After visits to Japan and California, this reporter was looking forward to returning to Europe for the four class ILMS race at Circuit Paul Richard, located at Le Castellet, near Marseille, France. Missed flight connections caused me to arrive at the track as the cars were forming up on the grid for the recon lap and the start of the race. I wondered about the setups that each team had chosen for the race. With its mile long Mistral Straight and 5.809km (3.610 mile) track length, Circuit Paul Richard is one track where top end speed could be a much desired commodity. Would everyone opt for a low-down force setup to secure the highest possible top end speed on the straight? And how would those cars handle in the complex of turns beginning with turn 6 and ending at turn 10 which leads on to the front straight? Would those drivers be forced to dirt-track their cars through the turning sections? How many teams would decide to give up as much as ten miles per hour in top end speed to secure a more stable and faster car through the “twisting” sections? Which set up had the advantage?
Circuit Paul Richard
The track was constructed in 1969 by Paul Richard, an eccentric drinks magnate, who built the track with the goal of learning what it would be like to build a highway. The track hosted its first competition in 1970. The track facility is somewhat unique in the fact that in addition to the race track, Richard also constructed a large industrial park and an adjacent airstrip large enough to handle jet traffic. For several years the track was considered to the safest road course track in the world.
Formula One, Motorcycles, and even trucks have contested races at Paul Richard. It hosted its first Grand Prix in 1971 with Jackie Stewart winning the race in a Tyrrell-Ford. Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost are the only multiple F-1 winners at the track. Prost who won a total of four races at the track did so for three different manufacturers. In 1983, Prost drove a Renault to a very popular French F-1 victory. Prost won three races in a row beginning in 1988. In 1988 and 1989, Prost drove a McLaren-Honda to back to back victories and follow them up with a Ferrari victory in 1990 which was the last year Paul Richard hosted an F-1 event. Prost considers Paul Richard as his home track. Mario Andretti was the only North American driver to score an F-1 victory at Paul Richard. Andretti won the 1978 F-1 race driving a Lotus-Ford.
In the 1990s, the track lost popularity and hosted motorcycle racing and French national racing. After his death, Paul Richard’s family decided to sell the track and in May 1999, the track was purchased by Excelis, a company owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One promoter. It is somewhat surprising that after the sale to Ecclestone, the French Formula One did not return to Paul Richard from Magny-Cours where the French Grand Prix has been held every year beginning in 1991.
Following its purchase by Excelis, Circuit Paul Richard was rebuilt into a very advanced test track and it is now known as the Paul Richard High Tech Test Track (Paul Richard HTTT). Since that time, Paul Richard has only hosted one official race – the 2006 Paul Richard 500km, a round of the FIA GT Championship. During the rebuild, the gravel run-off area were reconstructed with high tech run offs known as the Blue Zone and the Red Zones. Because of favorable weather conditions and the availability of the landing strip adjacent to the track, Paul Richard is used extensively as a test facility of several Formula One and other race teams.
The arrival of the ILMS will certainly fuel speculation that the track may once again schedule spectator races. Could Ecclestone be thinking about moving the French Grand Prix back to Paul Richard? Would he consider an arrangement similar to the Japanese Grand Prix where two tracks host the Grand Prix on an alternating basis? Could the European LeMans organization be thinking about finding another French venue in addition to the sacred LeMans course?
Thirty-eight teams ILMS arrived at Paul Richard on Friday to begin preparing for the 75 minute race scheduled for Monday, June 16th. There were nine P-1 cars – 3 Audi R8s, 3 Pescarolo C60s, 2 Dome S101Ms and a single MG-Lola EX264. Nine P-2s were on hand including 4 Porsche RS Spyders, 4 MG-Lola EX257s, and a single Dome S101J. Of the eleven GT-1s entered, 5 were Corvette C6-Rs and the other 6 cars equally divided between Viper SRT-10s, Saleen S7rs, and Aston Martin DBR9s. In GT-2, there were nine cars equally divided between Ferrari 360GTCs, Porsche GT3 RSRs, and BMW E46 M3 GTRs.
