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www.QV500.com - Saleen S7 Part 5: S7-R 2001 European Le Mans Series |
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2001's inaugural European Le Mans Series saw Franz Konrad’s S7-R pitched head to head with a crack Ray Mallock-prepared example. Although competition in the GTS class was often limited to a selection of ageing Porsche GT2’s, the series still saw an entertaining battle for championship honours. On their return to sportscar racing after an absence of ten years, Ray Mallock’s team took the GTS victory in round one at Donington, the Konrad car suffering a failing alternator belt, a stop-go penalty and later, a slack pit stop. |
| Starting from GTS pole at Jarama for round two, the RML car consistently outpaced the Konrad machine and the British team looked set for another class win before experiencing an engine failure after 30 laps. Retiring immediately, the track was then clear for Konrad to take victory by a country mile, eventually finishing eighth overall albeit behind three GT cars. Outright victory fell to RML at Estoril when Jean Christophe Bouillon’s disqualification handed Saleen their first international sportscar victory. However, the number 41 car was twice hampered by stop-go penalties after Saturday’s battle for GTS pole went to Konrad. During the race though, the pace of Lambert, Goodwin and McKellar was too much for the Konrad drivers who eventually finished four laps down at the close of play. Nevertheless, this was still an excellent second overall on what was a fabulous weekend for Saleen. Round four at Most saw fourth overall go to the Ray Mallock S7-R and an easy GTS victory due to the absence of Konrad's Saleen. The championship reached its climax at Vallelunga with both cars in a straight fight for the title. Eventually settled in favour of RML, the English squad clinched both Driver and Constructor titles. Franz Konrad must have feared the worst after being disqualified from qualifying and forced to start from the back of the grid, his team suffering as a result of an earlier technical infringement. |
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Taking the opening stint, the German wasted no time in disposing of slower GT runners and had risen to fifth overall by the end of lap 1. Two laps later, Konrad had clawed his works-supported S7-R up to third, only seven seconds adrift of GTS leader, McKellar. Passing for the class lead, Konrad maintained this advantage right up to the second round of pit stops when he handed over to Walter Brun. A spin just after the two hour stage lost the team valuable time though and demoted them to tenth, handing victory to the RML Saleen. |
Rd. |
Circuit | Drivers | Team | Overall | GTS |
1 |
Donington | Lambert / McKellar Jr. | Ray Mallock Limited | 9th | 1st |
| Gavin / Konrad | Konrad Team Saleen | 12th | 2nd | ||
2 |
Jarama | Brun / Konrad / Seiler | Konrad Team Saleen | 8th | 1st |
3 |
Estoril | Goodwin / Lambert / McKellar Jr. | Ray Mallock Limited | 1st | 1st |
| Brun / Konrad / Slater | Konrad Team Saleen | 2nd | 2nd | ||
4 |
Most | Lambert / McKellar Jr. | Ray Mallock Limited | 4th | 1st |
5 |
Vallelunga | Goodwin / McKellar Jr. | Ray Mallock Limited | 2nd | 1st |
| Brun / Konrad | Konrad Team Saleen | 10th | 2nd |