Laguna Seca Donnybrook

Whale fortunately SPEED decided to show the 4hr American Le Mans Series finale from Monterey, CA in its entirety a day after the fact and thus, I sat down and watched the entire show mid day Sunday, and what a race it turned out to be for the overall victory and the GT2 class win, as both were mighty scrums between the various combatants…

Yet, it was even cooler getting to see (briefly( that not only had Jim Hall been coaxed into attending the race, but he brought along a pair of his legendary Chaparral’s for exhibition duty, to which SPEED’s Dorsey Schroeder said the crowds went completely “Banana’s” (wild!) over seeing on track… Not to mention the brief interview with Hall saying how he was looking forward to being out on the track with Gil… As this was Gil De Ferran’s final race and thus as I said before, it was a nice touch on Gil’s part to honour the man who gave him his very first Indy Car ride some 14yrs ago, behind the wheel of a Hall VDS Racing Pennzoil yellow Reynard 95 Mercedes Benz, (Ilmor) where he won his very first CART race at Laguna Seca enroute to the Rookie of the Year title.

Paul Gentilozzi’s Rocketsports Racing made their Jaguar XKR GT2’s chassis full race outing as a development test as the team looks to make a full season campaign in 2010, while I’m wondering if perhaps this car is simply a dusted off Trans Am racecar since Gentilozzi should have plenty of them laying around his shop from the days of SCCA Pro Racing competition.

The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911GT3 RSR competing in the hotly contested GT2 category was busy developing Falken racing rubber as a new contender in the series and the team had driven 11hrs to retrieve a better suited set of tyres “Just-in-Time” for the race…

The No. 16 Dyson Racing Le Mans P2 (Prototype class) Mazda Lola B09 86 once again was racing as an Unclassified entry (UNC) as it continued it’s test program involving running upon Bio-Butanol in conjunction with team sponsor BP (British Petroleum) and engine partner Mazda, which the team made its Butanol debut at this year’s Petit Le Mans, as the series fourth fuel source: Diesel, E85 Ethanol, Pump-grade Petrol and now Bio- Butanol, which the team hopes to use in series Points competition next year, while in my previous story Is Corn King? I noted how BP is an ardent supporter of Butanol in the future, especially as an alternative to the media darling Ethanol, as interestingly Butanol has better properties then Ethanol as shown in an cross country exercise way back in ’05, albeit most likely to be a Petroleum Corporations byproduct, but I digress…

Thus, back to the racing action, as fittingly De Ferran captured the Pole position for Saturday’s race, with his main competitors for the overall victory being Championship rival Highcroft Racing, along with Fernandez Racing’s LMP2 Acura being the dark horse.

Simon Pagenaud led from Pole and simply motored away from the 32 car field, comprised of four different classes, as Championship leaders Highcroft simply needed to complete 70% race distance to secure the title and thus David Brabham took it very easy, albeit suffering with an electrical gremlin relating to the gearbox shifting selector, which the team disconnected and thus Brabham and co-driver Scott Sharp needed to be informed of which gear they were in when pitting as their dashboard no longer displayed this pertinent information…

Meanwhile the No. 48 Corsa Motorsports Hybrid P1 challenger argubably put in its best performance by running as high as third place overall, before finishing fourth, after having to replace its electric motor earlier that morning, while Brabham and Sharp would cruise home to a third place finish.

But the race was an epic battle between old CART competitors De Ferran and Adrian Fernandez in the final thirty minutes, as Fernandez doggedly chased Gil as close as a scant 0.4 seconds adrift thru traffic, even passing De Ferran, only to be out powered on the front straight, as Fernandez said; Gil’s a great racer and he never made a mistake… As the pair would finish 1-2 respectively with De Ferran 0.6 seconds ahead at the stripe!

Yet the real fireworks were being contested in the GT2 class between the No. 45 Flying Lizard’s Jorg “Rowdy” Bergmeister and the No. 3 Corvette with Jan “Trickle” Magnussen behind the keyboard, as “MAG’s” (Magnussen) relentlessly hounded Bergmeister for the class victory, putting an unbelievable “Out-of-Bounds” pass upon the German for the lead, by using the pit lane’s entrance as a passing zone, which the Officials told the Dane to give the position back, before the two combatants did a ‘lil Racin’ is Rubbin’ action on their way towards the Corkscrew… Then in the final corner Magnussen did his best Cole Trickle impersonation, trying to loosen up Jorg with a luv-tap, but Bergmeister was having none of it, as he basically ran MAG’s into the front straight wall, which the Dane then T-Boned as Bergmeister held onto the GT2 victory with Jan’s crumpled Corvette runner-up… As Jorg said he was still shaking in the Post-race interview… As both drivers have now received a two race probation for the beginning of the 2010 ALMS season, with any further incidents to result in a two race suspension...

