Sebring redux

Although testing for this year’s Sebring 12 Hours endurance race was held awhile ago, it’ll be interesting to see how the single Peugeot 908 HDi FAP entered for Pedro Lamy, Nicolas Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin fairs against the Audi R10 juggernaut, as this will be the first time that the two Le Mans heavyweights have battled against each other in America. This will probably be the top storyline, although the “lower” divisions feature the bulk of competitors.


LMP1
Although this is the top class of the series, its probably one of the least contested, as the Audi juggernaut has simply rolled over what little competition the class has offered over the years. The 56th running of the Mobil 1 12hrs of Sebring will feature the two Audi R10 TDI turbo diesel’s squaring off against the French blue of Peugeot Sport’s 908 TDI, while they’re will be a few other entries hoping to capitalize upon the two behemoth’s driving each other into the ground.

LMP2
Interestingly, the LMP2 category is probably the brightest star in the ALMS, as it features a host of superbly prepared; factory backed racing efforts as Porsche goes head to head with Acura. While Roger Penske’s brace of RS Spyders gets all the headlines while fighting for overall victories against the Audi’s, there will be two other teams racing Porsches for a total of five RS Spyders against the three Acura’s, with Lola and Mazda combining forces to chase the factory goliaths.

Andretti Green
This year’s Sebring race will mark the one year anniversary since AGR entered the fray, which they did in spectacular fashion. As the team’s trio of drivers Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan scored a surprise class victory, which would rank as Acura’s highest finish for the season.

This year Bryan “High Speed Hurdles” Herta will be partnered by Christian Fittipaldi full season, while TK looks set to join the party at Sebring.

Dyson
Rob Dyson has been a long time participant of Sports Car racing, having won the Rolex 24 outright during his long tenure as a top class entrant, being the Audi’s nemesis for several years before finally throwing in the towel and switching to Porsche RS Spyders. The biggest addition to this year’s team is the full season signing of Marino Franchitti, Dario’s younger brother who will partner Butch Leitzinger, while the teams sister car will be co-piloted by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith.

Fernandez
Adrian Fernandez and co-driver Luis Diaz contributed to Acura’s three teams scoring nine class podiums during Honda’s maiden year in Sports Car racing, while serving as Acura’s engine development mules. Fernandez’s team looks to improve upon its sophomore season with a stable driving line-up and improved machinery.

Highcroft
Upon an acrimonious split with Rahal Letterman Racing, in a case of who sued who, Scott Sharp and sponsor Patron have signed with Highcroft Racing for 2008 as “Stevie Johnson’s” (Stefan Johansson) replacement.

Sharp will contest the 2008 ALMS season at the controls of an Acura-ARCS entry, with new Highcroft recruit David Brabham as his co-driver. Hmm? Wonder if “Booby Ruble” got any Tequila in his Christmas stocking this year?

Penske
American Porsche factory racer Patrick Long has been signed as Ryan Briscoe’s replacement for Roger Penske’s ALMS effort in 2008 and will be part of the Porsche factory drivers piloting the brace of RS Spyder’s.

GT1
The GT1 class is effectively a farce with just three entrants listed; The General’s Team Corvette against a lone privateer Aston Martin. Competition for the Chevies is so lacking that the biggest news for this division is that the Corvettes will be running on E85 Ethanol for the entire season.

GT2
Rahal Letterman
While Bobby Rahal is busy conferring with his lawyers, the big news at RLR was the recent announcement that the team will spearhead BMW’s return to the ALMS in 2009 with a two car factory backed entry of the latest M3’s. And although I can’t find any info upon their immediate plans, I’m assuming they’ll soldier on this season with a Porsche (997) 911 GT3 RSR before switching from their venerable Stuttgart steed to their new Munich flyers.

Yet the GT2 category by far is the most fiercely contested, as the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT’s are the cars to beat, with Tackle Racing making the switch to the Maranello brand, along with Corsa Motorsport, there’ll be five Prancing Horses on the grid.

Ferrari’s main competition will once again come from the brace of Porsche 911’s being campaigned by such teams as Flying Lizards with a three car entry, Farnbacher-Loles and RLR, while Tom Milner will once again run the Panoz Esperante. There will also be a Dodge viper and an Aston Martin DBR9 running on E85 Ethanol.

