The curtain was brought down on the European Le Mans Series (LMS) with an excellent weekend of racing at Silverstone. With Audi proving they were still quick and taking pole on Saturday, all eyes turned to Peugeot to see if they could respond during the race on Sunday. Extra pressure was on the teams with this race also being the first in the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC). Nobody wanted to lose.
Unfortunately for Audi the duel at the front with Peugeot lasted just 15 laps, before the Audi with Allan McNish at the wheel was retired from the font with electrical problems. Although the second Audi driven by Dindo Capello and Timo Bernhard continued to finish in third place they were unable to unsettle the Peugeot team. British driver Anthony Davidson, alongside Nicolas Minassian drove a flawless race to bring the Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP through to take the chequered flag.
There were equally big smiles from Team Oreca Matmut as Nicola Lapierre and Stephane Sarrazin brought their Peugeot home in second to give the team the overall LMS Championship after a hard season. Perhaps not surprisingly Stephane Sarrazin also won the driver title this year. The Signature Plus team finished in a creditable runner-up with Rebellion Racing finishing third overall.
Once again the Strakka Racing team dominated the LMP2 race. Although they were challenged by Quifel ASM at Silverstone, the British driving team of Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis & Danny Watts led the field from start to finish. Despite the impressive results from Strakka Racing, due to their retirements earlier in the season, the overall LMS Championship went to the Lola of RML Motorsport. The car driven by Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and Ben Collins just needed to stay out of trouble to take the overall win, and subsequently finished fourth.
The GT2 class has been a battle between Ferrari & Porsche all year. At Silverstone the AF Corse Ferrari F430 GTC came home in front of Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, with the Aston Martin Vantage of JMW Motorsport finishing in third. However, it was the Porsche 997 of Team Felbermayr Proton, finishing in fifth here with Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz at the wheel, that took the highly competitive LMS GT2 Championship 2010.
Photos courtesy of DPPI.