Corvette had a difficult time at Mid Ohio with a pit lane incident involving both cars
Audi
Porsche
Acura
Corvette
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Audi
Audi Sport North America’s two Audi R10 TDI prototypes were in a class of their own in round six of the American Le Mans series at Mid-Ohio (U.S. state of Ohio). Lucas Luhr/Marco Werner and Dindo Capello/Emanuele Pirro achieved a comanding 1-2 victory for Audi – on a track which in the past favoured the lighter LM P2 cars and on which Audi last scored an overall victory in 2004.
Particularly impressive was the victory of the two Germans Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner. They led 107 of the 111 laps. After the start, Werner needed just five laps to pass the four Acura/Honda and Porsche cars which had started in front of him. The German set a new race lap record on lap seven and handed over the R10 TDI to team-mate Lucas Luhr in first position after 50 laps. Luhr defended the lead until the finish.
Four caution periods wiped out the advantage of the #2 Audi, but each time Luhr was able to pull away from the rest of the field after the re-start – and this despite the fact he completed lmost two hours on just one set of tyres.
Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro also showed a strong performance: Capello worked his way from seventh on the grid to second position in just 18 minutes giving Audi a early 1-2 lead. Despite contact whith a GT2 car, which he was not responsible for, and which resulted in a spin dropping him temporarily to third place, Capello handed the Audi R10 TDI over to Emanuele Pirro in second position.
The decision to change tyres a second time cost the #1 R10 TDI the second place. After the last caution period, however, Pirro had no problems to overtake Romain Dumas in the Porsche RS Spyder thus giving Audi a perfect double victory.
For the Audi R10 TDI it was the sixth 1-2 victory and the 17th overall success since its début in March 2006. Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner extended their lead in the LM P1 Drivers’ Championship with their fifth victory in six races. With three overall victories, Audi is the most successful brand in the first half of the season. The second half of the American Le Mans Series begins on 9 August at Road America (the U.S. state of Wisconsin).
Quotes after the race at Mid-Ohio
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "It was a perfect performance today, everything went so well. The key factor was that both cars had a good and consistent speed. We also had a good strategy regarding the fuel consumption – even if this was somewhat eased by the caution periods. I’m glad that my first visit to a race in the U.S. since quite a while was rewarded with a 1-2 victory. I promise, I’ll come also to the next race ..."
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2): "It was a perfect day for Audi! It looks like then, if the boss is there, everything goes well. He should come over to some more races ... Seriously: I’m super-happy. Our car engineer and the whole team did a great job. The strategy was perfect. First, I had a bit of doubt. But when I did not see any car behind me two laps after the first caution period I knew that nobody would catch us today. Marco (Werner) drove a fantastic first stint. My thanks go to Audi Sport North America, Team Champion and everybody at home in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm."
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "A fantastic Audi day and a fine double victory! I started to believe in it after yesterday’s qualifying, when the gap to the front was quite small, which usually means we are well sorted for the race. This was really the case today. Lucas (Luhr) completed his stint on one set of tyres which is not easy. This means that the set-up of our R10 TDI was perfect. The timing of the pit stops was also good. Today, everything fitted together. We are happy – thanks to the whole Audi team."
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "I think I did a very good stint recovering the gap we had. I was very confident. Unfortunately I was touched by a GT car and sent into a spin. This was really bad luck. The yellow flags helped quite a lot to recover again. Anyway: 1-2 is a great result for Audi, we deserved this already at Lime Rock, but fortunately we got it here."
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1): "This was a good race for us. As always when the gap in qualifying is not so big we have a very good car for the race. We had a great 1-2 for Audi and played a good team strategy together over the radio. Of course sometimes it would be nice to have a 2-1 instead of a 1-2 ... But after the bad luck we had in the last races we can go home with a big smile."
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America): "After yesterday’s qualifying I did expect a podium finish, but not such a dominant performance. I want to congratulate the whole team and the drivers for a fantastic job. It was a great team effort!"
Porsche
Last week, it was the Brabham/Sharp Acura that ran down the #7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder with 90 seconds left to score a victory at Lime Rock Park, but the roles were reversed today in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as Romain Dumas (France) held off Brabham to score the Porsche tandem’s fourth win in six American Le Mans Series races and extend their LMP2 driver points lead to 28.
