Drivers Stephen Watson, Xavier Pompidou and Tommy Erdos drove the Chamberlain Motorsport Viper GTS-R into second place in the 2nd race of the European Le Mans, the 1000km of Nurburgring last weekend.

It was not an easy race for anyone as the weather was very cold and unpleasant all during practice and qualifying.  The circuit is situated in the Eifel Mountains and so known to be changeable, but in mid July you do not expect to have to wear your winter clothes.

The race start was in dry conditions which allowed Stephen Watson to gain valuable time on his rivals who were mainly the Porsche hoards.  The factory-backed ORECA Viper cars of Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Marc Duez and the sister car of David Donohue, Tommy Archer and Jean-Phillipe Belloc were always the main opposition, but even they had problems.   The streaming wet track caught out David Donohue and his car went spinning off into the gravel traps.  Unfortunately the underside of the car was damaged and it was a retirement.  The Chamberlain drivers were not without problems but they always managed to return to the fray. They even had the time to make an extra pit stop just before the end to clean the screen for the umpteenth time and put a dash of fuel in, just to make sure.

A very happy Xavier Pompidou greeted the chequered flag and his second place with much joy and cries over the radio of "second, I am so 'appy."

He was indeed, and so were all the other drivers and pit crew.