March 24, 2010
(Image courtesy of John Thawley)
Publisher's Note: Team Peugeot Total opened a giant can of Whup-Ass on the rest of the field and dominated the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Alexander Wurz, Marc Gene and Anthony Davidson drove their turbo-diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi FAP to victory with a 13.817-second margin at the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, the first in the event for the famed French marque. Sebastien Bourdais, Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy were second in the other Peugeot 908 team car. Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Stefan Mücke finished third in their Lola-Aston Martin. Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen won in LMP2 for Muscle Milk Team CytoSport in their Porsche RS Spyder. Jaime Melo, Gimmi Bruni and Pierre Kaffer took a one-lap victory in GT2 in their Ferrari F430 GT for Risi Competizione, the team’s sixth straight victory in a major endurance race. Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Mark Wilkins won handily in the new LMPC class with their ORECA FLM09 prototype and Butch Leitzinger, Juan Gonzalez and Leh Keen won the GT Challenge class in their Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 by three laps over the AJR team car of Bill Sweedler, Romeo Kapudija and Jan-Dirk Lueders. It was the sixth win for AJR at Sebring and the team swept the top three class positions, with Ricardo Gonzalez, Luis Diaz and Patrick Kelly bringing the other AJR team car home in third. An incredible performance. Check out a gallery of John Thawley's superb images from Sebring here, and you can read the race report from our correspondent A.J. Morning at the end of this column. - PMD
Corvette Racing. Sebring was a disaster for Corvette Racing with both team cars colliding during a pit stop, effectively ending their chance at a GT2 podium finish. After repairs were made both Corvette C6.Rs ran like they were going for the win right up to the end of the race, which was laudable, but it was a rare, high-profile mistake for the multiple-championship-winning team. We expect Corvette Racing to bounce back from this debacle with a vengeance, but the incident was a painful reminder of just how difficult this game is, and that if you lose focus even for a split-second, disaster is but a wrong turn of a wheel away.
Michelin Green X Challenge. The Peugeot prototype of Bourdais, Minassian and Lamy were prototype winners in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, with the Flying Lizard Motorsports’ trio of Seth Neiman, Darren Law and Richard Lietz the GT winners. The award goes to the prototype and GT entry in each class that goes the farthest, the fastest and with the smallest amount of environmental impact. It was the twelfth consecutive victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring for Michelin and the French tire company ran its class win total to 34 in that span by winning all three open competition classes.
Publisher's Note: The Indy Racing League has announced plans to develop an advisory committee representing key fields of the open-wheel racing industry to review research and recommend a future chassis and engine platform. The advisory board will include a league representative, a team owner, an engine expert, a marketer/promoter and a racing engineer. The project will be named the ICONIC (Innovative, Competitive, Open-Wheel, New, Industry-Relevant, Cost-Effective) IZOD IndyCar Series Advisory Committee. The committee will be chaired by retired Air Force Gen. William R. Looney III (huh?) and report its findings to IRL CEO Randy Bernard, who will make the final decision on the series' new chassis and engine. "Our objectives for the chassis remain the same as they were when the league first began the process of developing its next car: safe, raceable, cost-effective, American-made, less mass/more efficient, relevant technology, modern look and green," said Bernard. Hmmm, I would feel better if Robin Miller, Gordon Kirby and yours truly were represented on this committee, too, because somehow my confidence level is fairly low that the right decision will get made if this group is left to their own devices. It's all a giant "we'll see" at this point. - PMD
(ALMS)
“Club Patrón” made its debut at Sebring International Raceway last weekend. The fully-contained mobile entertainment venue will travel to several American Le Mans Series Presented by Tequila Patrón races this season. Club Patrón provides a venue for guests - 21-years-of-age and older - to enjoy a variety of signature Patrón tequila, Ultimat vodka and Pyrat rum cocktails while attending selected ALMS events. From the highest-quality Weber Blue agave plants grown in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, to the centuries-old distillation process, to the signed, handcrafted glass bottles, the distinctive Patrón tequila is imported and marketed by The Patrón Spirits Company. Brands in the portfolio consist of Gran Patrón Burdeos, Gran Patrón Platinum, Patrón Silver, Patrón Reposado, Patrón Añejo, Patrón XO Cafe (tequila and coffee liqueur), and Patrón Citrónge (extra fine orange liqueur), as well as Pyrat Pistol, Pyrat XO Reserve, and Pyrat Cask 1623 Caribbean rums, and Ultimat ultra-premium vodka. For more info go to www.patronspirits.com.
