For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Cell: 317-201-0729
Horag Racing Finishes Second in LMP2
In Sunday's 1,000 Km of Spa
SPA, Belgium, May 11 - After finishing third in class at Monza, Italy 14 days
ago, Horag Racing placed a strong second in the LMP2 class Sunday in the
1,000 Kilometers of Spa Le Mans Series race at the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps.
The Lista Office and Lista, Making Workspace Work Porsche RS Spyder No. 27
led the class for more than two hours of the race, which ended after 5:17:48 had
elapsed and the overall winning Peugeot had circled the 7.003-km, 15-turn
road course 143 times.
Horag Racing's No. 27 finished on the same lap as the class winner, another
Porsche RS Spyder fielded by Van Merksteijn Motorsport, as both completed 138
laps. What's more, the Horag team was only 10.387 seconds behind the class
winner at the end.
Team Essex made it a Porsche RS Spyder class sweep. It was three laps behind
the Horag No. 27 at the checkered.
In its first four races, the brand-new Horag Porsche RS Spyder has been on
the podium twice, in the top five three times, and never worst than sixth in
class.
For the bulk of Sunday's race the LMP2 class battle was between the Van
Merksteijn Porsche, the Horag Porsche and the Speedy Racing Team Lola Judd. The
latter had difficulties around the 114-lap mark, opening the door for Team Essex
to move up. There were 15 cars in the LMP2 class out of the 46 overall
entries.
Fredy Lienhard of Niederteufen, Switzerland decided not to drive in this race
due to back pain, so Jan Lammers of Katwyk, the Netherlands, and Belgium's
Didier Theys of Scottsdale, Ariz., did all the driving Sunday.
Theys qualified fourth on Saturday in a session delayed by three red flags.
He had to abort what would have been his fastest lap in quals due to a red
flag, but he still qualified with a 2:06.955, just 0.606 of a second slower than
third.
Lammers started the race, Theys drove in the middle and Lammers finished the
event, which was held under warm and sunny conditions and attracted some
35,000 spectators. The car was very competitive throughout.
The class winner was a bit faster on Sunday, but being able to finish on the
same lap, just 10 seconds behind in second place, was very satisfying for the
Swiss team. Lammers set the No. 27's fastest race on its lap 117 with a
2:07.664, which at 197.478 kilometers per hour was the third-fastest race lap for
the class.
As far as the official hourly reports go, the No. 27 was third in class at
the end of hour one, leading at the end of hour two, and second at the end of
hours three, four and five. The Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche finished sixth
overall; Horag Racing was seventh overall and Team Essex was eighth overall.
"We had a very good race," Theys said afterwards. "Fredy didn't want to take
any chances with his back, so he decided to just watch this one.
"We were first for more than two hours. Jan started the race and had a good
stint, then I got in and also had a good stint. Then Jan got in at the end too,
and again, we had no problems. We had a good set-up. Neither Jan nor I had
contact with anybody. It was a very nice and clean race for us, without any
drama. The pit stops were perfect; everybody did a very good job.
"The car that won was a little faster than we were, but we got second and it
was a good fight in all the classes from the beginning until the end," he
concluded. "Everybody is happy with the results."
The race was broadcast on Eurosport and Motors TV, with live audio provided
on the Internet at radiolemans.com.
Horag Racing was fourth in the LMP2 point standings going into this race.
Unofficially it is now third, just five points out of second and 11 out of first.
Horag Racing does not plan to complete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans June 14-15,
so its next race is at Germany's Nurburgring Aug. 15-17. The season finale is
Sept. 12-14 at Silverstone, England.
More information is available on horag-racing.com and lemans-series.com.