The Lamera Cup good tires, good eye at Magny-Cours

The racing conditions were particularly treacherous on this first Sunday of the Lamera Cup at Magny-Cours. It was under a constant drizzle that the riders set off on the track, with their Continental tires. For those sleeping at the back of the class, the Lamera Cup is a one-make championship, from the cars to the tires. These are SportContact 7 whose particularity is to be series products used on everyday sports vehicles.

This has sporting and financial advantages. Teams can thus keep the same envelopes on dry and wet tracks, and offer endurance that can be sufficient for the entire race without replacement. But how is this possible at such a level of performance?

According to Grégory Fargier, driver of the No. 80 and Continental test, the SportContact 7 is also easier to understand for beginners in the Gentleman category than Slicks or Rains depending on the needs. In mild conditions, Fargier estimated that tires like these can last between 7 and 8 hours for Elite drivers, 8 to 9 hours for Pro-Am, and 10 to 12 hours for Gentlemen. A 26-hour race is planned in Portimão in September, where tire life will certainly play a role in the overall victory.

So what is the secret to such longevity? These tires are initially suitable for production vehicles weighing between 1,5 and 1,6 tonnes. Knowing that a Lamera weighs 970 kg, more than half a ton less than a “civilian” vehicle, Grégory Fargier ensures that the car supports an approximately equal load on its four tires. With a rigid chassis and competition shock absorbers ensuring a good footprint on smooth tracks, and even if it heats up and is extremely stressed, its minimum lifespan will be around 7 hours.

Adjustments to the Lamera before the start of the race are essential. With one-design cars (same chassis, same engine, same bodywork), they are the ones who make the difference in the same way as the quality of the drivers and the strategy. With a marked negative camber, the Lamera ensures fairly uniform wear on the tire when it is supported in turns. This contrasts sharply with other championships with Slick and Rain tires, the wear of which becomes visible through a small black stripe. Grégory Fargier tells us that pressure plays a big role in lifespan. He says the Lameras run with lower pressure than needed on the road, as teams don't want to overheat the tires on low tread, but aim for full width. Ideally, you should stay below 2 hot bars to stay in the good performance window as long as possible. Finally, this is the first time that the drivers have had to be changed more often than the tires. A shame.

Victory for Team Lamera

Author of the two pole positions of the weekend, Team Lamera crushed the competition by being fast and consistent in the rain. An effective strategy, experienced pilots and a race without making any errors allowed this crew to win the two races, respectively 4 and 7 hours long.

We will salute the performance of the Auto Leclerc crews (Emmanuel Orgeval, Benoît Gruau, Adrien Harang) and Continental Racing (François Coué, Arnaud Maire, Christophe Billet, Grégory Fargier) who knew how to stay in contact for a good part of race 1 in the Elite category. In the Pro-Am category, it was the 2 Be 3 crew (Éric Bucaille, Yan Bouteiller, Thomas Boust) from CTF Performance who claimed victory. In second place, we found the Race Track Competition (Tommy Rollinger, Victor Dumont, Vincent Piquet, Gilles Bruckner). On the last step of the podium stood the ETC Racing 2 of Michel Ode, Nicolas Imbert and Philippe Barou. Finally, in the Gentleman category, it was the Triangle Nord crew (Frederic Mourot, Tony Levesque, Antonio Cristino, Bertrand Balas) which finished ahead of Fast Kukki Racing (Fast Kukki, Bart Rutten, Frédéric Locatelli) and Scania France 2 (Kevin Lenoir, Eric Lenoir, Maelle Lenoir).

Still in the rain on Sunday, and still behind Team Lamera, it was the Alma Racing-Tremblaye crew (Ludovic Loeul, Hervé Tremblaye, Franck Rouxel) which climbed to 2nd place, ahead of the CTF Delta-Chandioux ( Louis Marie Levet, Paul Levet, Kenny Provost). In the Pro-Am category, it was the Lamera Race Track Competition which won after a race full of yellow flags. This team was followed by CTF Performance and the Belgian crew Genius Water Racing (Peter Houben, Geert De Cnijf, Bram Mouton). In Gentleman, it was the CTF by RKC Racing team (Bastien Meunier, Kyllian Lamy, Quentin Lephilippe) who won. The GDM Racing team (Nourreddine Tebbache, Philippe Simon, Emmanuel Muller) followed them, despite a 24-second penalty for non-compliance with a Full Course Yellow phase. Finally, the Northern Triangle was on the podium a second time, this time in 3^e instead.

Ranking Lamera Cup

Magny-Cours. 1/7. April 1-2.

Race 1

ELITE: P. Couasnon, T. Merafina, M. Merafina, W. Merafina (Team Lamera)

PRO-AM: E. Bucaille, Y. Bouteiller, T. Boust (CTF 2 Be 3)

GENTLEMAN: F. Mourot, T. Levesque, A. Cristino, B. Balas (North Triangle)

Race 2

ELITE: P. Couasnon, T. Merafina, M. Merafina, W. Merafina (Team Lamera)

PRO-AM: T. Rollinger, V. Dumont, V. Piquet, G. Bruckner (Race Track Competition)

GENTLEMAN: B. Meunier, K. Lamy, Q. Lephilippe (CTF by RKC)