Dumas, who felt constant pressure from Brabham for the last 30 minutes of the race, could pull away from the Acura when he had an open track, but was slowed traffic around the course, cutting his lead to less than a second several times before the end. The final margin of the LMP2 victory for the Porsche was six-tenths of a second. The two Audi R-10 TDI diesels finished first and second overall and won the LMP1 class.
“These races with the Acura have been very tight since the beginning of the year,” said Dumas, who, with Timo Bernhard (Germany), has won the LMP2 class for the third year in a row. The pair also won the LMP2 championship with their Penske Porsche RS Spyders in 2007, including eight overall wins in 11 races and class podium finishes in every event.
“We started the race several positions back from the leaders, but never gave, and worked our way to the front. The Penske crew pulled off a great pit stop near the end to give us the lead, and we ran well to the end,” said Dumas.
The exciting event will be telecast on a delayed basis on NBC-TV at noon EDT on Sunday, July 20. This is a recent change announced earlier in the week by NBC, which will also extend its usual two-hour broadcast to two hours, 30 minutes.
This was also the first event that both the Dumas/Bernhard RS Spyder, along with the Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) number six Penske Porsche RS Spyder, used the newly-developed direct-injection 3.4 liter, V-8 race motor. The main feature of direct injection is that the power has gone up, and the fuel consumption has gone down – an important element of endurance racing. This technology, already introduced on Porsche street vehicles including the Porsche 911 and the Porsche Cayenne, is the first direct injection motor ever developed that can rev to more than 10,000 rpms.
Horsepower goes from 476 to 503 (370 kw) at more than 10,000 rpm. Torque improves from 370 nm (273 ft. lbs) @ 7500 rpm to 385 (284 ft. lbs) nm @8500 rpm. The engine was developed in conjunction with the Porsche 911 and Porsche Cayenne direct injection technology The other three Porsche RS Spyders finished fourth, fifth, and sixth in class, with the #6 Penske Porsche of Maassen/Long running as high as second in class late in the race, but traffic entanglements allowed two Acuras to get by them and they had to settle for fourth place. The #16 Dyson Racing Porsche of Guy Smith (England) and Chris Dyson (USA) was fifth in LMP2, while #20 Dyson Porsche of Marino Franchitti (Scotland) and Butch Leitzinger (USA), which had lost a lap to the field earlier in the event, stormed back to regain its lap and finish sixth. The six top LMP2 finishers were on the overall lead lap.
Porsche leads Acura by 17 points in the LMP2 manufacturer’s contest.
In the GT2 class for production-based sports cars, Dirk Werner (Germany), sharing the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Richard Westbrook (England), held the early lead after passing the Melo/Salo Ferrari, but a long pit stop caused them to lose a lap to the GT2 field, and they ended up fourth.
The Flying Lizard Porsches also lost a lap to the winning Mueller/Farnbacher Ferrari when the pace car passed them while they were in the pits during a yellow flag. The #46 Lizard Porsche, driven by Patrick Pilet (France) and Johannes van Overbeek (USA), finished second – their third time they have scored a second-place finish, while the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche, driven by Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) was third. Henzler and Bergmeister still lead the GT2 class driver points, but their lead was cut to four.
The #18 VICI Racing Porsche driven by Nicky and Francesco Pastorelli (both The Netherlands) finished ninth in class, while the Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman and Lonnie Pechnik (both USA) did not finish due to transmission woes.
Porsche leads Ferrari by nine points in the GT2manufacturers chase.
Lucas Luhr, Marco Werner celebrating their success
Acura
LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course was setting up to be another David Brabham highlight
reel, just like last week's wild Lime Rock Park overall victory, when he
grabbed the lead with 90 seconds left in the race.
The popular Aussie racer diced his way through heavy late-race traffic
with his bright green, blue and black No.9 Patron Highcroft Acura
ARX-01b prototype sports car and pressured Romain Dumas for the last
15 minutes of the two-hour, 45-minute feature event at the picturesque
2.25-mile road course near Mansfield, Ohio.
With late-race passes on Dumas at Long Beach and Timo Bernhard, Dumas'
teammate, at Lime Rock, Brabham was poised to score his third LMP2 class
win in hot and humid conditions Saturday. Brabham, the only ALMS driver
to ever win in all four racing divisions, dodged his Acura machine
inside and outside, for a way past Dumas' Penske Porsche.