Yet, the car I’m most interested in this category is the lone Ford GTR, which has been built by long time endurance stalwart Kevin Doran and will be campaigned by Robertson Racing. It should be a fairly entertaining race, so be sure to check it out!

Acura stepping up ALMS campaign

While Honda currently is the sole supplier to Tony G’s ‘lil ol racin’ series, the Japanese auto giant is currently upgrading its two other major racing programs, Formula 1 and the American Le Mans Series.

Obviously the verdict is still out on its beleaguered Formula 1 team’s recent signing of ex-Ferrari stalwart Ross Brawn as their new Team Principal, but hopefully Brawn can turn things around for “Jense’s” sake.

Meanwhile in the American Le Mans Series, which is a somewhat forgotten entity, as Sports cars have also been struggling along under a divided category, pitting the “High Tech” ALMS vs. the “Racin’ is rubbin’ UGLY Duckling” Grand Am Rolex series…

Andretti Green Racing has just announced the signing of ex-Formula 1 pilot Christian Fittipaldi to its 2008 American Le Mans LMP2 driver’s line-up. Fittipaldi made 40 F1 starts for back markers Arrows and Minardi before moving to Champ Car and ultimately Endurance racing. Fittipaldi has won both the Rolex 24 (Daytona 24hrs) and 24 Hours of Spa, as well as competing in the 24 Heurs du Mans. Last year he drove an Aston Martin DBR9 for Team Modena. Fittipaldi will partner Bryan “High Speed Hurdles” Herta for the 2008 season.

And Adrian Fernandez will now campaign an Acura ARX-01b chassis for his sophomore season in the ALMS LMP2 category in 2008. Fernandez joins AGR and Highcroft Racing whom campaigned the chassis this season, with AGR scoring a class victory in its debut at the 12 hours of Sebring. These moves are in hopes of getting onto equal footing with the currently dominant Porsche Spyder’s, which have been scoring multiple overall victories in the ALMS series…

Motor City Madness

Although its labor day weekend, motorsports is well ‘N alive with it’s return to the Belle Isle sircuit.where the Indy Cars and American Le Mans Series are racing this weekend. This marks the return to racing in Detroit after a six year absence. And since I CAN’T watch the Champ Cars this weekend, I’ve decided to watch the ALMS event instead…

Although it seems to be a pretty boring race, the ALMS always intrigues me since there are four separate classes competing at once. With the lighter LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder’s once again dominating the once all conquering Audi’s.

And I’m writing this as there’s a lengthy yellow flag period to clean the track after a very scary incident when the Flying Lizards Porsche 911 caught fire. And I mean Oh Boy did it ever catch fire! As the car simply burst into flames… Which the SPEED announcers are saying the same has happened for any chance of their taking the championship as they were currently trailing the leading duo of Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT’s.

And Ryan Briscoe managed to get punted upon trying to run over Mika Salo, with Briscoe being black flagged for his advantageous passing maneuver… And now his teammate has just lost his rear wing after contact with “Stevie Johnson,” A.K.A. Stefan Johansson.

And did I say boring? As Emanuele Pirro has just forced his way to the front in the Audi R10 Diesel after the long yellow flag session and looks set to snap Roger Penske’s Porsche seven race winning streak.

Does this indicate what the Indy Car race will be like tomorrow? As Helio Castroneves has just set the record for most poles in a season at seven, with Franchitti lining up second, Dixon third and Kanaan fourth. While Ryan Hunter Reay starts fifth…

Yet with only 4 ½ minutes left to go, Romain Dumas made an excellent pass on Pirro to give Porsche its eighth consecutive overall victory, as the Audi drought continues. The victory also gave Porsche the LMP2 Manufacturer’s title with two races remaining.

Meanwhile Mika Salo and Jamie Mello led wire to wire to capture their seventh victory of the season in GT2, while extending their championship points lead.

But the spotlight was on the overall winners, as the victory was fitting for the man who’d made the event happen. As Roger Penske worked tirelessly to bring racing back to Detroit, his cars captured pole, swept the front row of the grid and won the race. Is this an omen of things to happen in the Indy Car event?

Porsche power

Hey. This resurgence of Porsche power in American Le Mans might actually make watching the series desirable once again? As I was most surprised to read the headline of Porsche wins its fifth consecutive race in ALMS!

