Jos winst wins LMP2 in Barcelona for Van Merksteijn team

Published on 06 April 2008 by Niels Hendrix

Jos Verstappen and Peter van Merksteijn claimed victory in the LMP2-class in the 1000 kilometre race for prototypes and GTs at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. During the season opener of the Le Mans Series, the two drivers of the team "Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur" stayed ahead of the opposition with their Porsche RS Spyder. Thus, the team secured the maiden victory for the Porsche RS Spyder in Europe upon its competition debut in the LMS. In the overall classification, the team ended up sixth.

Jos Verstappen already secured a good starting position for the team by setting the fastest lap time in LMP2 class in qualifying. With his lap time of 1.34,422 minutes, Verstappen claimed fifth position on the starting grid. In the race, covering a distance of 215 laps at the 4,655 kilometres long circuit, the former Formula 1-driver was out on the track for the first two hours. He lost a little bit of time during a "stop and go"-penalty for having overtaken under yellow. "Especially in the early stages, I had to get used a little bit to the traffic on the track, because that was an entirely new situation to me", Verstappen said. "Often, the differences in speed are enormous and after six or seven laps, we were already in the middle of the slower cars from the GT2 class. You have to find a way around them safely and that is a matter of judgement, while you are also driving your own race in the mean time." After the first pit stop, Verstappen just lost the lead in class, but he got that position back relatively soon.

While numerous other cars in the LMP2 category encountered problems of some kind, the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche kept running like the proverbial clockwork. After two hours, Peter van Merksteijn took over and he was perfectly able to match the pace of the other drivers, duly retaining his position among the front runners in the LMP2 category. "It went very well", Van Merksteijn said afterwards, and the big smile on his face left no doubt about the question whether he had enjoyed himself during his stint in the car. Two hours later, Verstappen got behind the wheel again and built up a slight margin, although the opposition was never far away.

With 18 laps remaining, the team made a final driver change, Peter van Merksteijn getting into the car to drive it across the finish line. Van Merksteijn avoided any unnecessary risks and drove victory home, taking the chequered flag with a margin of one lap over the Lola that took second place in class. He was overjoyed: "Such a great success for Porsche and for our team during our first race in the LMS, it is just fantastic!" Jos Verstappen added: "I couldn't have hoped for a better return into motor racing after an absence of two years."
Porsche's motorsport director Hartmut Kristen also paid tribute to his Dutch customer team: "The team has done a great job. This victory is another chapter in the already successful history of our Porsche RS Spyder."

De results of the LMS race at Barcelona (Spain):

   Nr Team                       Car                       Class Laps Fastest Box
 1  7 Team Peugeot Total         Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP       LMP1  215  1:34.188  7
 2  2 Audi Sport Team Joest      Audi R10 TDI              LMP1  214  1:35.297  7
 3 10 Charouz Racing System      Lola Aston Martin         LMP1  212  1:35.531  8
 4 16 Pescarolo Sport            Pescarolo Judd            LMP1  210  1:37.250  7
 5  1 Audi Sport Team Joest      Audi R10 TDI              LMP1  209  1:34.953  9
 6 34 Van Merksteijn Motorsport  Porsche RS Spyder         LMP2  208  1:37.093  8
 7 17 Pescarolo Sport            Pescarolo Judd            LMP1  208  1:37.469  7
 8 33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah   Lola Judd                 LMP2  207  1:37.093  8
 9 31 Team Essex                 Porsche RS Spyder         LMP2  204  1:37.750  8
10 18 Rollcentre Racing          Pescarolo Judd            LMP1  204  1:37.781  7
11 25 RML                        Lola MG                   LMP2  201  1:39.344  8
12  8 Team Peugeot Total         Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP       LMP1  200  1:33.515  9
13 35 Saulnier Racing            Pescarolo Judd            LMP2  199  1:40.031  7
14 27 Horag Racing               Porsche RS Spyder         LMP2  198  1:36.594  8
15 26 Bruichladdich Radical      Radical AER               LMP2  194  1:41.859  8
16 72 Luc Alphand Aventures      Corvette C6.R             LMGT1 194  1:45.750  6
17 41 Trading Performance        Zytek 07S                 LMP2  193  1:40.578  7
18 50 Larbre Competition         Saleen S7R                LMGT1 192  1:45.593  7
19 55 IPB Spartak Racing         Lamborghini Murcielago    LMGT1 190  1:46.734  7
20 40 Quifel ASM Team            Lola AER                  LMP2  190  1:38.172  7
21 96 Virgo Motorsport           Ferrari F430 GT           LMGT2 189  1:48.812  7
22 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton     Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2 189  1:49.828  6
23 76 Imsa Performance Matmut    Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2 187  1:49.766  7
24 90 Farnbacher Racing          Ferrari F430 GT           LMGT2 186  1:50.516  6
25 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron     Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R LMGT2 184  1:52.484  6
26 99 JMB Racing                 Ferrari F430 GT           LMGT2 183  1:51.844  6
27 75 Imsa Performance Matmut    Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2 182  1:51.344  6
28 95 James Watt Automotive      Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2 182  1:52.344  5
29 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton     Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2 181  1:52.531  6
30  6 Team Oreca Matmut          Courage-Oreca Judd        LMP1  178  1:35.968 13
31 98 JMB Racing                 Ferrari F430 GT           LMGT2 178  1:52.375  6
32 19 Chamberlain Synergy        Lola AER                  LMP1  177  1:40.297  8
33 20 Epsilon Euskadi            Epsilon Euskadi Judd      LMP1  167  1:37.968  7
34 14 Creation AIM               Creation Aim              LMP1  163  1:37.094  8
35 73 Luc Alphand Aventures      Corvette C6.R             LMGT1 162  1:46.766  7
36 37 WR / Salini                WR Zytek                  LMP2  154  1:46.531  7
37 30 Racing Box                 Lucchini Judd             LMP2  142  1:45.532  8
38  4 Saulnier Racing            Pescarolo Judd            LMP1  132  1:40.266  5
39 59 Team Modena                Aston Martin DBR9         LMGT1 124  1:45.141  5
40  5 Team Oreca Matmut          Courage-Oreca Judd        LMP1  108  1:38.484  4
41 44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport  Lola Mazda                LMP2   94  1:39.750  9
42 91 Farnbacher Racing          Porsche 997 GT3 RSR       LMGT2  90  1:50.734  7
43  3 Scuderia Lavaggi           Lavaggi AER               LMP1   87  1:42.094  7
44 32 Barazi Epsilon             Zytek 07S                 LMP2   55  1:39.296  3
45 45 Embassy Racing             WF01 Zytek                LMP2   43  1:40.031  3
46 46 Embassy Racing             WF01 Zytek                LMP2   41  1:40.312  2
47 94 Speedy Racing Team         Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R LMGT2  17  1:53.703  2

Niels Hendrix