But Brabham, who co-drove with veteran Scott Sharp, had to settle for
second this time around, losing at the checkered flag by just .609
seconds. The win for the Penske was its third consecutive class title at
Mid-Ohio.
The Patron Highcroft team wasn't the only Acura squad on the podium
Saturday in the 111-lap endurance event as the duo of Adrian Fernandez
and Luis Diaz finally shook off some tough racing luck to bring the
No.15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX- 01b to third in the LMP2 division.
The Lowe's car experienced early handling troubles before Fernandez,
a two-time Mid-Ohio winner in open-wheel and sports car competition,
clocked some sizzling lap times to close in on Bernhard and Brabham at
the finish. The Lowe's team repeated their third-place finish of a year
ago at Mid-Ohio.
Early contact with a lapped car hurt the No.26 XM Satellite Radio Acura
ARX-01b machine's chance for the Andretti Green team to score a podium
finish Saturday. Newcomer Rafael Matos ran well early before his car
hit one of Aston Martin GT-2 cars. Matos was forced to pit and the team
had to replace front suspension pieces. Le Mans veteran Franck Montagny
drove hard to the finish, despite an eight-lap deficit to bring the XM
Acura to seventh in the LMP2 category.
The No.66 Panasonic ELS Sound de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b car,
which started from the pole position with team owner and former Indy 500
champion Gil de Ferran at the wheel, led the LMP2 class from the start
to Lap 40. De Ferran then jumped from the cockpit and handed the driving
chores to young Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. The 24-year-old star drove
brilliantly in the stint before pitting on Lap 68.
While the de Ferran team changed four Michelin tires and refueled .
the car, a fire broke out in the team's pit area Pagenaud stopped .
immediately and jumped from the cockpit. The ALMS safety team was .
on site quickly to extinguish the flames However, some crew members .
sustained injuries in the incident. The team's race was concluded .
immediately due to the fire .
One crew member was transported to Ohio State University Hospital in
Columbus for treatment.
DAVID BRABHAM (/9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX- 01b): "I just had
to keep pushing and wait for an opportunity to pass the Penske Porsche.
It was a little like last week in Lime Rock. There were a couple of
close calls and I was driving the wheels off of the Patron Highcroft
Acura today. The car was really hooked up at the end of the race and
could close on the Penskes. It is tougher to pass here than at Lime
Rock, actu- ally. So I was just trying to peek my car's nose inside for
any way to pass [Romain] Dumas at the end. We had a little grip problem
early in my stint, but then we fixed the grip level for my final pit
stop. After that, I had the fastest car on the track. I think we showed
the Penskes that we can race right with them."
SCOTT SHARP (#9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX- 01b): "That was great
racing today. It is what the American Le Mans Series is all about. We
came back from a little problem to lose by a few feet. I was able to
race with Gil [de Ferran] early in the race and then David [Brabham]
just charged to- wards the lead. We just missed out on another win. But
it was exciting, and the Patron Highcroft team is a contender at any
track now. It was a great job by the crew and David drove the wheels off
the No.9 again. He almost pulled it off."
LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "At the beginning of the
race, the Lowe's Acura wasn't as good as we would have liked. We were
able to come back and finally got back on the podium. We have had many
little problems in the first part of the year. This finish feels good.
We still want to win, but now we feel we were moving forward with our
Lowe's team. We are looking forward to Road America in a few weeks."
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX- 01b): "I was having a
little trouble early in my run, like Luis was having. The Lowe's Acura
was sliding and pushing in the cor- ners. But at the end of the race,
the car felt very good and I was able to close in on the leaders. I
got past David [Brabham] and he got me back and then I got by the No.6
Penske Porsche for third. Actually, we were closing on the leaders late,
too, but ran out of laps. This is a good result for us after the tough
luck we have experienced in the first half of the season."
FRANCK MONTAGNY (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "I am 100
percent certain we had the car to win today. I am absolutely sure. But,
the car was a mess after the crash, so I treated the rest of the race
like it was a test. I still pushed like I do when I'm racing and tried
to do my best. But, it was quite difficult. Two hours in the car and it
was hot. So, it's not easy. You don't have the same motivation because
you're not fighting for places. It is difficult to drive around for many
laps when you want to race to win."
