Valencia: Bruichladdich Radical race report

TEAM BRUICHLADDICH RADICAL CELEBRATES FIRST PODIUM

Greaves, Moseley and Liddell to race at Le Mans Team Bruichladdich Radical took its first Le Mans Series podium today in Spain after a six hour battle of real highs and lows. The trio of Tim Greaves, Stuart Moseley and Robin Liddell drove the Radical SR9 with panache to take the flag in third place after having led the race at points and succumbing to an errant GT2 car and sustaining a puncture in the last laps.

Robin Liddell took the start for the team and spent the first two hours in the car. Despite the heat Robin found the open Radical SR9 'naturally air-conditioned' positively cool compared to the GT Porsche he drives in the ALMS. Others on track were having troubles including the Barazi Zytek and ASM Lola taking a several spins each and the RML Lola losing time in the pits to replace a battery. By the time Tim Greaves took the wheel after two hours Robin had driven the car at a consistent pace for the conditions and was fourth in LMP2.

Tim's stint was interrupted by a safety car so an early pit stop for fuel and tyres was taken. Shortly after the LMP2 leading Barazi Zytek pitted for a black and orange flag. With Tim then in second behind the Noel del Bello Courage a stop and go penalty was issued to the Courage which emerged from the pits behind the Team Bruichladdich Radical putting Tim in the lead with two hours of the race remaining. At the next stop -- with just under two hours remaining -- Tim brought the car back for Stuart Moseley.

A long stop meant the car got back on track in third and over one lap behind the Saulnier Racing Courage. Stuart drove through to retake the lead but pit stops changed the order once again. Stuart was closing on the Saulnier while the ASM Lola was in the lead. With thirty minutes to go it was decided to put Robin in the car to hunt down victory from the current second place.

In the last hour both drivers were putting in their fastest laps of the race and the car was running fantastically. All three front runner had pitted and were within 45 seconds of each other. A slower GT2 Panoz didn't see Robin as he was overtaking and turned into him causing damage to the steering. For an agonising four laps Robin limped the car round and managed to get the car across the line but losing a place to Saulnier in the process.

Tim Greaves, Team Owner and driver "It's great to be on the podium for the first time. The champagne tastes really sweet! Everyone's worked incredibly hard for the result and to be robbed of second place on the last lap was exceedingly painful. But this is the first step on the podium and we have many more to look forward to now that the gremlins have departed us. "The car performed exceptionally well throughout the race and Stuart and Robin both put in great times in the chase for 'P1'. Having finished strongly after six hours we're confident of the performance of the car for Le Mans. Having shown how well we can work as a team I'm also very pleased to announce that we'll keep this line-up for the Le Mans 24 Hours next month."

Stuart Moseley, driver "With a comfortable lead it was disappointing losing time in the pits however once I got going the car was handling superbly. Although we managed to get back to second and we made it to the podium it was disappointing to be third."

Robin Liddell, driver "I overtook the ASM Lola at the start but didn't have enough grip to be able to hold position because of the slow green flag lap. Then it was a case of holding station with ASM. We opted to stay on the tyres for the first stop which worked in that we came out ahead of the Barazi Zytek but then we suffered towards the end of my stint. It was so easy to make a mistake out there as you could see from other cars spinning so I accepted what I had and drove to the grip level. It was frustrating only being able to drive at 90% but driving sensibly worked. When I got back in I knew we had a chance but really had to get my head down for the last push. With a gap of 14 seconds it was possible but in the end the Panoz put paid to that. After all of that it was a great result and hopefully we'll do even better next time."

-credit: tbr