Nurburgring: Allen Timpany race report

Strong double stint from Timpany helps Binnie Motorsports to sixth in class finish at Nurburgring

Despite a difficult start to the Nurburgring 1000kms, the Binnie Motorsports trio of Bill Binnie, Allen Timpany and Chris Buncombe bounced back to secure a solid sixth-in-class finish and score some important championship points at round three of the Le Mans Series.

After starting from 18th on the grid, a small spin early on by Binnie after some tyre issues meant the team's Lola B05/40-Zytek dropped down the field and into heavy traffic in the early stages. However a great recovery drive by all three drivers saw them climb from 30th position to 14th overall and stay in the LMP2 championship fight.

British driver Allen Timpany took over the car after 40 laps and drove a fine double-stint to move from 23rd to 16th.

"I went out 23rd overall and brought the car back in 16th so I was pretty happy with life after my stints," Timpany said at the end of the race. "The Nurburgring is an incredibly physical track to drive because there are so many quick changes of direction and some very extreme steering inputs.

"The traffic was incredible also. It was like the worst go-kart track you can imagine out there! On the one hand it was a lot of fun, but at times you are wondering what accident is going to happen next in front of you and how you are going to avoid it when it does!

"We had a few tyre issues early on, which cost us a little bit of time, but otherwise the car felt really good and ran faultlessly. Overall we are pleased to finish 14th, and whilst we would have liked to be a little bit higher up than sixth in class, the points we've scored keep us in the championship hunt heading into the next round at Spa in August."

Binnie Motorsports' Sporting Director Gilbert Casse praised Timpany's consistency in the car during the middle section of the race. "Allen has driven a very, very consistent double-stint with an average lap time of around 1:54, which is really good.

"We had some problems early on in traffic and we thought there might be an issue with the tyres. We brought Bill in for an early pit stop to see if it would improve the situation, and we concluded that the track temperature, which was a lot higher than the day before, had caused the tyres to be slightly high on pressure.

"During the rest of the race, the car ran without any problems and at the end Chris produced a very good, consistent drive and was running at a similar pace to the eventual class winners. At the end of the day we started 18th on the grid and finished 14th overall and got some championship points so we are pleased with the driver and team performance."

-credit: www.allentimpany.com.