(Yokohama)
Yokohama Tire Corporation's second generation orange oil-infused eco race tires, the ADVAN® ENV-R2™, set track records in 2010’s first Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama series race at Sebring International Raceway last week (Wednesday). Ross Smith (above) drove his Maxwell Paper Racing Porsche 911 GT3 to victory in the Platinum division (GT3P), besting the field by 0.198 seconds. Smith also set a track record for the GT3 class with a lap of 2:08.097. AASCO Motorsports teammates Javier Quiros and Jorge Trejos finished second and third, respectively. The GT3 class fielded 37 cars vying for championships in two divisions: Platinum (for 2010 GT3 Porsches only) and Gold (2005½ – 2009 GT3 Porsches). Carlos Eduardo (NGT Motorsports) also set a track record in winning the Gold class (GT3G). “Yokohama is the only tire company to have perfected this science,” said Mark Chung, Yokohama director, corporate strategy and planning. “The ENV-R2 replaces the ADVAN® ENV-R1™, which debuted in 2009 at Sebring and became the world’s first environmentally-friendly tire used in a racing series. Now we have the ENV-R2, which is faster, grips better and has even more orange oil and natural rubber in it, further reducing petroleum use in the tire.” Normal racing tires contain little or no natural materials. The ENV-R1 increased the renewable, natural content to 15 percent. The ENV-R2, the official spec tire of the Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama and the ALMS GT3 Challenge (GTC) Class races, increases it to 20 percent. Yokohama’s innovative orange oil-infused racing slicks will continue to be the official tire of the Patrón GT3 Challenge through the 2012 season.
(Highcroft Racing)
Three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans race winner Marco Werner has been selected by team boss Duncan Dayton to join Marino Franchitti and last year's victor David Brabham as Highcroft Racing has finalized its driver lineup for the French endurance classic. The reigning American Le Mans Series LMP1 champions will campaign the Honda Performance Development factory-backed ARX-01c chassis for its Le Mans debut in the LMP2 class. Werner's driving resume has three Le Mans victories in a row in 2005, 06 and 07, three Sebring wins, a 24 Hour of Daytona title and an American Le Mans Series LMP1 driver's title to his credit. Following Highcroft's second place in LMP2 in Saturday's Twelve Hours of Sebring, the Danbury, CT-based squad stayed on at the historic Florida venue for two days of testing on Monday and Tuesday - taking advantage of the opportunity to provide Werner with some valuable seat-time alongside his new teammates. "Compared to the Audi, this is going to be a completely different world for me so I am really looking forward to driving the car at Le Mans," Werner said. "I know the car in Sebring as an LMP2 was very competitive and it is much lighter than the Audi. I'm looking forward to having a much more agile car to drive. "It will be very different at Le Mans. We know that LMP2 and LMP1 are in a different world, but at circuits like Sebring there isn't that much difference."
(Copyright Maserati / Mario Chiarappa)
Two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso "unveiled" the Maserati GranCabrio that he has selected for his personal driver at Fiorano on March 18th. The Spanish driver for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro chose Grigio Granito for the paint color and a combination of Pearl Beige and Bordeaux leather for the interior, matching a soft top of the same shade. The Maserati GranCabrio is being marketed throughout Europe beginning this month.