And next year should be even better with the American Le Mans Series new four class structure, which I’ll delve into later…

(And now they’ve moved the Laguna Seca race to May… SHEISA!)

2009 Laguna Seca ALMS Class Entries:
P1: 6; P2: 4*; GT2: 14; GT3-CS: 8#.
(* = #16 Dyson Racing UNC race car.)
(# = Two competitors excluded from results for rules infractions.)

Laguna Seca Race Results

Gil De Ferran’s Swan Song

Although I’ve hoped to be at Laguna Seca the past two year’s for the Monterey Sports Car
Championship, for some strange reason they pushed the event forward one week this year and hence I’m still home instead poondin’ meese nucel’s on ze keeboards, but I digress….

Thus as this weekend’s spotlight is shone upon Homestead, the Laguna Seca outing also on Saturday marks Gil De Ferran’s final race drive, and he’s been made the races Grand Marshal, while his team’s Acura racecar will feature a special all white “Chaparral” livery in tribute of Jim Hall, who gave him his start in Indy Car competition, as hey! That’s a pretty cool way to go out… And it’s nice to see a driver pay homage to those who’ve helped him out along the way…

Laguna Seca: Series spotlight - Gil de Ferran

Petit Le Mans Postscript

Whale, although I missed the majority of SPEED’s live flag to flag coverage of this year’s Petit Le Mans and was overly ANNOYED that SPEED chopped off the Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Post Race interview in order to take us to a fairly lame Petit Pre-race show, I did manage to catch the first 45mins or so…

Thus it was cool to see that Marino Franchitti captured the LMP2 Pole position and he and co-driver Butch Leitzinger ultimately went on to win their category, while the Ford GT-R started on Pole in LMGT2 thanks to David Murray’s performance…

Yet, it wasn’t to be as the race was cut short and failed to reach the 1,000km distance for the very first time ever due to the massive deluge of precipitation, including Thunderstorms, which continued to hammer the Atlanta region…

It also would be the first time in nine years that Audi didn’t win the event, as Peugeot who won this year’s 24 Heurs du Mans, would capture their very first Petit Le Mans victory with Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin behind the wheel...

Road Atlanta: Series race report

Petit Le Mans

Once again its time for the American Le Mans Series “Fall Capper,” arguably the series second biggest race of the season, headed only by the 12hrs of Sebring.

LMP1(12)
(Class/Number of entries)
And then they went Two by Two, as the top category will be a barnburner between the two Audi R15’s, two Peugeot 908’s and Acura ARX-02A’s

The Audi’s will feature Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner aboard the Audi Sport North America No. 1, while Dindo Capello and the irrepressible Allan McNish will pilot the Audi Sport Team Joest No. 2.

Reigning 24 Heurs du Mans winners Peugeot will feature Nicolas Minassian and Pedro Lamy at the keyboard of the No. 07 car, while Stephane Sarazzin and Franck Montagny will be aboard the No. 8.

And the two Acuras will see the TCGR IndyCar Boyz once again sharing driving duties, with Scott Dixon co-driving with Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in the No. 66, with Dario Franchitti co-driving with David Brabham and Scott Sharp aboard the HighCroft No. 9, as the two Acura squad’s are locked in a fierce fight for the ALMS Championship.

While the No. 48 Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek 09HS Zytek piloted by Johnny Mowlem and “Stevie Johnson,” a.k.a. Stefan Johansson is a most interesting design, as this chassis features “Hybrid Synergy,” utilizing a KERS system and Hybrid technology, having made its debut at Utah earlier this year.

LMP2 (5)
The LMP2 category is a fairly interesting affair, as I’m rooting for the underdog No. 20 Dyson Racing Lola/Mazda with Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti; having met Marino this summer at Silverstone, just fresh off his Le Mans outing. Marino, the younger Franchitti, seems pretty down to Earth and a very pleasant chap and hence the class’s choice is simple for me.

Adrian Fernandez Acura has been the dominant force all season long, but the Team “Sidle-sport (Team Cytosport) Porsche RS Spyder of Greg Pickett and the two Dyson cars should at least give Fernandez a run for his money, while the Van der Steur Racing’s Radical SR9 AER should keep everybody on their toes.

