The C6.Rs running in formation
Corvette
Flying Lizard
Farnbacher
Michelin
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Corvette
O'Connell and Magnussen Score Third GT1 Win of Season in Sizzling Utah Grand Prix
No. 3 Corvette C6.R Continues Hot Streak in High Desert
SALT LAKE CITY, May 18, 2008 -- Corvette Racing's final warm-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans was run in near-record temperatures as a heat wave in Utah's high desert tested America's premier production sports car team. Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen kept their hot streak alive in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, scoring a one-minute, 4.9-second victory over the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin in the American Le Mans Series Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix. It was the third victory in four races this season for O'Connell and Magnussen, who now hold an eight-point lead (86-78) in the GT1 drivers championships over their teammates.
"The car worked really well, and this was a really good final test before Le Mans," said Magnussen as he shrugged off the 90-degree heat at Miller Motorsports Park. "We were able to get some good data, and the main thing is there's not a scratch on the car."
Beretta led the first 52 minutes in the pole-winning No. 4 Corvette C6.R, but O'Connell and the No. 3 Corvette C6.R took the point after the first round of pit stops when a problem with the refueling system cost the No. 4 car precious time in the pits. The No. 4 Corvette increased its margin on the two subsequent pit stops. Both Corvettes completed 88 laps and finished 10th and 11th overall in the 30-car field.
"Luck is a big part of it, and the luck is going our way now," said O'Connell. "Jan is driving well, I feel that I'm driving well, so this is a great way to go into Le Mans. Hopefully we can continue with a lot of momentum.
"We had the luxury of being able to run a Le Mans setup with low downforce," O'Connell reported. "It makes the car more difficult to drive, but that's what we'll run in Le Mans. One of the great things about our association with Michelin is that we're always challenging them to improve and they're constantly challenging us to get better."
Beretta and O'Connell both drove two stints before handing off to their co-drivers at the 1:35 mark in the two-hour, 45-minute race.
"Congratulations to the No. 3 Corvette for the win," said Beretta. "I pulled away a bit on the first stint, and then we had a refueling problem and lost a lot of time. The most important thing is that both cars are in good shape for Le Mans."
Gavin agreed: "It's not been a great weekend for the No. 4 car," conceded the Briton. "There's been some bumps in the road, topped off today by something strange going on in the refueling system. The car is a bit dusty, but it's still in one piece."
The twin Corvette race cars will begin their transatlantic journey in three days as the team prepares for its assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
"I think we came away with some great data and we are absolutely ready for Le Mans," commented Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "Today was very helpful running the tires in hot conditions, and that is something we wanted to do. We're very satisfied wit
Flying Lizard
Flying Lizard No. 45 Wins GT2, No. 46 Second at Utah Grand Prix: Third Double Podium of Season
May 19, 2008--Salt Lake City, Utah -- The Lizards continued their podium streak yesterday at the Utah Grand Prix, finishing first, second, and sixth in GT2. The No. 45 Lizard Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler started on the pole and never looked back, leading the entire race to take the checkered flag, the duo's second GT2 win of the season. In the No. 46 Lizard Porsche, teammates Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet started second on the grid, pitted during an early caution, and then came back through the field to finish second, their third podium of the season. In the No. 44 Lizard Porsche, Darren Law and Seth Neiman stayed out of trouble in an incident-filled race, finishing a strong sixth after starting near the back of the 16-car field.
Given the large field (30 cars and 16 GT2 entries), it was a fairly clean race start. Over the first 15 minutes, while the prototypes at the front jostled for position, Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 quickly built a good gap from the rest of the GT2 field. In the No. 46 Lizard Porsche, van Overbeek held his second place (the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which had been second on the grid, had to start from pit lane). The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche was in third, and the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in fourth.