(All photos courtesy of BMW)
BMW has begun deliveries of its Z4 GT3 to private BMW teams who will prepare them for use in various national and international championships in accordance with the GT3 regulations such as the FIA GT3 European Championship, the International GT Open or the ADAC GT Masters, as well as at 24-hour endurance races. The BMW GT3 car is powered by a 4.0-liter, 480HP V8 similar to the unit used in the BMW M3 GT2 and power is transmitted through a six-speed, sequential gearbox with “Quick Shift” function. Modern engine management electronics, central locking rims and racing ABS and traction control are also included in the GT3 car. Front and rear wings, hood, roof, fender and many other components are made of carbon fiber, reducing the weight of the BMW Z4 GT3 to 1,200 kilograms. The BMW Z4 GT3 is available as a racing car at a cost of 298,000 Euros (plus VAT). Interested teams can find further information at: Z4GT3@bmw-motorsport.com.
Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share…
By A.J. Morning
Sebring, FL – Last week, while the rest of the country was no doubt busy arguing with itself over the future of health care, a small historic town in Central Florida was busy getting its race on.
Saturday’s running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is now in the books – triumph for Team Peugeot Total, a continuation of turbo-diesel dominance in endurance racing, and a highlight reel that most of the teams featured would love to make disappear. On the way to the checkered flag at the storied 3.7-mile circuit, an abundance of weird calls, unprecedented mistakes, and flat out rotten luck defined the race.
It’s hard to point to any one item, but this year’s Sebring had a different groove to it – as if there was something missing. Something we had all grown accustomed to, something expected, something that makes sportscar racing great. It wasn’t just all the new LMP Challenge cars and GT Challenge Porsches; there was something new that just didn’t feel right:
In their first absence in many years, Audi helped shape Sebring for 2010.
After last year’s hard luck at the Le Mans 24 Hours and rain-shortened Petit Le Mans, Sebring seemed destined to be the point at which Audi would return to form and give relative upstart Peugeot a serious run. As it turned out, Audi was forced to skip Sebring because the R15 TDI racer had to undergo rhinoplasty to sort out its much-protested nose.
With Audi out of the picture, Team Peugeot was the odds-on favorite and they did not disappoint. In a run reminiscent of the last few years of Corvette Racing in the now-defunct GT1 class, Peugeot ran as if they had the class to themselves – working together to put the rest of the field behind them, and occasionally finding the chance to race against each other. Minus another Le Mans-winning turbo-diesel entry in the field, it was Peugeot’s race to lose, and they did a superb job not losing it.
Not to say that Peugeot was the only entry in P1 worth a look – the stunning Aston Martin Racing Lola, done up in traditional Gulf livery (though with Lowe’s as a primary sponsor, which looked a bit odd on the car), was fast throughout the race. All that kept the Aston from running up front, it seemed, was a diesel mill.
While Peugeot merely needed to show up and avoid trouble to effectively guarantee a win in P1, the highly competitive GT2 class (under ACO rules for Sebring and Petit Le Mans this year) was anybody’s guess. Prior to the race, expectations were high for a late-race re-match between Corvette Racing and the Flying Lizard Porsche team – the rival groups had fought like Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns in the latter part of 2009, culminating in a finish-line crash in the season-ender at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca between the Lizards’ Joerg Bergmeister and Corvette Ace Jan Magnussen that sent the latter hard into the outside wall – but last Saturday, between a renegade wheel from another Porsche taking out Bergmeister’s Flying Lizard, and a first-time ever disastrous miscue in the pits for Corvette racing, both teams were out of contention before the sun retreated into the Western sky.
If the laser-guided attack tire wasn’t enough to ruin the day for the No. 45 Porsche, driver Joerg Bergmeister was forced to wait for approximately six years before the pits opened, making it all but certain that the second half of the race would be left to the BMW entries from Rahal Letterman Racing to chase down the perennially-fast Risi Competizione Ferrari.
Corvette’s pit-lane shunt between the No. 3 and No. 4 car was something nobody had ever seen – much less dreamed a possibility. It is also something, we can all be certain, that we will never see again from the multiple-championship winning group.