LMGT2 (14)
This by far is probably the hottest contested class with its mix of “Production-based” competitors featuring the likes of BMW, Corvette, Dodge Viper, Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar, Panoz and Porsche…

Look for the two Factory Corvette’s to mix it up with Bobby Rahal’s (or Booby Ray-X according to Meesh…) fast improving two car squad of BMW’s, while the plethora of Porsches can never be counted out during an Endurance race.

Of interest is the entry of Rocketsports Racing’s lone Jaguar XKR. (#33) As although the drivers are listed as TBA, I’m assuming this is ‘Ol Trans Am gunslinger Paul Gentolozi’s outfit, (Remember him? The Dude who rann Trans Am into the ground and was one of the four Champ Car Mooseketeers…) which has been basically MIA since the demise of Champ Car and SCCA Trans Am.

But my sentimental favourite has to be the No. 40 Robertson Racing Ford GT-R piloted by David & Andrea Robertson and David Murry.

While sadly, there appears to be only one Ferrari F430 entered, but it’s a good ‘Juan, being the No. 62 Risi Competizione with Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and future wanna be Stock Car star Mika Salo behind the keyboard.

You can catch all the action on SPEED, beginning at 8AM (PACIFIC) this Saturday.

Petit Le Mans Spotter guide

Team Who?

Not to be cornfused with Team Iannucci; as the head scribe of My Name is IRL is seemingly busy at the moment building his own IndyCar World Series entity… Err, interviewing the countless IWS drivers currently available; NOT to be mistaken with the fine folks over at De Ferran Motorsports, who as Jeffey notes; Team Boss Gil De Ferran has taken the House ‘O Winsor’s USF1 (USGPE) creative marketing technique by doing some name dropping of his own on potential Drivers of his yet completed Indy Car team…

But don’t get me wrong, I certainly admire Gil, I mean HELL! Why else would I have gotten Donald Kay of Autosport Radio to get me the 2003 Indy 500’s “John Hancock” otherwise, eh?

Thus it was somewhat surprising during the Mid-Ohio (ALMS) weekend, when the 41yr old Brazilian (De Ferran) announced his retirement from the cockpit at the end of 2009; for a second and final time… In order to devote his energies fully towards his race team, in which he’d like to see a second car added to his ALMS program along with his dream of running a two car entity in Indy Car in 2010.

So, with that stated, I for one duly hope that De Ferran’s lofty ambitions come true with the debut of a two car IRL entry next year, as there’s certainly room for some new blood to spice things up a bit, eh?

And there certainly doesn’t seem to be a lack of quality “Hotschue’s” available… As perhaps De Ferran will go for an all Royal Bleu squad of Sea Bass (Bourdais) and “Symone” Pagenaud? Or perhaps Danny Boy Wheldon, whom reportedly doesn’t feel the LUV at Panther Racing anymore; not to mention Penske’s third wheel, (Will Power) Justin “BIG UNIT” Wilson or Scott Dixon? (Leggo my Dixie, sez the Cheepster!)

Or to get really far fetched, how about “Quick Nick” (Heidfeld) or Rubino? (R. Barrichello) But my money’s on either Wheldon/Power alongside Pagenaud, as we’ll see, eh? As I’d go for Power if it’s possible, although “Taku-san’s” *Takuma Sato) name keeps popping up along with Formula Dream sponsorship…

NOTE:
Whale it certainly bothers me when Mr. BRUT Arute-Arute not only picks the same driver as Mwah, but then has the audacity to try needling Gil about it on camera. And wasn’t it funny seeing Arute craning his neck skywards to talk to Justin Wilson…

Welcome Back Gil De Ferran

Long Beach Triple Header

Whale there really doesn’t seem like too much I can add to the plethora of race coverage for the Long Beach GP, as both My Name is IRL and So Here’s what I’m thinking had “Live” Race Blogs, not to mention IRLBlog.com’s live reader interactive session...

And it was funny for Mwah to be rooting for a Penske... Albeit the No. 12 Can you hear me now? Phone giant speciale... As I thought it would be fantastic to see Will Power steal back some of Hulio’s thunder this weekend... As he’d once again spoiled Paul Tracy’s festivities... Hello? Hello? Is this thingy on? Where’d everybody go? But I’m gonna be racing the Gecko at Indy this May...

But could we please QUIT these shenanigan’s over ‘Ol PT NOT driving at Toronto & Edmonton... Are they really gonna be that STUPID!?!

