THE LINE #436
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 08:05PM March 12, 2008
Publisher's Note: We would have run a shot or two of Kyle Busch's win at Road Atlanta for our readers, but the Toyota Motorsports Media website didn't deem us worthy of being able to have access to their site (Gee, that's a shock, not - ed). Unlike other rip-'n-run websites out there, we normally ask for permission to use photos and give credit where credit is due. But suffice to say, we will gladly not be running photos of any Toyota the rest of the year. - PMD
(ALMS)
Pedro Lamy was quick again at Sebring International Raceway on Tuesday in the final test session for the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Lamy’s turned a lap of 1:43.710 (128.435 mph) in his Peugeot 908 HDi, which put him clear of the next car in the field by 0.725 seconds. The Peugeot 908 is racing in North America for the first time with drivers Lamy, Nic Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin. Saturday’s 12-hour season opener for the American Le Mans Series is shaping up to be a turbo-diesel shootout between newcomer Peugeot and Audi, which has won at Sebring every year since 2000 including the last two seasons with its Audi R10 TDI. Dindo Capello, Audi Sport North America had this to say about the competition from Peugeot: “With Peugeot in the race we are now getting back to the great days of sports car racing. It will be a great battle with the top-line manufacturers again. This race and this track put great stress on the car, the tires, the team and the drivers. Driving Sebring is much more demanding on all concerned, and it's a perfect way to test all factors of the car and the team prior to Le Mans.” Official practice sessions for America's endurance racing classic begin today.
(ALMS)
Marco Andretti served notice that Acura has made huge strides over the Winter by being second quick overall (fastest in LMP2) in yesterday's test session with a best lap of 1:44.435 (127.543 mph). Andretti will make his Series debut in the Acura ARX-01b for Andretti Green Racing, which won in class last year in its maiden American Le Mans Series race. Andretti, the grandson of three-time Sebring overall winner Mario Andretti, was 0.279 seconds better than the No. 2 Audi R10 TDI of Marco Werner (with Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller). Next up was the second-place LMP2 car, the Acura of Lowe’s Fernandez Racing driven by Adrian Fernandez (with Luis Diaz) who turned a 1:45.549 (126.197 mph), good enough for a 0.6-second cushion over Dindo Capello in the second Audi he will drive with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen. The 2008 American Le Mans Series season opens with the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 15. The race will start at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live by SPEED, which will begin its coverage at 9:30 a.m. MotorsTV, SPEED Latin America and Greenlight Television will provide international coverage as well. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.
Goodyear, NASCAR. Tony Stewart was being "a little harsh" (according to Jeff Gordon) after Stewart's tirade about the POS tires that Goodyear brought to Atlanta last weekend - even though Gordon and several drivers agreed with the gist of Stewart's perspective - but we don't think so at all. As a single-source supplier for all of NASCAR and as a tire company that has plenty of tests over the off-season, Goodyear has absolutely no excuses for showing up at a track with a tire that's that far off of the mark.
KV Racing Technology. KV Racing Technology co-owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser announced today that the team will campaign two cars during the 2008 IndyCar Series season. “Jimmy and I are very pleased to announce a new chapter in the history of our team which will campaign a two-car effort during the 2008 IndyCar Series season,” said Kalkhoven. “In conjunction with our commitment to the IndyCar Series we have re-branded the team as KV Racing Technology and agreed to a sponsorship arrangement with Aussie Vineyards Team Australia. This will allow Will Power to join teammate Oriol Servia in what I believe will be the most competitive and exciting open-wheel racing series. We want to welcome both Aussie Vineyards Team Australia and Will Power to our team and we look forward to a very successful season in 2008 and for many years to come.” Servia will be behind the wheel of the KV Racing Technology No. 32 Honda/Dallara//Firestone entry while Power will pilot the KV Racing Technology No. 8 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine. Power, 27, has finished in the top-10 a total of 19 times including 11 top-five showings (with six podium performances), two victories and six poles in two plus seasons of Champ Car competition.