At the LMS season opener in Castellet, Audi debuted the R15 plus with resounding success. They campaigned a single car for Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello which dominated the race by over five laps at the finish.
Primary competition was expected to come from the privately entered ORECA Peugeot 908. This local team was racing a Peugeot for the first time and Nicolas Lapierre’s effort looked promising after winning qualifying. During the race, the car was running well, but was forced to make a repair to the air jacks which cost 18 minutes. This let the 009 Aston Martin take second position ahead of the new Lola B10/60 Coupé from Rebellion Racing.
GT2 was largely a Porsche vs Ferrari affair since the new BMW Team Schnitzer M3 GT2 was seriously off pace. In the end Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsches finished with a 1-2 ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari which was on the same lap. There isn’t much to report on in the GT1 class since only one Saleen was entered with no competition. We look forward to the next round at SPA which will have a full factory contingent of Audis and Peugeots.