The first yellow of the race occurred just 15 minutes in, with Henzler in the No. 45 now more than 10 seconds ahead of the No. 46 Porsche, and the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari now in P3. The No. 45, ahead of the rest of the GT2 pack, was in front of the overall leader, and received the "wave by", allowing him to go ahead of the pace car and catch back up with the overall field on track, putting him one lap ahead of the rest of the GT2 field. (During a caution, the pace car enters the track and re-establishes the race order by waving cars by until the overall leader is back in front, just behind the pace car.) Both the No. 45 and No. 46 teams readied for a possible pit stop under yellow for fuel, but because of the timing of the wave-by and subsequent race restart, elected to stay out.
During this first caution, the GT2 field had regrouped, closing some of the gap that Henzler had worked hard to build. On the race restart, two prototypes collided on course, causing a second caution. The No. 45 pitted under yellow for tires and fuel and was able to get back out again under yellow and retain a one-lap lead. The No. 46, now one lap down on the No. 45 but still in second position, pitted late in the yellow for tires and fuel. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which had been in third, and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche did not pit.
Now 35 minutes into the 2 hour and 45 minute race, Henzler was at the back of the GT2 pack on the track, but one lap ahead, and Johannes, following his pit stop, was in 14th. Over the next 40 minutes, Henzler worked his way carefully through the GT2 cars, staying focused on avoiding any incidents with the faster prototypes, who were also moving in a large pack through the slower GT field. van Overbeek was also moving up the field, making his way to fifth. In the No. 44, which had not pitted under the earlier yellows, Seth Neiman was now in 11th. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari had moved to second, the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche was in third, and the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari was in fourth.
An hour and 20 minutes into the race, both the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche pitted for driver change, tires, and fuel. The No. 44 also pitted for driver change to Darren Law, tires, and fuel. Once the field sorted out again, the No. 45 was in the lead, the No. 62 in second, the No. 46 in third, the No. 21 in fourth, and the No. 48 Corsa Ferrari in fifth. The No. 44 was in tenth. All of the top five GT2 cars still had do to their driver change.
By the 2-hour mark, all of the GT2 field had completed their driver changes. The No. 45, with Bergmeister now at the wheel, remained in the lead, still one lap ahead, the No. 71 was second, the No. 62 third, the No. 87 fourth and the No. 46 with Patrick Pilet now in the cockpit, was in fifth. The No. 44 had moved up to seventh. It was shaping up to be another classic Porsche versus Ferrari battle with two Ferraris and 3 Porsches in the top five. With just over 30 minutes to go, the No. 62 Risi Ferrari collided with the No. 28 LG Motorsports Corvette (GT2) on track, sending the No. 62 briefly airborne and then deep into the gravel. The No. 62 was now out of the running, the No. 45 in the lead on its own lap, and the No. 71, No. 87 and No. 46 all on the same lap, one lap behind.
With less than an hour left in the race, it looked like it would come down to fuel: which cars could complete the race without having to refuel. The No. 45 and No. 46 Porsches were at an advantage to the No. 71 and the No. 87: because the Lizards had pitted earlier in the race for a quick fuel, and then a second time late in hour 2 for their driver changes, fuel and tires, they would most likely be able to complete the race without refueling.
Luck held for the Lizards: incident after incident sent cars into the gravel (where they would sit for the remainder of the race), but the green flag held and no cautions were called. This meant that the No. 71 and the No. 87, both low on fuel, could not use the caution periods to either conserve fuel or pit for a top-up.
With 20 minutes to go, the No. 71, in second, finally pitted for fuel and the No. 87 moved into second and the No. 46 into third. The No. 44, in sixth, had pitted earlier than the No. 45 and the No. 46 for its driver change, and now went in again for a quick splash of fuel. In the No. 46, the crew had only one-way communication with Patrick Pilet; he could hear them but they could not hear him. They were at the ready for any unexpected appearance in the pits.
With 10 minutes left in the race, Joerg in the No. 45 was in the lead, the No. 87 in second, the No. 46 in third, and the No. 71 in fourth. In the No. 46, Patrick was pushing hard on the tail of the No. 87, which had slowed to try to conserve fuel. With two laps left, the No. 87 finally dove into the pits for fuel, and Patrick moved into second and the No. 71 into third. The two Lizard Porsches crossed the finish line in tandem to take the team's third double podium this year. The No. 44 Lizard Porsche finished sixth.
