THURSDAY 12 JUNE 2008

WEDNESDAY QUALIFYING WITH PIERRE KAFFER AND PIERRE EHRET
Lars Erik Nielsen together with his German team mates Pierre Ehret and Pierre Kaffer have completed their first day of qualifying at this years Le Mans 24 Hour.

Whilst both Kaffer and Ehret are familiar with the Farnbacher Racing Ferrari 430 GT2, Nielsen is coming up to speed with the Italian stallion, having elected to move away from his regular Porsche 997 GT3 RSR he drives in the Le Mans Series.

The trio make for an excellent line up.

Nielsen was 2nd at Le Mans in 2006 and 3rd last year. Kaffer has recently taken 2nd at the Nürburgring 24 Hour where he drove two cars for two different teams that were running 2nd and third at the same time. That makes for some interesting podium combinations! And Ehret, Nielsen's 2007 Le Mans 24 Hour co-driver, is making waves in this years Le Mans Series with several top results currently leaving him in 2nd position amongst the highly competitive GT2 class.

The Le Mans 24 Hour event kicked off though on Monday with the compulsory technical inspection being held in the town of Le Mans itself. It is always a great opportunity for the crowds to get up close to the drivers, free of charge, and for the drivers to talk up their race ambitions.

That was no problem for the Farnbacher Team, breezing through tech without a hitch, allowing the drivers plenty of time to mingle.


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Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon and you can feel the tension in the paddock. So much talk and thought about the world's greatest sportcar race has gone on but now its time for action.

For the first time this season, Dunlop is getting behind a second team, supplying the extra special rubber. Normally, only Virgo Moorsports Ferrari would be the benificary of the sticky stuff, but now Farnbacher gets a shot at it. It seems only fair as Lars explains.

"Le Mans is very much a tyre war and typically dominated by Michelin. We ran them on the Porsche for the last few years and in fact every 21st century winner has been Michelin so it makes sense that Dunlop want to make a big impact here and thats obviously why they are seeding teams for the good stuff. I mean GT2 is never going to win the event outright and you'd have to be a very wild better to think that neither Audi or Peugeot won't win on Michelins, but they are prototypes and the public can't but them. You can buy a Ferrari 430 though and thats where it makes sense for Dunlop."


Wednesday 7pm and its the first of two 2 hour hour qualifying sessions.

Pierre Kaffer is first out and completes an instalation lap before heading out once again to set a fast time during relatively warm evening. The forecast is not very good however, so qualifying must be approached with the thought that Thursday will be wet and hence the times almost irrelevant. He turns in a lap time of 4.05. A Peugeot LMP1 has just broken the lap record, getting down to 3.18.

With such a gap between LMP1 and GT2, in terms of time and speed, its almost a race of survival for the 'slowest' category. Rear vision is all important and the Ferrari does not offer the same level of visibility that the Porsche had.

Now Lars is in the car and is happy with the way it feels but he is putting a lot of effort into what behind him, not whats in front.

"Yes its certainly different to the Porsche. I'm used to traffic in LMS but here its a bit trickier. We have an electronic mirror in the car as well because there is zero vision behind the bulkhead. But we'll be fine because it works both ways. The faster prototypes don't want to get clouted by a slower car so they will take their time making a pass. It is a 24 hour race not a sprint.

"The car is nice to drive though and it tracks the long sweeping corners better than the Porsche. A 997 lets you stuff it into a corner and then it wiggles around a bit but the Ferrari likes you to get your braking done early, let it settle and then drive it through the corner. I'm liking it."

Pierre Ehret is now in the car. He's familar with it and is fine with the traffic. Now he's evaluating the new rubber.

"It's pretty good these Dunlops. I'm just getting a feel for where they have the edge over our regular ones. This isn't a highly tyre sensitive track though. The long straights lets them cool quickly and then they are ready for action again. It's going to be cooler on Thurday night, so if it doesn't rain I guess we'll be able to set our fast time just after 10pm."


The Danish/German pairing end up 9th in GT2 after the Wednesday night session closes - cut short by a massive accident with Hediki Noda at the wheel in the Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola Mazda.

It's the same car Lars Erik's LMS teammate Allan Simonsen is in, making his prototype debut. Hopefully they will get it repaired.

Lars reflects on qualifying, "I think you can win your class from pitlane here. Qualifying here is very much prestige and whilst we all want to get class pole it isn't that critical. The IMSA/Matmut and Flying Lizard Porsche are on top at the moment and they are doing the same as us –296kph – down Mulsanne so you can see we're very much in the window.

A dedicated microsite to support Farnbacher Racing at Le Mans is available at www.2008lemans24hour.com.

In a strange twist, the same website, built by HOTLAP is keeping track of another Le Mans attacker - the KSM Lola Mazda that just binned itself last night. The latest word is it will be fixed! So keep a close eye on the site as it continuously develops.

Live Timing from Le Mans 24 Hour is available here.

Live trackside audio commentary from RADIO LEMANS is available here.

Download Wednesday qualifying times thanks to DailySportsCar.com