As I expected, the P-1 cars had put down some very quick times and occupied the first four rows on the grid. Qualifying on the pole was Drew McLean driving the number 754 LMS MG-Lola EX264 with a lap time of 1:32.8. Second on the grid was Raymond Rieux driving the number 5 ILMS John Player Special Audi R8 with a lap of 1:33.3; third on the grid was Pierre-Yves Mona, driving the number 754 ILMS Audi R8 with a lap of 1:33.6 and completing the second row was Scott Arrington driving the number 759 ILMS Pescarolo C60. Pawel Korbel was 5th in the number 11 Happy Rays Racing Pescarolo C60 followed by Mitchell Weirich in the number 10 Torrent Motorsports Audi, Chuck Penfield in the number 772 IMLS Vodafone Dome S101M and Mike Bennett driving the number 123 KRABS Racing Team Pescarolo C60. Conspicuously absent from the front of the grid was Bruce Fisher in his Talon Racing Dome S101M. Fisher has been showing increased speed and determination over the past few weeks, but encountered an unknown issue that prevented him from turning a qualifying lap.
Drew McLean P-1 Pole
Ninth over-all and first in P-2 was Jake Witcher driving the number 9 Melling Racing MG-Lola EX257 with a time of 1:36.2. Second in P-2 and 10th on the grid was Paul Harwood in the number 66 Harwood Racing MG-Lola EX257. Third in class and 11th on grid was Jerry Daniels with a lap of 1:36.4 driving his Talon Racing Porsche RS Spyder. Completing the second row of P-2 racers was Michael Muldoon in the number 708 ILMS Team Fosters Porsche RS Spyder,
Jake Witcher P-2 Pole
In GT-1, the C6-R Corvettes found a track to their liking and were able to grab the GT-1 pole position. First in class and 18th overall was Rob Janca driving the number 750 ILMS Monster Energy Racing Corvette C6-R with a time of 1:40.7 ; second was number 728 Rick Adams with a time of 1:41.0 in another Corvette; third in with a time of 1:41.4 in yet another C6-R Corvette was number 06 driven by Terry Fisher. Next in class was Graham Swartz driving a Saleen S7R and he was followed by the number 29 Aston Martin DBR9 driven by Bob Cowden who has been fast and racing during the past few events. And in 24th overall was Tommy Christian in the number 90 Feint Motion Motorsports Viper SRT-10.
Rob Janca GT-1 Pole
In GT-2, first in class and 29th overall was Larry Ford driving his number 44 Texas Racing Ferrari 360 GTC to a time of 1:46.5. Teammate John Prince driving an identical Ferrari 360 GTC put up a time of 1:48.2 to place 30th overall and third in the first Porsche GT3 RSR was Claro Palma in the number 858 Stelvio Racing Porsche with a time of 1:48.7. Larry Hanson led the BMW qualifiers with a time of 1:50.8 which was good for 34th position on the grid.
Larry Ford GT-2 Pole and Class Race Winner
The start of the race was a bit scrambled. Driving the number 99 EllisDon Racing Porsche RS Spyder, Ed Caranci has problems leaving the grid on the recon lap, but eventually gets away and seems to have difficulties shifting, but catches up with the field and finds his place on the grid. At the start of the race, Caranci again is left sitting there again. The replay from his in car camera, shows that he is in neutral and with the tach showing mid-range RPMs. He was clobbered by Robert Kozak who apparently did not see Caranci was dead on the grid. Caranci was eliminated from the race as a result of the crash and Kozak continued on for 15 laps after which he suffered an engine failure (probably due to overheating from a crushed radiator) and was eliminated.
Caranci - Kozak Crash
An even stranger event is about to happen at the front of the grid. On lap 3, the leader McLean spins out and Raymond Rieux takes the lead and is the leader at the end of lap 3. During lap 4, Rieux has problems lapping the BMW of Susan Boyle and Rieux is rear ended by Scott Arrington who apparently didn’t see that Rieux had reduced his speed. Rieux eliminated and Arrington fell out of the race after 10 laps with suspension failure that obviously resulted in the accident with Rieux.