And I found it quite amusing how Jon Beekhuis and Robbie “I picked Dario” Buhl don’t seem to let Bob Jenkins talk a whole lot during the race...

Being even more bummed to see Justin “BIG UNIT” Wilson get hammered outta the race... And thus while wanting Power to pass Mr. REO Speedwagon... It soon became evident that Dario Franchitti would indeed give his wife Mrs. Ashley a very nice Birthday present indeed, while the Speed Freaks made a deal with Dario that “The Sarge” would shave his head if Franchitti could make it rain again, win the race and have his wife skipping down Indy’s pit lane in the rain this May...

And better yet; will the Captain stick to his guns and keep Power out of Kansas this coming weekend as the Aussie is the highest placed Penske driver in the Championship...

And speaking of “BIG UNIT’s,” as in Justin Wilson... According to Arie Luyendyk Junior, whose reportedly 6’ 2,” he was marveling on over how in the HE-LL did Justin get his lanky frame inside the cockpit and the fact that his younger brother Stefan who drove in the Firestone Indy Lights race that Mr. Long Beach gave away the winner to during his firestorm reporting sessions this weekend... Is reportedly even taller then Justin at 6’ 5”!

And although I wasn’t amused by the 15min stall session the Speed Freaks made us endure while picking upon David Brabham’s last name... As apparently The Sarge isn’t aware of the fact that David’s father; triple F1 World Champion Sir Jack’s nickname is Black Jack and probably could kick his ASS at this moment, eh?

Thus the non-humorous segway continued on while waiting for Scott Sharp, Brabham and Patron Tequila Girls entourage to arrive at their studio. As it was entertaining to hear that apparently there was a mistake made in the 20-25 second penalty given to the team for apparent pit crew safety equipment violation... Dropping the Highcroft/Patron Acura LMP1 racecar from the race lead, as Sharp claims that after the incident a senior ALMS pit tech said that their crew member wasn’t in violation... Although I doubt that Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud will be stripped of the teams win in the Saturday ALMS race that ended early due to Boris Said catching his GT2 Corvette on fire...

And I find Dario to be extremely entertaining to listen to... As he nailed Kenny Sergeant over Mel Gibson not being a Scot! Along with making some clamour ‘bout Tony Kanaan modifying his bet which you can check out in his Speed freaks interview...

Franchitti on Mullets ‘N Stuff

And Oh Yeah! I forgot that ‘Lil Al won the Toyota Celebrity race along with Keanu “Surfs Up Dude!” Reeves this weekend...

Sebring Postscript

Whale that certainly seemed like a very exciting race... As we were left watching a titanic scrum between the Audi R15 TDI and Peugeot 908 HDI, with the Scottish “Terrier” Alan McNish putting on a masterful driving clinique... With the Hamburgular giving him fits, along with Frank Montagny.

Although this year’s field was down quite a bit in terms of numbers, with a scant 26 entrants, nonetheless it was a very good grid, with the most interesting battles occurring in the “Big” Prototypes, nee LMP1 and the GT2 category. As you’re probably aware of by now, LMP1 saw the battle of three factory backed opponents: Acura, Audi and Peugeot, with a varying effect of machinery, as each took a different approach to their interpretations of the rules.

As previously mentioned, having made the jump up to LMP1 this season, Acura went with the radical approach of producing a chassis with all four wheels being the same size, i.e.; rear tyres on the front wheel hubs. And the chassis design was carried out by Wirth Research in the UK, being 100% digital. As in the entire car never set foot in a wind tunnel, instead being designed by Computational Fluid Dynamics, (CFD) which is quite the rage in Formula 1 at the moment.

And if you’re thinking the name Wirth sounds familiar, you’re correct as in Nick Wirth, ex-Formula One team boss of the ill fated Simtek Grand Prix.

Interestingly, it was noted that the larger front wheels give an additional 10% contact patch area which increases cornering ability along with overall agility. As Acura sought to make up for its lack of straight-line grunt from its 4.0 liter normally aspirated gasoline powered V-8 Lump vs. the competition’s 5.5 liter twin turbo diesels.

Audi once again was debuting a brand new chassis at Sebring, with it’s sleeker, nimbler R15 V-10 twin turbo hoping to emulate the previous R8 and R10’s winning ways, while Peugeot was back again with an updated version of its closed coupe 908 HDI V-12 twin turbo, which is now in its third season of competition.

Quote of the Weekend:
“Mika drove like a Grandma!”

