THE LINE
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 07:16PM February 24, 2010
(Image by John Thawley)
Publisher's Note: Aston Martin Racing topped the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón’s annual Winter Test time sheets with a lap of 1:46.894 (124.609 mph) in the factory Aston Martin-powered Lola B09/60 at Sebring International Raceway. Adrian Fernandez, Chris Buncombe and Harold Primat will drive the Lola-Aston Martin coupe at the season-opening 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Primat crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall in the afternoon session, however, and he was transported to a local hospital for observation but released later in the evening. Jon and Clint Field (Intersport Racing Lola B06/10-AER) were second with a 1:47.925 (123.419 mph) lap around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit. Patrón Highcroft Racing was the next quickest entry and first in LMP2 with its HPD ARX-01c. The car – driven by David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti – set a best time of 1:48.153 (123.159 mph) in the morning session. Patrón Highcroft won the LMP1 championship last year and is running an updated version of the LMP2 car it fielded in 2008 and won four times in class – once overall. Less than 0.4 seconds back was Chris Dyson and Guy Smith (Dyson Racing Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe) with a 1:48.496 (122.770 mph) in the morning session. Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni (Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT) set a best lap of 2:02.559 (108.682 mph) in the morning in GT2. Risi is the two-time and reigning class winner at Le Mans and hasn’t lost an endurance race since the Sebring race in 2008. A pair of Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs were close behind. The entry of Darren Law and Seth Neiman sat second with a lap of 2:02.929 (108.355 mph). Porsche factory drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, last year’s GT2 class champions, were third at 2:03.021 (108.274 mph). Le Mans Prototype Challenge and GT Challenge class entries also tested. Once again we're pleased to be able to feature the scintillating images by master lens man John Thawley in our racing coverage. Click here to see the latest images by John from Sebring. - PMD
(ALMS)
The American Le Mans Series announced that Tequila Patrón would become its presenting sponsor, the highest tiered corporate partnership in Series' history. The involvement will be felt immediately with the newly designed green-steepled Club Patrón at the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón season opener - the 58th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, March 17-20. Club Patrón will also appear at Long Beach and Petit Le Mans races. Patrón will offer VIP hospitality at all 2010 events, and beginning at Sebring, the American Le Mans Series paddock will be dubbed the “Tequila Patrón Paddock”. In addition, Tequila Patrón remains the official spirit of the American Le Mans Series. Tequila Patrón will also be involved in post-race podium ceremonies with their ultra-sophisticated Patrón Girls (Yeah, Baby!). Tequila Patrón has been the primary sponsor for Highcroft Racing’s Acura prototype effort, which won the LMP1 championship with drivers David Brabham and Scott Sharp. The Tequila Patrón banner also will be featured on two Ferrari F430 GTs (above) from Extreme Speed Motorsports, a new GT team fielded by Scott Sharp. Sharp’s seatmate will be veteran Series driver Johannes van Overbeek. Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo will pilot the other car. Brown is CEO of The Patrón Spirits Company and raced last season in the Series’ GT Challenge class and the Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama, one of the International Motor Sports Association’s leading developmental championships.
(ALMS)
Peugeot Sport will enter two diesel-powered factory Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It will mark the third straight year that Peugeot has entered the classic endurance contest in central Florida. Peugeot finished just 22 seconds behind the winning Audi Sport R15 TDI in 2009. The French manufacturer went on to win at Le Mans for the first time since 1993 and then at Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans. Anthony Davidson, Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz – the latter two drivers part of the winning Peugeot with David Brabham at Le Mans last year – will share one Peugeot 908 at Sebring. Sebastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Nic Minassian will drive the second car. Additionally, Patrón Highcroft Racing star Simon Pagenaud was confirmed to the factory squad for Le Mans. He will drive with Bourdais and Lamy. The American Le Mans Series will open its 12th season with America’s greatest sports car race, the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida from March 17-20. The green flag will fall at 10:35 a.m. on Saturday, March 20 with live coverage on SPEED.
The California Speedway. The fact that this track hosts two, count 'em - two - NASCAR races is a complete joke. And last Sunday's Auto Club 500 - with maybe 50,000 fans in attendance (and that's a big maybe) in a venue that holds 90,000+ - was probably the end of NASCAR's California double. Look for the Kansas Speedway - with the $680 million Hollywood Casino scheduled to open overlooking Turn 2 - to get California Speedway's second date. And if the races get any more boring than last Sunday's snooze-fest, California Speedway may just lose their other NASCAR date too.
(BMW)
Just in case you were hoping BMW's "Joy" campaign was going to be a momentary lapse, BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team debuted new livery on its M3 GTs for the 2010 American Le Mans season at Sebring this week in pre-season testing. And lo and behold, the new livery is supposed "to tell BMW’s worldwide Story of Joy" (according to BMW) and features words and phrases emblematic of the spirit of the campaign, which was launched during coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XXI Winter Olympic Games on NBC. Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner will drive the No. 92 M3, while Joey Hand and Dirk Müller will share the No. 90 M3.
(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Brass Monkey Racing will campaign a pair of Nissan GT-Rs in the 2010 World Challenge GT Championship with the support of Nissan North America, Inc. Nissan last competed in World Challenge with a Touring Car effort in 2005. The twin-turbo, all-wheel-drive Nissan GT-Rs will make their North American debut March 26-28, in St. Petersburg, Fla., with drivers Tony Rivera (right, above), of Missouri City, Texas, and rookie Steve Ott, of Houston. Rivera won twice last year (Sebring, Road America) driving the team’s Porsche 911 GT3, finishing an impressive third in the 2009 Championship standings. The Brass Monkey Racing effort will have support from Nissan, Tax Masters, Stoptech, Penske Shocks, South Side Performance and Seibon Carbon. For more info go to www.brassmonkey.com.
(Patron Highcroft Racing)
Patrón Highcroft Racing has formed a unique technical and sponsorship partnership with GE for the 2010 season. GE Capital has become one of the team's sponsors for 2010, while Highcroft Racing has also formed a technical partnership with GE Global Research, GE's technology development arm. The teams will work closely together to develop additional new technologies to further enhance the performance of the Honda Performance Development, factory backed ARX-01c chassis.
(Ron McQueeney/IRL)
Team Penske swept the top three spots on the time charts on the second and final day of the IZOD IndyCar Series Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park Thursday. Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Dallara/Honda/Firestone) was quickest with a lap of 1 minute, 9.8724 seconds on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn circuit. Helio Castroneves (1:10.0084) in the No. 3 entry (above) was second and Ryan Briscoe (1:10.0459), who topped first day lap times, was third in the No. 6 car. Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon (1:10.0594) was fourth and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Justin Wilson (1:10.0869) was in the top five for the second consecutive day in his Z-Line Designs-sponsored car. Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato, participating in his first IZOD IndyCar Series test with KV Racing Technology, had another impressive outing with the sixth-best time of 1:10.2070. Mike Conway of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing finished seventh (1:10.2497) and Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport was eighth (1:10.3956). Twenty-one driver/car combinations totaled 2,009 laps in the three sessions (all drivers posted their best laps times in the Thursday's session). The top 14 cars were separated by 0.8399 of a second. Firestone Indy Lights teams take to the track on Feb. 26 for a one-day test at Barber Motorsports Park.
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