Huh? You mean that the all conquering, unbeatable Audi R10 TDI juggernaut has been momentarily derailed? And there’s actually somebody capable of beating the utterly dominant Audis’. And it’s none other than Roger Penske.

Enge fired by Peterson/White Lightning

What do they say about letting the Genie out of the bottle? As it appears that lightning has struck Sports Car ace tomas Enge upon his second consecutive altercation in American Le Mans competition.

Enge who was already on probation collided with Mika Salo in the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT. And apparently Salo was so peeved that he retaliated by ramming Enge’s P/WL F430GT. Which the ALMS stewards immediately gave both drivers a trip to the penalty box.

This second infraction by Enge saw him immediately fired from Peterson/White Lightning…

Long Beach’s dancing partners

And in all of the hubbub over the Bahrain GP, I managed to miss the Saturday American Le Mans race that was part of the double billing for the Long Beach weekend.

This race featured a little of everything, with the Cration-Judd LMP1 entry garnering the “Un-Smooth Move” of the week on The Speed Report. The driver managed to crash on the parade lap… Which was apparently the second time that this car has made an error prior to the green flag being dropped. OOPS!

And the tight and twisty confines of the Long Beach circuit apparently suited the lighter and more nimble LMP2 prototypes, with the Andretti Green Racing Acura driven by Dario “REO Speedwagon” Franchitti taking pole.

The Audi R10 turbo diesel’s unbeaten streak of 9 races came to an end, with the Porsche RS Spyders taking the first three places overall. Roger Penske’s team captured its second 1-2 finish with Rob Dyson taking third.

Yet apparently there was some sort of controversy as a protest was filed against the winning Penske. The dispute centered over whether or not the Penske drivers had exceeded the 70 minute maximum time allotment. (Per driver) Ultimately the protest was denied and the results stood.

There’s still absolutely nothing to write about in the GT1 category as its merely an intra-squad “scrumb” between the two factory backed Corvettes.

Meanwhile in the GT2 category the Risi Competezione Ferrari F430GT with Mika Salo behind the wheel won its third consecutive race of the season, which must have the Porsche teams scratching their heads a little…
This weekend the ALMS will once again be part of the Houston Lone Star GP weekend, racing on Saturday with the Champ Cars racing on Sunday. Yet the ALMS race won’t be available on TV until April 29th on CBS

Enge hurt at St. Pete

Tomas Enge suffered a massive accident when his Ferrari F430GT crashed head on into a concrete barrier while leading the GT2 category during Saturday’s American Le Mans race at St. Petersburg.

The car briefly caught on fire and rescue workers extracted Enge from the vehicle prior to the safety team’s arrival. And although it was a big accident, Enge’s most serious injury appears to be his shattered elbow…

Sebring Recap

And while the majority of the weekend’s attention was focused upon the Formula 1 barn burner “Down Under,” the ALMS kicked off its season this past Saturday in Florida with the 55th running of the Sebring 12 Hours.

Once again the all mighty Audi turbo diesels were at the sharp end of the podium, while the LMP2 class was taken by a Honda “nee” Acura over the mighty Porsche Spyders.

And while there’s nothing to write about the GT1 category, (Other then it didn’t pay to be driving the Artic White Ron Fellows tribute Corvette…) the GT2 fight for class victory was an epic battle between Ferrari and Porsche. What better way to start your wind-up for Melbourne by watching the final moments of Sebring?

And what an amazing finish it was between the Risi Competizione and Flying Lizard entries. As these two competitors went “Hammer and Thong’s” the final lap… The Ferrari F430GT claimed victory by the narrowest of margins!

To read the full coverage of the Sebring weekend, see: Sebring Qualifying report and Sebring Race report.

If you’re interested in watching the door banging action of the GT2’s last lap, you can check this action out by viewing the video “clip” Sebring 24 hours… Hey don’t ask me why they called it the 24 hours of Sebring. Perhaps they have the 24 Heurs du Mans on their minds?

More Ferrari’s at Sebring

Although this year’s 55th running of the Mobil 1 12hrs of Sebring’s grid seems vastly depleted, there are a few bright spots in the entry list. (Is that really correct as the ALMS entry list shows only 35 entries…)

And it’s funny how the top two categories are basically non-existent while the “lower” divisions of both prototypes and GT’s make up the bulk of the field, along with being the fiercer competition.