RAFAEL MATOS (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "I came up to
lap one of the Aston Martins, which was the first car I was going to
lap. I wasn't pushing at all. I was side-by-side with him and he just
turned into me. I don't know if he didn't see me or what. It's just very
frustrating for the XM Acura guys and everybody at Andretti Green. We
were hoping for a good result and I think we had a good shot at a podium
finish or better."
GIL De FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b, after the pit
fire involving his de Ferran Motorsports crew): "It was an unfortunate
situation with a pit fire. We had a problem with the unplugging of the
fuel hose and the car caught on fire. It is tough day for our team since
we were running very strong. Simon [Pagenaud] was doing a great job
and pressuring for the lead. But that is not important right now. We
are con- cerned for our team people. We are a close-knit organization
but very young as a group. So something like this [incident] is very
difficult for everyone at de Ferran Motorsports."
Corvette
O'Connell and Magnussen Continue Hot Streak in Sultry Mid-Ohio
No. 3 Corvette C6.R Scores Fifth Victory of the Season
LEXINGTON, Ohio, July 19, 2008 ? Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen extended their streak in the American Le Man Series, winning the GT1 class in today's Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It was the fourth win in a row and the fifth win of the season for the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. O'Connell and Magnussen completed 98 laps and finished 18.487 seconds ahead of the No. 4 Corvette C6.R driven by Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin.
With temperatures in the mid-90s and high humidity, the weather was as hot as the racing. The sibling rivalry between the sister Corvettes produced a shoving match as the cars emerged from the pits after their final stops. The Corvettes had entered their respective pit stalls nose-to-tail just before the two-hour mark, and left simultaneously with O'Connell in the No. 3 and Beretta in the No. 4. As the drivers jockeyed for position, they failed to heed a red flag at the pit exit and both were subsequently summoned to the penalty box.
"We are a very competitive group," said O'Connell after tallying his 33rd career ALMS victory. "Both cars left at the same time and it was like the Hatfields and McCoys for a moment with two guys arguing for the same area of road. It was just two great race cars today running in very difficult conditions."
O'Connell started in the pole-winning No. 3 Corvette, while Beretta started in the No. 4 Corvette. O'Connell handed off to Magnussen at the 50-minute mark during the first of three full-course caution periods, while Gavin replaced Beretta on the next lap. Two more cautions ensued, including an extended cleanup after a pit fire. With 46 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 45-minute race, both cars made their final stops for fuel, fresh tires, and driver changes.
"I was concerned when we did that last driver change because it was a short fill and that makes driver changes difficult," O'Connell reported. "I think both cars dropped off the jacks at the same time and then it was a drag race to the pit exit."
After serving their penalties, racing resumed at 2:26 for the two Corvettes, and O'Connell passed Beretta for the lead and the victory.
"A prototype drew down inside of him and he went wide," O'Connell recalled. "I was on the proper line and my momentum carried me by. He was just gathering it up, but there was a gaggle of prototypes doing battle and it was chaotic."
Magnussen had a comparatively quiet race. "As soon as I got in the car, it was just yellow flag after yellow flag," said the Dane. "I sat behind the safety car for most of my stint. Up until that point, it was a rather boring race, but that changed about 30 seconds after I got out. We are here to win and that fact that our only competitor is our teammates doesn't make it any easier. Today's race showed everyone we're not just parading around."
After struggling in practice and qualifying, the No. 4 Corvette was on the pace in today's race.
"We had a very good car, which is a testament to our engineer Steve Cole and crew chief Mike West, who both worked tirelessly," said Gavin. "We had a problem on Thursday and Friday, and we could only start tuning the car this morning in warm-up. The direction that Steve went with the car was very good.
"My stint was very fragmented ? it never really got going and we spent a lot of time circulating behind the pace car," Gavin reported. "It was unbelievably hard on the restarts because the smoothness of the track doesn't clean the pickup off the tires properly. For the first four or five laps after a yellow, you have to tiptoe around."
With their Mid-Ohio victory, O'Connell and Magnussen increased their lead in the GT1 drivers championship to 16 points (126-110) with five races remaining.
"Who says you need more than two cars in a class to have exciting racing?" asked Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "I think what we saw today are two cars that are separated by thousandths of a second on the race track and separated by thousandths of a second in pit lane. Each of them is trying to win. I think it was exciting for the fans, and it was certainly exciting for us in the pits. It's hard to deny the intramural rivalry that exists, and we saw two guys racing hard and getting caught up in the heat of the moment. We'll all learn a lesson from today's race."