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European Le Mans
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PRESS
INFORMATION
RACE
RESULT
Courage
Takes First ELMS Win in Dramatic Circumstances
Estoril,
Portugal - Sunday 15th
July 2001:
The Pescarolo Sport Courage C60, with Boris
Derichebourg at the wheel, took the chequered flag in controversial
circumstances at the end of a gruelling six hour endurance race at
Estoril in Portugal today. An accident between the two leading prototypes ended what
look like a certain victory for the Johansson Racing Audi R8 and with it
a guaranteed entry in next years 24 hour Le Mans.
At the start of the race the lead cars disappeared
into the distance, with the GTS class being headed by the Konrad
Motorsport Saleen. In the
highly competitive GT class the pole sitter, Mike Youles in the PK Sport
Porsche lost out to Xavier Pompidou in the Freisinger entered Porsche.
With only 15 minutes of the race completed the safety car was
deployed after the Skea Racing Porsche driven by Richard Dean dropped a
trail of oil on the track after being hit from behind.
For quarter of an hour the cars circulated behind the safety car
before being released to start the race again.
The Courage C60 went into the lead when the Audi dived into the
pit lane for its first scheduled stop as the race entered it second
hour. For ten minutes the French team led the race before stopping
for the first time. When the car exited the pits they were just 8
seconds adrift of the Gulf Audi driven by Stefan Johansson.
The
675 prototype of Didier Bonnet Racing was running well until the car
lost a wheel when a spindle broke just after two hours into the race.
The GTS battle took a turn when Franz Konrad came into the pits
to change with Walter Brun. The
Konrad team lost the lead to the RML Saleen as Bruno Lambert elected to
stay in the car when he
came in the very next lap, a lead that RML didn’t lose for the rest of
the race.
In
GT, the battle to watch was the two Porsches of Pompidou and Robin
Liddell who took over from Youles in the PK Sport Porsche.
These two cars left the rest of the 12 car GT field in their wake
and even after 150 laps they were only 3 or 4 seconds seconds apart.
With
less than hour of the race remaining the Courage was a lap behind the
Audi R8 of Gulf sponsored Johansson Racing.
After the final pitstops Derichbourg found himself right behind
the Audi as they entered the first corner.
As he tried to unlap himself the two cars touched, spinning the
hapless Tom Coronel at the wheel of the R8, into an uncontrollable spin.
The car took off, hitting the catch fencing, before coming to
rest in the gravel trap, parts of the car hitting two marshals causing
minor cuts and bruises to the two officials.
Debris littered the track as a very unhappy Coronel walked back
to the pits.
After
the safety car period the Courage C60 paced itself to the line, 12 laps
ahead of the second placed RML Saleen and 16 laps ahead of the Konrad
Motorsport Saleen. Roman
Dumas brought the Freisinger Porsche home just 3.2 seconds ahead of the
PK Sport machine. After the
race Boris Derichebourg apologised to the Audi Team for his mistake, but
was happy to win the race and guarantee Pescarolo Sport a slot at the
2002 24 Hours Le Mans.
Round
3 – Estoril 1000 km – Race Result
1
72
900
J-C Boullion/ Redon / Derichebourg
Courage C60
6:00:21.719
2
41
GTS Lambert
/ McKellar / Goodwin
Saleen S7R
+12 Laps
3
26
GTS Konrad
/ Brun / Slater
Saleen S7R
+16 Laps
4
77
GT
Pompidou / Dumas
Porsche
+18 Laps
5
60
GT
Youles / Liddell / Maserati
Porsche
+18 Laps
6
66
GT
Simmons/Rymer/Pickering
Porsche
+20 Laps
7
52
GT
Lister / Wallinder / Breyner
Porsche
+20 Laps
8
65
GT
Orti / Villaroel / Sa Nogueira
Porsche
+21 Laps
9
70
GT
Alphand / Marques
Porsche
+22 Laps
10
61
GT
Humphrey / Moss / Demeroutis
Porsche
+25 Laps
11
63
GT
Noel / Caternet / Schoysman
Porsche
+28 Laps
12
56
GTS Monteiro/
Verdon-Roe/ Breyner
Chrysler
+28 Laps
13
74
GT
Rata / Sheldon / Jakobitsch
Porsche
+29 Laps
14
68
GT
Walters/ Bellamy
Chevrolet
+37 Laps
-
ENDS -
For
further information contact Martin Allerton
Mobile: +44 (0)7767 317399