Fighting for the overall race victory will most likely once again be an interterm scrum between the all conquering Audi R10 TDI diesels. The two Audi AG entries will face meager competition from the other two LMP1 category newcomers Intersport Racing (Creation/Judd) and Autocon Motorsports (Lola/AER)

Meanwhile the GT1 category features a paltry three entries consisting of two GM “Work’s” Corvette Z06’s and Team Modena’s lone Aston Martin DBR9. Ironically I’d expect Team Modena to be running something Italian…

The LMP2 category will be the division to watch with the hotly contested competition between the Porsche and Acura factory backed teams. Interestingly Rob Dyson who finally gave up competing against the Audi’s “Mano-E-Mano,” has switched to LMP2 Porsche Spyder’s this year and was the fastest car at the recent Sebring test.

And bringing up the rear, figuredly speaking that is, is the GT2 category which features the bulk of entrants. The majority of this class consists of the ‘ol dependable Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’s. These mainstays of endurance racing for the past four decades will be joined by a few Panoz Esparante’s. These are being campaigned by Tom Milner’s PTG race team, a long time factory backed BMW entity. There will also be a lone Spyker C8, making its North American debut?

Yet the GT2 combatant’s will be seeing red, as in the form of four Ferrari F430GT entries. As previously mentioned, Peterson/White Lightning has made the switch from Porsche to Ferrari. Yet in Febuary a new alliance was formed with Corso Motorsports, who will also be racing a F430GT under Peterson/White Lightning’s guidance.

In a similar guise, Tracy Krohn has formed a new partnership with Risi Competizone. Krohn will contest selected ALMS events as well as this years 24 Heurs du Mans.

Risi’s lone winning F430GT will once again return to the fray with veteran ex-Formula 1 driver Mika Salo behind the wheel. Salo helped Risi claim the GT2 Championship last year.

And while the majority of media attention will be focused upon the Australian Grand Prix, the Mobil 1 12hrs will be seen in major chunks of airtime on Speed precluding the Melbourne event.

Creation makes Three

Talk about your David vs. Goliath! The Interscope Racing team has decided to (wisely) get out of the American Le Mans LMP2 category which will be a real donnybrook with the factory wars between Porsche and Acura.

Of course jumping up to compete against the all conquering Audi’s in LMP1 won’t exactly be a cake walk…

Gidley gets Ferrari drive

Well sort of… Memo Gidley has just been announced as Peterson/White Lightning’s reserve driver and will possibly just stand in the pit box for the duration of the entire race. Current team plan’s call for the squad’s two drivers to contest the upcoming 12 Hours of Sebring without a third driver…

Ferrari’s White Lightning

As previously mentioned, Peterson/White lightning will switch from Porsche to Ferrari in 2007 and the team has just announced its driver line-up for the single car effort…

Audi’s “Double Trouble

Audi AG has confirmed that the German manufacturer will return to the ALMS LMP1 Category, contesting the full 2007 season with a pair of its revolutionary turbo diesel R10’s…

Look for defending LMP1 Champions Alan McNish and Rinaldo Capello to be joined by Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner for the team’s two car effort…

Highcroft bags Johansson

Although not as well known as its two IRL counterparts (Andretti-Green Racing Fernandez Racing) making up the trio of Acura LMP2 competitor’s, Highcroft Racing has just announced its second driver who’ll partner David Brahbam. And talk about going to the well… His teammate is none other then the legendary “Stevie Johnson” who’s better known as Stefan Johansson…

Johansson’s resume reads like a who’s who of motorsports. The Swede has raced for several Formula 1 teams including Ferrari & McLaren, has seen action in Champ Cars along with winning the 24 Heurs du Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring…

RLR Announces Driver line-up

Rahal/Letterman Racing has announced its two drivers for its ALMS GT2 Porsche 911 entry. The team has decided to go for a dash of “Salt ‘N Vinegar,” by hiring one veteran and one rookie driver to their fold…

Corvette’s European Vacation?

