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Yokohama Advan Setting The Pace In LMS Finale |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Yokohama ADVAN was setting the pace at Spain’s Jarama circuit this weekend as the Le Mans Series endurance championship concluded its 2006 season.
The ADVAN tyre excelled at the difficult track with Yokohama’s LMP1 class entry, Courage Competition, setting the fastest lap.
Frustratingly, technical difficulties with the LC70 car denied Yokohama ADVAN a victory in the respected championship despite Courage Competition running at the front for much of the race.
French driver, Jean-Marc Gounon, started for the team and was a force to be reckoned with in the first half of the six-hour race as he registered the fastest lap - a blistering 1m24.570s.
Co-driver, Shinji Nakano, showed equally impressive pace, setting comparable lap times, but a starter problem ruined the team’s ambitions for the race when the car was delayed in the pits for 22 minutes putting them out of contention.
The car completed the six-hour race, eventually finishing 5th in its LMP1 class and 12th overall. The sister car, number 12, retired halfway through the race with gearbox problems following an incident involving a GT1 car.
Both Courage Competition and Yokohama ADVAN were delighted with the pace of the car and are confident their LMS experiences of 2006 will be vital in next season’s campaign.
Yokohama ADVAN’s entry to the LMGT2 class, Farnbacher racing, did not complete the race after retiring early on.
Yves Courage, Courage Competition: “The LC70s together with ADVAN have proved again how fast they are with
lap times that were almost always better than those of the competitors.
Too bad some mechanical problems prevented us from showing more in
Jarama.”
Jean- Marc Gounon, Courage Competition: “It’s a real shame to
have lost one car because we were good, we know we have the pace and
the tyres are good but we have serious problems with our gearbox and we
must sort it out for next year.”
Akira Shiraishi, Yokohama: “Congratulations to Shinji Nakano and
Haruki Kurosawa for finishing as high up as they did. Both our teams
suffered with problems today but they showed a real fighting spirit and
great promise for next year.”
Results
| Pos. |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
| Classification (LMP1): |
| 1 |
Emmanuel Collard/Jean-Christophe Boullion/Didier Andre |
Pescarolo Sport |
Pescarolo C60 Judd |
| 2 |
Harold Primat/Marcel Fassler |
Swiss Spirit |
Courage LC70 Judd |
| 3 |
Nicolas Minassian/Felipe Ortiz/Beppe Gabbiani |
Creation Autosportif |
Creation CA06 / Judd |
| 5 |
Shinji Nakano/Haruki Kurosawa |
Courage Competition |
Courage LC70 Mugen |
| Classification (LMGT2): |
| 1 |
Luca Drudi/Gabrio Rosa/Fabrizio De Simone |
GPC Sport |
Ferrari 430 GT |
| 2 |
Robert Bell/Warren Hughes |
Team LNT |
Panoz Esperante GTLM |
| 3 |
Marc Lieb/Joel Camathias |
Autolando Sport |
Porsche 996 GT3 RSR |
| 4 |
Dan Eagling/Tim Sugden |
Virgo Motorsport |
Ferrari 430 GT |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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