From GT2 class winner Mika Salo, as apparently the Finn still isn’t best friends with double F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen, as the Mika bros. along with J.J. Letho and Kimi Raikkonen all contested this year’s Artic Rally, which reportedly “The Iceman” rammed his car into a steel pole in Parc Ferme at the events finish...

Salo, who is apparently only contesting the one ALMS event this year and will be replaced by Pierre Kaffer, as lead driver Jaime Melo’s season long teammate, reportedly is working hard on a RASSCAR deal... I tell yuh, what’s up with the Stock car stuff, eh? As it ain’t been NO bed ‘O roses for Sam Hornish Jr. and a slew of other Open Wheel racers...

And with Risi Competizione’s Melo having trouble with his immigration visa; “PAPERS? I DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ PAPERS!” Y’all knew that was coming, right? The team elected to start the beautiful rosso F430GT from the rear of the grid in order to enable Melo (who’s still recovering from a broken foot) to race during the night portion of the event.

Yet, after the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari started dead last, it crossed the chequered flag two laps ahead of the class runner-up; the Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430GT shared by Luis Companc, Mathias Russo, and Gianmaria Bruni, capping Scuderia Ferrari’s 18th class victory at Sebring...

Mika Salo:

"The most difficult win is always when you're leading by miles because it's easy to screw up,"

"But a win is always a win. So we will take it."

And in typical Sebring fashion, various debutantes ran afoul of the Florida cement mixer track, as both Acura ARX-02a Prototypes failed to finish, although Scott Dixon had grabbed the overall pole position for De Ferran Motorsports, before suspension troubles and a fuel leak forced their retirement, while the Highcroft boys suffered a driveline failure.

And all of the Acura LMP1 runners were apparently feeling the effects of the increased G loadings of their respective mounts, as Dario Franchitti supposedly had a leg cramp from the repeated strain of 4G’s during cornering and braking, as David Brabham had earlier reiterated how everybody had had to step up their training regimen...

Yet, once again the Audi won upon debuting a new racecar, as the perfectly scripted 100th American Le Mans Series event was this year’s Mobil 1 12hrs event, with McNish being simply untouchable in the closing hour of the race, putting some three seconds of a lap gap upon eventual runner-up Montagny, Bourdais and Stephane Sarrazin.

The victory was McNish’s third, while Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen notched their fourth and fifth wins at the fabled track respectively. With “Mr. Le Mans” (Kristensen) now having added the title of Mr. Sebring to his CV, having broken his tie with ex-teammate Frank Biela for outright victories...

But, apparently Dixon and Franchitti were no worse for the wear, as the TCGR duo posted the first and fourth fastest lap times at the following day’s test at Barber Motorsports Park, while Sebastian Bourdais was busy winging his way Down Under for this weekend’s upcoming Australian Grand Prix.

And for those of you north of the border (Meesh) pondering Bobby Rahal’s BMW M3’s GT2 debut, one car wouldn’t turn over at the start of the race, prior to retiring with mechanical gremlins, while Dorsey Schrader gave a much more accurate assessment of the sister car’s engine going “Kablamoe” vs. Rahal’s comment of something happening to the oil tank. (But I’m pretty certain these cars will become competitive shortly, as they’ve got four really good drivers and BMW likes to win...)

12 Hours of Sebring

(De Ferran Acura ARX-02a: Motorsport.com)

Whale... It’s just around the corner, as this weekend features the 57th running of the Mobil 1 12hrs of Sebring Sports Car race, which is the American Le Mans “Superbowl” event of the season, a la the Rolex 24.

This year’s kick off classic appears to be slightly down upon overall entries, albeit a strong field nonetheless, as the ALMS is touting the fact that multiple Auto manufacturer’s will be taking part with such names as Acura, Audi, Ferrari and Peugeot to name a few.

You may wish to check out a pretty entertaining show upon SPEED; Project LMP1 which dissects Acura’s revolutionary approach to making its petrol powered race car able to potentially defeat the diesel powered titans of its sport by building a racecar with the rear wheels mounted on the front...

Look for De Ferran Motorsports and Patron/Highcroft Racing to run these interesting Acura ARX-02a creations vs. the Audi and Peugeot’s, as both will be featuring two car line-ups of very accomplished racers. Peugeot will have a raft of Formula 1 drivers while Audi will have its legendary Endurance racers behind the wheel.

Meanwhile Chip Ganassi has given his two Indy Car pilots a Day pass to compete in the grueling road race on the pumbling concrete straights of Sebring’s ex-Bomber air base, as Scott Dixon will co-drive with Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud, while Dario Franchitti will partner Scott Sharp and David Brabham. As I’m guessing they’ll be high tailing it upon “Cheep’s” personal G5 in order to be on hand at the Barber Indy Car test session the day after...