Marc Lieb brought the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche to the finish a mere one lap down from the podium-sitting BMWs, and just two laps off the class-winning Ferrari. The Corvettes, which lost much time due to mechanical and crash issues, still worked out a finish barely 10 laps off the class leader.
Drivers from both teams claim there’s no bad blood between the two, lingering from last year. We’ll see how nicely they get along over the remaining 9 races in 2010.
This year, the American Le Mans Series is sporting a new look, having signed Tequila Patron as Series Sponsor. Patron’s involvement in ALMS over the last several years has been building in size and scope, and they’re an excellent fit. Patron’s name and colors adorn all ALMS banners, as well as a number of entries in the field.
One such entry, the newly minted Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari 430 GT, was more notable for its frightening Car-B-Que adventure late in the race. Driver/Owner Scott Sharp escaped injury, but the 150 MPH inferno down the Ulmann Straight into the Sunset Bend, destroyed the car and ended any hopes of Speed continuing the success he enjoyed while driving the Patron-sponsored Highcroft Racing prototype in years past.
Highcroft themselves had an early lead, this year going back to their former class in P2. Drivers David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud, and hired endurance ace Marino Franchitti – all once former competitors for Acura, now make up the lone entry for Honda Performance Development. While Honda reps at the track spoke briefly of the name change from Acura to HPD as being done for “marketing concerns,” it seems obvious that with the demise of the Acura NSX, there isn’t anything in the Acura lineup to correlate to motorsports – hence the HPD moniker.
That said, Highcroft’s strong run early in the race was marred by electrical problems which set the team back more laps than they could recover, and the Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder driven by Sascha Maassen, Klaus Graf, and American driver Greg Pickett wasted no time in nabbing the team’s first class win.
The isobutanol/ethanol powered Mazda/Lola of Dyson Racing was fast, but suffered mechanical glitches and was out of contention in the daylight hours. The BP-sponsored Mazda is one of the latest in a number of alternative-fueled entries that are keeping the American Le Mans Series both vital and relevant when it comes to proving new technologies on the track, in the heat of battle. While other series are just recently divorced from leaded gasoline – and now considering the giant leap of getting rid of carburetors in favor of the modern idea of fuel injection – the ALMS is now several years into showcasing a Battle of the Propulsion Technologies with diesel, cellulosic ethanol, and isobutanol all competing with conventional petroleum-derived fuel to help shape how our vehicles will be powered in the near future. Not “some day,” but now and just around the corner.
Casting aside debates between the Gores and the Limbaughs, a few realities have made themselves abundantly clear in the last few years. Chief among these: That petroleum-based fuel carries too many liabilities (be they environmental, political, or both), and that the internal-combustion engine is not going to wither and die off, to be replaced by expensive and environmentally unfriendly batteries.
Want to see where we’re headed for tomorrow’s fuel? Go to an ALMS race.
Joining Patron among the new changes to the American Le Mans Series, we now have two spec-racer Challenge series for 2010: LMP Challenge and GT Challenge. Both are designed, if we’re honest, to increase the car count and keep the grid from looking like the Indy F1 race in 2005. With economic times still dire, the cost of racing at the top-shelf level aren’t exactly in retreat. The two Challenge classes certain did add to the action and excitement, as well as the number of full-course cautions.
I can’t mention caution periods without a comment on how they were handled. When it takes three laps and spare change under caution before the safety car takes to the circuit, something’s not working right. Bergmeister was forced to spend enough time waiting at the entrance to pit road, he could’ve watched Truth in 24 from beginning to end. In this age of gigahertz electronics and instant-everything, it makes no sense that the pits are closed for so long as to directly affect the outcome of the race itself. Safety is and should be the paramount concern of those calling the shots. Providing racers with the opportunity to race and win, should at least be in the top five of those concerns.
Lastly: “You know why there’s no Toyotas here, right? Because you need brakes if you’re gonna’ survive the hairpin…” -- overheard on the paddock.
That, my friends, is a sign of the times.
That’s it for now – I’ll see you at the next pit stop.
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