Overview of 2006 Season

2006 has been a busy year for BEN and has seen him once again competing on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the ALMS, the season started with the VDS team running the old faithfull LOLA B2K40, but with the anticipation of the arrival of a new Radical SR9 LMP2 car. However this did'nt arrive untill the last 2 races, Petite Le Mans and Laguna. In the meantime the team managed a 4th in class around the streets of Houston in Texas. This was first appearance of the ALMS cars in Houston and another street race added to Bens portfolio.

Ben's racing here in the UK was a mixture of LMS and Radical Enduro championship. He again joined up with James Richardson in the Insure&Go SR3 for a full assault on the championship. They really were the team to beat in 2006 with 6 wins and as many fastest laps in the first half of the season. Switching back to America and the arrival of the new Radical chassis for Petite gave Ben the opportunity to compete with the front runners in LMP2.

Unfortunately after a good showing in practice and qualifying their race was cut short after only 4 laps with engine failure. This was a bitter blow after the long awaited arrival of the new car, especially as it had shown great potential.

Back in England Ben had faced similar dissappointment at Donnington, having been invited to join the works Radical team for the 1000KMS Le Mans Series race, he was to take over from Owner/driver Tim Greaves on the 4 hour mark but unfortunately Tim had an off on his in lap (steering rack failure) so Ben did'nt get in the car. However he continued to shine in the Radical SR3 and was within one lap of winning the championship when taken out by a back marker at Spa. His nearest championship rival Nigel redwood had already retired leaving Ben the chance to wrap up the title before the last race, but it was'nt to be, the happless back marker took him out with just over 1 lap to go. This also meant he would lose the chance of the title because his committment to the ALMS programme as the last race of each championship were on the same weekend.

The final race of the ALMS was at Laguna Seca and with a new engine in the VDS Radical expectations were high and with the inclusion of the works Radical on the entry list, media attention was focused on the new cars.

With the addition of KUMHO tyres Ben spent the days prior to the race working on set-up and deciding on the best compound for the tricky Monterray circuit. Qualifying went well with the 2 Radicals just behind the 2 works Porsches. Ben got a great start and soon settled in to 3rd in class untill an early yellow flag brought out the pace car and sent the 2 works Porsches in for a splash and dash. This promoted Ben to the class lead and 4th overall. He held this position for a long time and was able to show his driving skill by holding off the porsches ( to their frustration) lap after lap. He did eventually have to concede to them but by then had done enough to convince many observers of his considerable ability. With Ben handing over to Gunnar the VDS team were enjoying the fruits of their considerable efforts and were showing the world that a team with a relatively small budget can compete with the big boys.

Gunnar was driving a good stint untill he had to take avoiding action to miss a traffic cone laying in the middle of the circuit ( knocked there by the Zytec) unfortunately the Porsche following did'nt see it and collided with Gunnar. This put the car in the pits for 12 laps for emergency repairs and effectively finished their race. They did continue but eventually retired with overheating problems as a consequence of the accident. However this race showed that Gunnar and his VDS race team has the ability to race with the best.

So to sum up Ben has had a really busy season with over 22 race weekends as well as keeping busy with instructing and development projects. This year he helped Lola and Radical in developing new sportscars and is constantly in demand for his ability to work with tyre, chassis and engine manufacturers.

2007 will be the start of Bens 7th year competing in the ALMS and in that time has had 23 starts with 2 wins and 11 podium places. He was runner-up in the championship in 2002 and has been second twice at the Petite Le Mans.

Next year will see 4 Porsches, 3 Accuras, 1 Mazda, VDS and the Intersport cars all competing in LMP2 : all to be shown on Motors TV and heard on www.radiolemans.com !!!

Ben's comment:

It's certainly been a very busy and eventfull year with many high and lows, worst moments, Donnington and Spa,best moment, the race against the Porsches at Laguna.

Once again I would like to say a big thank-you to Gunnar for inviting me to race with him in the ALMS also giving me the opportunity to drive the new Radical at both Petite and Laguna. Now they have car capable of competing with the best the VDS TEAM will go from strength to strength.

I would also like to thank James and the Insure&Go team for the season in the Radical Enduro Championship.

We came so close to winning but unfortunately because of my committments in the ALMS I was'nt able to do the last race and help to try and win the championship.

I'm looking forward to 2007 and hopefully competing once again in the LMP2 class of the ALMS. Next year promises to be the best so far in LMP2 and I can't wait for Sebring and the start of the new season.

Ben Devlin