Race Results

QUICK RACE REPORT.........

This summary is a compilation of the hour-by-hour reports we posted during the race itself.

Practice

What was a very wet day in middle-England turned out to be a fruitful one for the 2 Creation-AIM cars. New team signing Ryan Lewis very quickly demonstrated his wet weather ability by putting the #14 Creation CA07-AIM 1st on the list where it resided for some time, before being pipped by Pedro Lamy's factory Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP. It would appear that Ryan had adapted very quickly to the Creation!

"I just did what comes naturally to me" the Hertfordshire (UK) driver. I haven't driven in the UK for over a year and the moment I return to Silverstone the heavens open (!) but it's all good. The Creation AIM team is fabulous, a great team of mechanics and clearly the car is good. I have a good team mate in Stephen Simpson".

By the end of the second session Stuart Hall and Jamie Campbell-Walter in the sister #15 Creation CA07-AIM had posted a time good enough for 5th, with only the 4 diesel entries (Audi and Peugeot) ahead of them, so in essence we were the first of the petrol cars. Not far behind were Lewis and Simpson in 9th, so both Creation-AIM's in the top 10 bodes well for tomorrow's qualifying session.

Qualifying

Saturday qualifying saw the Creation #14 with Stephen Simpson at the wheel, put in a fine lap to place the CA07-AIM 9th on the grid. Jamie Campbell-Walter in the sister Creation AIM #15 was unable to better the South African's time and settled for 11th to start the Autosport 1000kms.

Race

Race 1st hour - Conditions were dry for the start of the final round of the Le Mans Series. Both Creation CA07-AIM's held position, close together on-track for almost the full hour (31 laps), with Stephen Simpson heading Jamie Campbell-Walter in 10th and 11th respectively. Still with 5 hours to go and both cars are in contention. Routine pitstops for both cars are trouble-free and they are sent back into the race. One hour and 7 minutes into the race and Stephen is forced to pit again, this time for a 'Stop and Go' penalty. At this moment the reason is not clear. He rejoins in 13th overall (9th in LMP1).

After a drama filled second hour both Creation CA07-AIM's have climbed firmly into the top 10. Stephen Simpson has progressed to 4th in class (7th o/a) and Stuart Hall who took over from JC-W has moved up to 9th in LMP1.

Race leader and ex-Creation driver Nic Minassian (Peugeot factory team) collided with the Matmut Racing GT2 Porsche, thus rendering both cars as retirements. A sad end to Nic's challenge for the championship. As a result of the Safety Car intervention cars dived into the pits to make frantic pit stops and both Creation AIM's took advantage of the situation. As the hour progressed there was a further accident involving one of the factory Audi TDi R10's and the other factory Peugeot and again, both cars were sent to their pit stalls for repairs.

Staying out of trouble, Simpson nuckled down to some extremely quick and consistent lappery, and that philosophy has so far paid off, though he does still have to make a pit stop to hand over to team mate Ryan Lewis. Slightly further back Stuart Hall has picked up a couple of places to edge into the LMP1 top 10, so both Creation AIM's are still in contention.

Updating the info, and Simpson has finally pitted, losing several places (now running in 11th in LMP1) but he had to make the stop and hand over to Lewis. Thus, Stuart Hall, who has plugged away in the sister #15 Creation CA07-AIM now finds himself in 8th overall, and 6th in class having completed 66 laps. Creation #14 update - after a slow getaway from the pitlane Stephen Simpson reports that the car has a clutch issue. The team has bled the system and Ryan is back on his way but quite a lot of time is lost.

Stephen commented "It’s a pity about the clutch problem; the #14 Kyalami Creation AIM is fantastic to drive today, and it was great fun in the opening 2 hours. It was also good to set some fast lap times and move the car into contention" At the time of writing we have completed 100 laps and 3 hours have passed. Stuart Hall has moved the #15 Creation CA07-AIM up to 7th place and still in contention with nearly 3 hours of the race still to run. Currently he is chasing the 'Oreca Matmut' Courage of Stephane Ortelli and lapping around 2 tenths faster than the Frenchman.

Sadly the sister #14 car after such a strong showing in the first 2 hours, has been in the pit garage for a good amount of the 3rd hour with a clutch problem. Stephen Simpson excelled yet again and is proving to be a front running, safe and consistent sports car driver. Bad luck for Ryan Lewis who 'inherited' the clutch problem as he was due to start his first race stint behind the wheel of a Creation AIM. The factory 'Shell Audi TDi' of Mike Rockenfeller leads the race, followed by Jan Charouz in the 'Lola Aston-Martin' and the 'Oreca Matmut Racing' Courage of Nic Lapierre. After a spate of incidents and Safety Car laps the race appears to have settled down into the 4th hour.. Jamie Campbell-Walter in the Creation AIM #14 has moved into 5th place (and 3rd in the 'petrol class') after a solid and consistent stint. Ahead of him are 2 factory diesel Audi's, the Charouz Lola Aston Martin of Stefan Mucke and the Pescarolo-Judd LMP1. As pit stops cycle through Jamie rejoins the race in 6th overall, just 4 seconds shy of Jean-Christophe Boullion's Pescarolo with both cars lapping in the 1.37's, so with over 4 hours elapsed the race is as-ever close and frantic - much 'unlike' the Formula 1 race from Monza from today which was pretty much a non-event! We have now completed 5 pit stops, all on schedule, and 147 laps.

Jamie is now just 2 seconds behind the 'Boullion Pescarolo'. Thanks to some hard labour from the Creation mechanics, the #15 car with Ryan Lewis behind the wheel has rejoined the race, albeit a long way down the order. Ryan is putting in some good consistent laps - in the 1.38's.

Having covered 13 laps Ryan Lewis is reported to be having problems on the track. We'll try and bring you an update on that just as soon as we can. Further to the above, we're not sure what happened to Ryan but he appears to be lapping consistently again, now having ticked off 16 laps in this stint (currently 39th place overall, 13th in class).

After completing 191 laps the Creation #15 was classified 5th (3rd in the petrol class). A great effort by the entire team.

BACK