Look for an impressive eleven hours of TV coverage on the SPEED Channel this Saturday (March 21) beginning at 7AM Pacific, preceded by a rerun of the Acura Project LMP1 show at 6AM: As always check your local listings...

Sebring Spotters Guide

Sports Car competition not immune either

Roger Penske, who’d previously announced his intentions to compete in the upcoming 2009 Rolex 24 with a brace of Porsche powered Riley Daytona Prototype chassis, has now decided to contest the entire season.

Penske previously was the Porsche “Works” team in the rival American Le Mans Series, having won the LMP2 Championship the past two seasons with the RS Spyder, before deciding to move over to the Grand Am series, with the team’s announcement stating that Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, will be the primary driving duo of Penske’s single car entry. Thus, I’m not sure what will happen to American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, who I’d hope to listen to his interview on the Speed Freaks show Sunday night, but I had to bail after listening to 25+ minutes of bathroom humour(?) literally... As Kenny Sergeant wanted to know the most vile place you’d ever been forced to piss, while stalling for Patrick’s interview, who was supposedly calling in from Der Fatherland at 5:20AM GMT.

On the heels of NASCAR’s announcement of banning all testing next season, the ACO has cancelled the 24 Heurs du Mans test day in order to help teams save money.

And you may already have heard, that Audi has decided to forgo full season campaigns in the ALMS and LMS racing series in 2009. And thus, Audi’s only planning to race at Sebring and Le Mans with its new R15 turbo diesel next year.

Thus, with Audi’s bailout and Porsche seemingly having left the ALMS, one must ponder whether Honda will indeed step up to the LMP1 category which it currently intends to, as they’ll be in a similar position as Audi, whom has had virtually zero competition in the class the past several years, a la Corvette in the GT1 category. So, will Gil De Ferran and Adrian Fernandez be forced to fall back to LMP2 instead?

More Open Wheel stars at Petit Le Mans

Not to be outdone by the recent plethora of Open Wheel Racing “Stars” competing in the recently held Grand Am season finale at Miller Motorsport Park, the series rival; ALMS *American Le Mans Series) will have its own gala of celebrity drivers...

Thus, the list of drivers joining 2008 Indy Car Champion Scott Dixon, who’ll be co-driving with Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in De Ferran’s Acura LMP2 entry at this year’s Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 4th, will include:

Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti will co-drive with Frank Montagny aboard Andretti Green Racing’s LMP2 Acura entry, while Kanaan will also drive with Montagny at the season finale at Laguna Seca.

Roger Penske will enter a third LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder for his two Indy Car stars Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, with the Indy Car team members as the crew for this extra entry designed to help Penske’s regular ALMS drivers retain their American Le Mans Series driver’s and team crowns in a hotly contested battle against their Acura brethren.

And speaking of Acura based LMP2 contestants, Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham and Scott Sharp who are battling to defeat Penske for the driver’s and manufacturer’s titles, have enlisted the services of Dario Franchitti for the event, who’ll now be racing against his brother Marino, who drives one of Rob Dyson’s LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders, with five Porsche Spyders racing at Road Atlanta.

Meanwhile, according to Indy Racing Revolution, 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Champion Rafael Matos will also be competing, but I’ve yet to discover who or what he’ll be racing in.

And while all of the media attention seemingly is focused upon the heated LMP2 category, don’t forget that there’s two significant changes in the Big Brother LMP1 category, as Peugeot will be bringing two of its extremely fast LMP1 908 APHFI turbo diesel coupes to challenge the Audi R10’s for overall victory, while Corsa Motorsports will debut its brand new Hybrid Prototype...

Petit Le Mans

While everyone’s pointing out that soon to be two time IRL Champion Scott Dixon will co-drive for De Ferran Motorsports in this year’s upcoming Petit Le Mans in October aboard the team’s LMP2 Acura powered prototype... It’s also worth noting that Peugeot has announced that it will contest the race and is sending a pair of its 908 HDi FAPs, which currently dominate the European LMS (Le Mans) series stateside.

The driver line-up will be similar to its European campaign, with BMW Sauber F1 test driver Christian Klien replacing Jacques Villeneuve, alongside co-drivers Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian.

The second car will feature Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz, as Peugeot seeks to garner an overall victory against its arch nemesis Audi and the pesky Porsche RS Spyders of Roger Penske, along with the rapidly improving Acura’s...

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…