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Phenomenal overall victory for Strakka in Hungary
25.08.10
Strakka Racing's remarkable 2010 season continues apace with a first ever outright win in the Le Mans Series for an LMP2 car. The win came at the Hungaroring on 22 August when Danny Watts, Nick Leventis and Jonny Kane brought the Team's HPD ARX-01c over the line ahead of the field having taken over the lead when the ORECA Peugeot 908 hit problems.
We ran the story shown below in June after the Le Mans 24-Hours:
Arguably the most lasting sensation from Le Mans 2010 will be the tremendous LMP2 win by Strakka Racing, with their Wirth-developed HPD ARX-01c, team managed by Piers Phillips and driven superbly by Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis himself. The Team secured pole, perhaps rather surprisingly beating the similar Highcroft 'Malaria no More' car of David Brabham, and went on to dominate LMP2 in style, to the huge credit of HPD, Relentless and Michelin.
Strakka Racing won the normally fragile LMP2 category at its first attempt, leading from start to finish, setting a new LMP2 race lap record, completing the greatest distance ever covered by an LMP2 car, crossing the line in fifth place overall and winning the Michelin Green X Challenge to boot.
"I'm quite speechless," commented Leventis. "It's almost unreal and I think it's going to take some time to sink in, but I'm really, really delighted. This achievement is a credit to the Team that Piers has worked so hard to put together and a reward for all the months of hard work by everyone at Strakka Racing. From my own point of view, I hadn't realised how much pressure there was going to be on me as the Team Owner. In the race, Jonny and Danny set a pace that just eclipsed everyone else and put them all on the back foot. They created a cushion that kept us clear for the rest of the race and made my own stints so much easier. I was able to relax and concentrate on my driving."
The ex-Fernandez 2009 Acura ALMS machine ran faultlessly, experiencing just a single slow puncture on one of its in-laps but without further incident.
Leventis, Watts and Kane completed 367 laps (5th overall) from second-place LMP2 car, the pink and black Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd of Lahaye, Moreau and Charouz (361 laps and 7th overall) and the ever present RML Lola-HPD Coupe piloted by AD Group's Mike Newton with Tommy Erdos and Andy Wallace (358 laps and 8th overall).
Former LMP2 category winner RML's Press Release was generous in recognising the Strakka Racing victory. "They ran an excellent race," said Erdos, "and it would have been a travesty if they hadn't won. Nick surprised a lot of people by driving such a good race. He was on the pace, kept out of trouble and, like the whole of his Team, he deserves to be congratulated."
The whole experience adds considerably to the Leventis family's love affair with Le Mans and the cars that have run there - Nick Leventis's father is the proud owner of the former 'works' Aston Martin DBR1 which was the overall race winner in 1959 and helped the David Brown Aston Martin outfit scoop the World Sportscar Championship that year. This writer was 13 at the time and was sitting in the Woodcote Grandstand at Goodwood that September to see the Astons win the title.
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