With this result, the team increases its lead in the ALMS team championship, and is now nine points ahead of Tafel Racing. In the drivers' championship, Bergmeister and Henzler retake the lead and are now one point ahead of Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher, and ten points ahead of van Overbeek and Pilet, who are in third.
Wolf Henzler, No. 45 driver: "We knew after warmup that the car was very fast and would be good over the long run. Early on, in the first yellow, I was able to get a lap lead on the rest of the GT2 field when I got the wave-by and they didn't. It turned out to be key to winning the race. Over my stint, I was able to stay out of the rest of the GT2 traffic and was very careful to keep out of trouble. When I caught the GT2 pack -- there were four or five of them together who were a lap down-they were all fighting for position and I had to work my way carefully through them, one by one. Thanks to the crew for a fantastic race. We are now back in the lead in the championship and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season in such a strong Porsche."
Joerg Bergmeister, No. 45 driver: "Wolf did a great job in the first half of the race: he started from the lead and pulled a solid gap at the beginning. We were the only GT2 car to get the wave by on that early yellow, and from then on controlled the race. It was a great team effort with the No. 46 finishing second and the No. 44 sixth: good for the championship and it makes up for some of our challenges at St. Pete. Hopefully this trend continues for the Lizards!"
Johannes van Overbeek, No. 46 driver: "This was a great performance from the team. Patrick (Pilet) did a fantastic job, our pit stops were excellent and we had a solid car for the race. It's too bad that we got gapped in the beginning of the race, but overall we are very pleased with the result."
Darren Law, No. 44 driver: "I'm proud of our finish here. We had some challenges in morning warmup making some final setup changes, but in the end, we just went with it. The car proved to be really consistent and both Seth and I were able to run a good pace. We could have used a bit more luck with the yellows, but to finish sixth after starting at the back is a great result."
Seth Neiman, Team Principal and No. 44 driver: "Congratulations to the entire Lizard team on our third double podium of the year. It's clear that the fight for the championship is really on now. Utah was our first return since Sebring to a standard road course, and the results here show that it will be a very competitive season and that the field is evenly balanced. We head to France next week for Le Mans, and we'll be back with the ALMS at Lime Rock in July."
Farnbacher
Farnbacher Loles Racing came within one lap of a second-place GT2 finish in the American Le Mans Series race at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, on Sunday, but the effort was for naught as the team's No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was excluded from race results for a technical violation.
Marc Basseng of Leutenbach, Germany, drove the first stint, starting from 13th on the 16-car GT2 grid after his fourth-place qualifying effort was disallowed. Basseng's co-driver, Dirk Werner of Kissenbruck, Germany, was in Utah for a track test day on Friday, but did not participate in an official series practice session on Saturday, so the car was moved back.
Basseng drove the first stint, steadily working through the field to third in class before handing off to Werner halfway through the two-hour 45-minute race. Werner returned to the track seventh, then charged to second, setting a class race lap record of one minute 48.104 seconds. With a low fuel reading in the car, the team opted to stop for a splash of fuel on the last lap of the race, dropping the car to finish fourth in class. A post-race technical inspection indicated the car's fuel cell capacity was over the series limit, so the team was excluded from race results.
Gregory Loles, team owner: "This was a breakthrough weekend for us in the ALMS. The car had the fastest race lap and our program has reached a level where we're competing for the top step of the podium. Unfortunately, an oversight during the measurement process allowed our fuel cell to have a meaningless overcapacity -- in fact, the car was unable to make it to the end without a stop for fuel. It detracted from a strong weekend and took away a well-earned fourth-place result. Clearly, our car is in position for class wins and I'm confident we will be competitive at every event."
Marc Basseng: "The beginning of the first stint was okay; I overtook the slower cars. Our car was really good. I came in from third position, so that was okay. My teammate did a really, really good job -- he was quick and he was saving fuel, but we had to do a splash at the end. Fourth place ... normally we'd say it's a good result for us, but today it's definitely not. We had a good chance to be on the podium. I hope we can keep this pace for the next race weekend, so we can be on the podium again."