Race Winner’s View of Rieux - Arrington Crash
Both Caranci and Rieux are deserving of the new Hard Luck Driver of the Race award that I am starting with this race. After reviewing the replay this morning, I’ve decided the Hard Luck Racer Award goes to Pawel Korbel, the driver of the number 11 Happy Rays Racing Pescarolo C60. After the early action, Korbel took command of the race and appeared to have the race all locked up. It appeared that nothing could keep him from the top step on P-1 and overall podium. His race engineer apparently miscalculated his fuel consumption because Korbel slowed and entered the pits with less than one minute remaining in the 75 minute race. Upset about the unplanned pit stop, Korbel apparently failed to notice that he was lined up with a curb that extends out into the pit lane forming part of the victory stand and he crashes hard ending his race. While driver brain fade might be listed as the cause of this unfortunate accident, I simply cannot give this award to anyone other than Korbel who drove a brilliant race up until the moment he crashed.
After viewing the strange occurrences in the race, I could not have been any stranger if it had been staged during Halloween instead of in the month of June. These events do not detract from the fact that several drivers achieved personal bests in the race and the race saw a couple of drivers win the first race in their careers in ILMS racing. Each of the winners drove exceptional races to take their first wins.
In P-1, Pierre-Yves Mona in his # 754 ILMS Audi R8 inherited the lead from Korbel and became a first time winner. His race was well planned and he was right there to get the lead when Korbel crashed. Second was, Bruce Fisher who started dead last and made 31 overtakes racing his way through the entire field to finish 2nd overall. And my “Racer of the Week” award goes to Fisher in this # 19 Talon Racing Dome S101M. Third in class went to fast qualifier Drew McLean who recovered from his early spin in his # 950 MG-Lola EX264. And fourth in class was Pawel Korbel in his Pescarolo C60. How is that for Halloween-like strangeness all four P-1 manufacturers represented in the first four places?
Pierre-Yves Mona 1st Overall
In P-2, Jerry Daniels had his best race of the season. He drove a steady race and made no mistakes to claim 5th place overall and his first win in the # 16 Talon Racing Cytomax Porsche RS Spyder. (Dad is proud! Nice race, Jer!) Second in class was Mike Hirsch in the # 921 ILMS Deutrsche Telekom MG-Lola EX257 and he was followed across the line by Mik Mercier in the # 101 Team Quebec MG-Lola EX257.
Jerry Daniels P-2 Winner
In GT-1, Feint Motion Motorsports once again showed the form that led to multiple podium finishes for the team earlier in the season. Finishing first in GT-1 and 8th overall was Chris Chappell in the Feint Motion Motorsports Corvette C6-R and right behind him was his teammate Tommy Christian driving the Feint Motion Motorsports Viper SRT-10 and finishing third in class was Graham Swartz, driving the # 746 ILMS Saleen S7R and fourth in class was Bob Cowden who has been on a hot streak during the past few races. Cowden was driving an Aston Martin DBR9 making it possible for GT-1 to have all four of its manufacturers represented in the top four finishers. Is that strange or what? Both P-1 and GT-1 have four manufacturers and in the same race all of are represented in the top four places in class. Is it Halloween?
GT-1 Feint Motion Motorsports 1st and 2nd places.
In GT-2, where the rivalry between Ferrari and Porsche is anything but recreational, new comer Larry Ford finished 17th overall to claim the top podium step in his # 44 Ferrari 360 GTC. In second place was Claro Palma driving the # 858 Porsche GT3 RSR and third in class went to James Bowders in his # 94 Red Weasel Racing BMW E46 M3 GTR. This is getting too much like Halloween. GT-3 has three manufacturers and all three of them found spots on the class podium.
The two class Grand Touring Series resumes on June 23rd with a race at Autopolis followed by a break for the 4th of July week and on July 7th LMC season will resume with a race at Assen. It’s the half way point of the season and the completion between drivers and manufacturers is definitely heating up. Don’t miss any of the action – if you do, you will regret it.
