them another Zytek ran second early in the race but then the battle for remaining podium finishes belonged to one or another of the four present Lola Coupes. The coupes were originally represented by the quick but completely unreliable Lola Mazda of the team RML. After its early set back it dropped from second to fourth but later was retired - once again because of an engine. The smaller Speedy Lola Judd took the second place but in the second half of the race it followed its larger sister with problems and delays so we have just two Racing Box Lola Coupe left. They kept podium positions almost until the end of the race before the third running Piccini in number 30 loses rear wheel. When out of the pits with new wheels, he was too quick in the first corner and went off to the gravel. It had to be recovered, another trip to the pits followed and the car then generally ran slow, the crew lost three positions in the last few minutes of the race. Pescarolo Mazdas then inherited third and fourth positions.
GT1 race report
The large Grand Touring class was a battler between just two cars. But it was far from being quite boring. For first two hours the Saleen ran just behind the Corvette for a long time. Then a slow driver sat into the Saleen so the Corvette built up a huge lead, especially after further problems had hit the Saleen. Then it looked as an easy win for the Corvette but after four and half hours it was pushed into garage and soon left there. It took some time before the Saleen could overtake the stationary Corvette but even the Corvette appeared at the track. It was for its final lap to be classified and get the championship.
GT2 race report
The GT2 class saw some exciting battles and moments, several (Ferrari) leaders were delayed and in the end it was the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche that took the honours. JMW Ferrari was an early class leader for about two hours but a driveshaft failure and repair took all their chances for a good result away. Then the Modena Ferrari appeared in the lead just a few seconds ahead of the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche. Some 100 minutes before the end of the race, the Modena car driven by Leo Mansell was hit by the Signature Oreca and went off into the gravel with a rear tyre blown. A long way to the pits after the car was recovered cost it no less than five or six laps and also any chances for a podium finish. The Porsche then appeared in a confortable lead, followed by a battle between Spyker (!) and the best of other Ferraris, the Farnbacher car driven by Anthony Beltoise. The Ferrari ran third and was slightly quicker, so Beltoise continuously closed the gap between himself and Coronel in the Dutch car. But Beltoise was impatient when cought the Spyker and wanted to overtake it as soon as possible which led to an avoidable contact and spin for the Spyker. Expected stop & go penalty for the Ferrari did take the place and recovered Spyker could esily re-take the second position in a save distance ahead of nearest Ferrari to maintain it until the finish. It was probably the best race ever for the Spyker marque and also a great success for Tom Coronel and especially Jarek Janiš who returned to racing this year after skipping entire 2008 season due to his 2007 Spa accident. It is nice to see the car in a form because next year we are likely to have no GT1 class so the GT battle would be here and it would be good to have some more competitive marques along with Porsche and Ferrari. The only other manufacturer represented here in the class was an Aston Martin entered by Drayson. Despite finishing the race, it was delayed so much that it became unclassified. Moreover Drayson is moving to the LMP1 class next year.