While attending last December’s Autosport show, Corvette pilot Oliver Gabin stated that he was unsure of where Corvette would be racing in 2007…

Gavin noted that obviously Corvette would like to continue in the ALMS GT1 Category but it’s all up in the air right now as we don’t know what Aston Martin’s intentions are…

Ford has put the company up for sale and this has cast a shadow over its racing program, although Corvette had a spirited battle with the Aston Martin DBR-9’s last year. This has caused General Motors to ponder switching to the European Le Mans series (LMS) for ’07…

GM has since announced that Corvette will indeed return to ALMS in 2007 to defend its drivers and manufacturers crown along with also competing at Le Mans…

Penske’s new “Aussie”

While it was hoped for that Australian Ryan Briscoe would return to Champ Cars RuSPORT team for 2007, Briscoe has signed to drive for Roger Penske instead…

Briscoe will pilot one of Penske’s two Porsche RS Spyder’s in this season’s hotly contested ALMS LMP2 category which will pit three Acura (Honda) powered teams vs. two Porsche factory backed efforts…

New Ferrari

Over the just concluded Holidays, Santa apparently got his addresses mixed-up once again since the new Ferrari F430GT was delivered to Peterson/White Lightning instead…

Peterson/White Lightning has announced that it will switch from Porsche to Ferrari for 2007…

The team has campaigned Porsche 911GT3 RSR’s successfully in the American Le Mans LMGT2 category enroute to two successive Drivers Championships. For the upcoming season they will switch to a Ferrari F430GT…

In 2007 the new Ferrari team will bolster the number of Ferrari’s in the LMGT2 category, joining Risi Competizione. Risi campaigned two F430GT’s this season which saw ex-Ferrari Formula 1 driver Mika Salo clinch the LMGT2 Championship with a victory in the season finale at Laguna Seca Raceway…

Peterson/White Lightning will start the new year off differently by competing in its inaugural Paris Dakar rally…

What will Audi do?

Audi has won the past 7 consecutive Drivers Titles in the American Le Mans LMP1 Category and their revolutionary R10 turbo diesel went undefeated in 2006…

Now Audi’s sole competitor over the past 3 seasons has surprisingly switched to the LMP2 category for 2007. Rob Dyson will campaign two Porsche RSR Spyders next season alongside the ex-factory team of Roger Penske…

This will make the LMP2 category extremely competitive with 4 Porsches and 3 factory backed Acura’s along with other privateer efforts. Acura powered chassis will be raced by Andretti Green, Fernandez & Highcroft…

It will be interesting to see if the LMP1 category implodes which would be a big problem for the ALMS. Will Audi be content to simply motor around as the sole LMP1 competitor? Or will Audi withdraw and simply compete at Le Mans and the DTM next year…

Open Wheel Refuge

The American Le Mans Series hosted their season finale at Laguna Seca a few weekends ago, Since then a few interesting tidbits involving next year’s season have came to light…
As previously announced, Honda will join the swelling ranks of the LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype) category with three factory backed Acura powered entries. Current Andretti Green Racing (AGR) IRL team owner Michael Andretti will field one team alongside Grand-Am team owner/driver Adrian Fernandez. The third team features Andy Wallace aboard the Highcroft Racing (Duncan Dayton) entry…
At the SEMA show in Los Vegas, AGR announced that its one car LMP2 effort (Courage chassis) would be spearheaded by ex-IRL AGR team driver Bryan Herta. AGR IRL driver Dario Franchitti will partner Herta in selected events with Franchitti’s younger brother Mario doing the rest of the driving chores…
Roger Penske will return for his sophomore season, fielding two Porsche Spyders once again in the LMP2 category. Rumours abound over a Penske driver line-up shuffle. Current Penske drivers may depart for rides aboard Audi’s LMP1 juggernaut. Meanwhile Porsche Spyders are to be made available for privateers with deep pockets in 2007…
Bobby Rahal and team co-owner David Letterman have announced plans to compete in ALMS in 2007. Rahal/Letterman will field either one or two Porsche 911 RSR’s in the GT-2 category next season. Driver line-up TBA…
While the International media focused upon the retirement of 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher, not much was made of Sports Car legend James Weaver’s retirement. Posting “Schumacher like-numbers,” Weaver amassed an amazing 100 career victories, 200 podiums and 67 pole positions during a 20 year career with Dyson Racing…