MOTOR SPORTS NEWS

Latest News

  • M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally Finland
  • Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to Anthony Janiec
  • Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner
  • Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior British Rally Championship Victory for Kyle & Sean
  • King of the Mk2 returns for 2022 Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally 
  • Home
  • News
  • Dakar
    • DAKAR 2016
    • Dakar 2015
  • Cross-Country Rally
  • Notice Board
  • Rally
  • Motorbike
  • Touring Cars
  • Circuit Racing
  • Events
  • follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Pinterest
    • RSS Feed
    • Linked
    • Youtube

Murphy Prototypes overcomes challenges to qualify P8 in LMP2 class at Le Mans

Jun 13, 2015


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Tweet

The Murphy Prototypes Endurance Racing Team has qualified eighth in the highly competitive LMP2 category for this weekend’s 83rd running of the 24-Hours of Le Mans.

Following the build-up to the most famous endurance race in the world, which included scrutineering, public displays, autograph signing and other promotional activities, the 56 teams taking part in this year’s Le Mans 24-hours took to the 13.629km (8.46-mile) Circuit de la Sarthe for the first time since the official test 10-days ago, for four-hours of Free Practice at 4.00pm on Wednesday (10th June).

Karun Chandhok was the first in the car, initially driving in wet conditions following a downpour earlier in the afternoon. He then handed over to Mark Patterson who, after a few laps, began to explore the levels of grip on the drying track, which resulted in a spin at the Porsche Curves, significant contact with a barrier, a red flag and a trip to the pits on the back of a recovery truck.

Thankfully Mark was unharmed, but the same could not be said for the team’s Nissan-powered Oreca 03R. With around three hours before the first of the event’s three, two-hour qualifying sessions, the team’s technicians set to work to repair the damage. This involved replacing the suspension, much of the bodywork and a number of other ancillary items.

After a truly determined effort, the car was ready with 25-minutes of the qualifying session left and, although held up by slower cars, Nathanaël Berthon was able to set a lap time that meant with rain forecast for the two, two-hour qualifying sessions the following day, whatever happened the team would start ahead of the slower GT cars at the latter end of the field.

With the second qualifying session not taking place until 7.00pm on Thursday, it gave the Murphy team more time to work on the car following the previous day’s incident. As it transpired, the weather proved the forecasters wrong and, after a hot and sultry day, conditions were dry when Nathanaël took the car out for the first stint. After 30-minutes, the lap charts showed him set the fourth-fastest LMP2 time, underlining that the team was back in the game.

Mark was next in the car and quickly laid the spectre of his previous day’s encounter to rest. However, his stint was cut short again, this time when another competitor hit a barrier with 42-minutes remaining, forcing the organisers to abandon the session while they cleared the track. The incident saw qualifying session three start at 9.30pm and extended by another 30-minutes.

In the final session, all three drivers completed at least the mandatory five laps in the dark in order to qualify. With a cooler track, lap times decreased across the board, with the Murphy team extremely satisfied having qualified eighth on aggregate in the LMP2 category and 20th overall. However, in 24-hour event, it’s as much about reliability and consistency than it is out-and-out pace, which plays nicely into to the hands of the team who have proved time and again why they are leading contenders in the European Le Mans Series.

Friday (tomorrow) is a promotional day, with attractions and activities laid on for the public. During the day some of the drivers will take part in a golf match arranged by the event organisers, followed by a driver parade in the town centre. The race starts at 3:00pm on Saturday (all times are CEST – one-hour ahead of BST).

Team quotes

Greg Murphy – Team Principal
The team did a great job to get the car back to 100% following Mark’s unfortunate moment. It’s clear from the times we achieved in the qualifying sessions that we’re back on the same pace we were during the official test. So, our sights are well are truly set – as they have always been – on an LMP2 podium position this weekend.”


  • tweet
Related articles
  • M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally Finland
    M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally...