Dirk Werner: "Obviously, the coin has two sides -- the good one, because we saw that we are competitive, the car was really good. The setup was awesome; we could do consistent lap times, very fast lap times. We gambled a little bit with the fuel. If there had been another yellow [caution period], we would have been the kings. But we had to stop another time and lost the podium. I'm a little bit disappointed because a podium would have been very good, but it's still a good base for the next races. Today our car was fast enough to win."
Michelin
PENSKE PORSCHE 1-2 AT UTAH GRAND PRIX
Impressive Debut for de Ferran Acura as Michelin Sweeps Utah
TOOELE, UTAH (May 18, 2008) - Just 30 minutes into the 2-hour 45-minute Utah Grand Prix, five different cars had led the race and Roger Penske had already made what proved to be the winning call as Michelin technical partner teams swept the first eight positions overall and all four class wins at the fourth stop on the 2008 American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
Penske pitted his race leading #7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder at that point, putting pole winner Timo Bernhard and co-driver Romain Dumas out of sequence with the rest of the field and needing only one green flag pit stop to the finish while the other leaders would need two stops. "We know that we can always trust Roger and the team 100 percent on all of the strategies," said Dumas. It was the second victory of the season and eighth in the last fourteen races for Bernhard and Dumas.
Finishing second was the #6 Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Patrick Long and Sascha Maassen. Long came under heavy pressure in the closing stages from the #66 Panasonic Acura of de Ferran Motorsports. Finishing fourth was the #20 Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder driven by Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti. They were followed by the #15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz, who led the race for 24 laps prior to their first stop. Finishing sixth was the #16 Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder driven by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith.
The #2 Audi of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner finished seventh overall and first in the LMP1 class after being forced to make an unscheduled pit stop following contact with a GT2 car. Completing a Michelin sweep of the top eight spots was the #26 Andretti Green Racing Acura driven by Christian Fittipaldi and Bryan Herta.
LE MANS READY
Completing their final preparations for the 2008 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen continued their recent hot streak, winning GT1 honors for the third time in four starts aboard the #3 Corvette C6.R over teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta. "One of our greatest assets going into the 24 Hours of Le Mans is our relationship with Michelin," said O'Connell. "We are always learning from each other. We challenge them and they challenge us. We are always learning. To win in the ALMS and at Le Mans you want to be with Michelin."
Also Le Mans bound, is the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche squad whose #45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR took advantage of the first safety car period to take a one lap advantage over the GT2 field and cruise to the second victory of the season for Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler. Teammates Patrick Pilet and Johannes van Overbeek claimed second place over Tafel Racing Ferrari's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher.
IMPRESSIVE DE FERRAN DEBUT
The competition debut for the #66 Panasonic Acura from de Ferran Motorsports was highly impressive as Gil de Ferran and co-driver Simon Pagenaud each topped one of the practice sessions. Gil de Ferran, returning to driving for the first time in nearly five years, led an epic qualifying session until the final two laps when Penske's Timo Bernhard knocked him from the pole.
The star of the race for many was Pagenaud, who celebrated his 24th birthday in the de Ferran Motorsports debut. Pagenaud reeled off an impressive string of race laps in the 1:33 bracket and set fastest lap of the race at 1:32.816 seconds on lap 84 as he closed a 20-second gap to 4- seconds to the second place Porsche RS Spyder in the final half-hour.
"The Michelin tires were fantastic, they just kept getting quicker and quicker, "said Pagenaud. "We probably didn't need to change tires on the last stop, it ended up costing us a bit of time to warm the new tires, but it was a great first race for Gil (de Ferran) and our new team."
POLE GOALS
Michelin teams swept all four class poles; the top-ten overall spots and the top six spots in the hotly-contested GT2 class. Many Michelin drivers set their quickest times on one of their final two laps of the 20-minute sessions. "Michelin did a great job," said Timo Bernhard. "Normally you plan on setting your best time on the second or third lap when the tires are at their peak, but here with the low grip circuit we have very little tire wear, and the Michelin tires stay very consistent so you can run lap after lap. That is why we all could still go fast at the end"