    Aug 07, 2022 Comments Off on M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally Finland

  • Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to Anthony Janiec
    Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to...

    Aug 07, 2022 Comments Off on Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to Anthony Janiec

  • Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner
    Price on becoming Chip Ganassi...

    Aug 07, 2022 Comments Off on Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner

  • Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior British Rally Championship Victory for Kyle & Sean
    Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior...

    Aug 07, 2022 Comments Off on Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior British Rally Championship Victory for Kyle & Sean

More in this category
  • M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally Finland
    M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally...

    Comments Off on M-Sport Ford Unfulfilled on Rally Finland

  • Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner
    Price on becoming Chip Ganassi...

    Comments Off on Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner

  • Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior British Rally Championship Victory for Kyle & Sean
    Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior...

    Comments Off on Lost In Time! Fantastic Maiden Junior British Rally Championship Victory for Kyle & Sean

  • King of the Mk2 returns for 2022 Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally 
    King of the Mk2 returns for 2022...

    Comments Off on King of the Mk2 returns for 2022 Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally 


Fleet Car Magazine

Notice Board

  • Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to Anthony Janiec
    Goodyear FIA ETRC pays tribute to Anthony Janiec

    Aug 07, 2022

    Tweet The Goodyear FIA ETRC, ETRA Promotion and the entire...
  • Killarney Forestry Rally to raise funds for Air Ambulance
    Killarney Forestry Rally to raise funds for Air Ambulance

    Feb 03, 2022

    TweetRally drivers from across Ireland will help fund...
  • McHugh’s Service Station, Ballindine Mayo Stages Rally, 6 March 2022
    McHugh’s Service Station, Ballindine Mayo Stages Rally, 6...

    Jan 27, 2022

    TweetMayo & District Motorsport Club, organisers of the...
  • Osian Pryce takes second British Rally Championship victory in a row at Cambrian Rally – 4th BRC win for Creighton
    Osian Pryce takes second British Rally Championship victory...

    Oct 31, 2021

    Tweet William Creighton takes his fourth Junior BRC win of...
  • Audi Sport electrifies with U.S. star Ken Block
    Audi Sport electrifies with U.S. star Ken Block

    Sep 24, 2021

    Tweet Electrifying addition to the brand with the four...

Categories

  • Africa Eco-Race
  • Baja
  • BRC
  • Circuit Racing
  • Cross-Country Rally
  • Dakar
  • Dakar 2015
  • DAKAR 2016
  • DAKAR 2017
  • DAKAR 2019 PERU
  • DAKAR RALLY 2018
  • EV Motorsport
  • Events
  • EverGreeens: Irish Abroad
  • Extreme E
  • Forestry Rally
  • Formula 1
  • Hillclimb
  • IndyCar Series
  • Interview
  • Middle East Rally Championship
  • Morocco Rally
  • Motorbike
  • News
  • Notice Board
  • Rally
  • RallyX
  • Related products
  • Review
  • Sportscars
  • Touring Cars
  • Tribute
  • Truck Racing
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • WRC
Tweets by @IrMotSportNews

Recent Posts

Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E race winner

Price on becoming Chip Ganassi Racing’s first female Extreme E...

Aug 07, 2022

Tweet Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Alex Zanardi are just some of the star-studded names who have been victorious driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. In Sardinia, Kyle LeDuc and Sara Price...
Read More
Spotlighting XITE ENERGY

Spotlighting XITE ENERGY

Jul 29, 2022

Polaris continues its partnership with Xtremeplus team ahead of Dakar 2023

Polaris continues its partnership with Xtremeplus...

Jul 29, 2022

Toyota Hilux 1-2-3 at Baja Spain Aragón – Orr navigates to second

Toyota Hilux 1-2-3 at Baja Spain Aragón –...

Jul 25, 2022

Baja Aragon: Two MINI JCW Rally in Top 10

Baja Aragon: Two MINI JCW Rally in Top 10

Jul 25, 2022

Copyright 2016 / All rights reserved