Penske's #5 crew have been competitive this weekend
Porsche
Dyson
Zytek
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Porsche
BRASELTON, Georgia - October 3 - When Penske Racing decided to add a third Porsche RS Spyder for the 2008 Petit Le Mans, the intent was to put as many positions between their cars and the rival Acuras for the Saturday's ten-hour event. Little did they expect, however, that they would qualify in the top three spots on the LMP2 grid and shut out the Acuras for the start of the race.
Ryan Briscoe (Australia), who will co-drive the #5 Penske Porsche RS Spyder with Helio Castroneves, qualified fourth overall and first in LMP2, with the #7 Penske Porsche with Romain Dumas (France), who will drive with Timo Bernhard (Germany) qualifying second in class and Sascha Maassen (Germany), who will drive with Patrick Long (USA), qualifying third.
"We had to stop for fuel part-way through the qualifying session, but the car was great and it seemed to feel even more energetic after the stop," said Briscoe, has a successful IndyCar season with Penske Racing, score two wins.
"It was a good team effort to prepare three cars, and the hard work for the long race tomorrow is still ahead of us, but the Penske Porsches are still off to a good start," he said.
The fastest Acura, driven by Frank Montagny, qualified fourth.
In GT2, the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 RSR of Dirk Werner/Joerg Hardt (both Germany)/Bryce Miller (USA), qualified by Werner, will start on the front row of the field, less than a tenth of a second behind the Melo/Salo Ferrari. The Mueller/Farnbacher Ferrari qualified third, followed by the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister/Wolf Henzler/Marc Lieb (all Germany).
Dyson
BRASELTON, GA October 3, 2008 The Petit Le Mans is the only race in the American Le Mans Series that is distance-measured (1000 miles) rather than time-determined. If qualifying is any indication, it will be appreciably faster than last year's nine hours and twenty minutes. At the end of qualifying for the eleventh running of the ALMS' signature event, fifteen cars were faster than last year's record time. Both Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyders broke last year's LMP2 qualifying record and line-up eighth and ninth in P2.
Guy Smith drove the #16 Dyson entry to the eighth starting position. Last year, Smith and Chris Dyson finished third overall and second in class in the penultimate race of the ALMS series. In the five times Dyson has run the Petit Le Mans, he has finished off the class podium only once.
In his first Petit Le Mans with Dyson Racing, Marino Franchitti qualified the #20 Thetford/Norcold car ninth, less than three tenths of a second behind Smith. Sharing driving duties with Franchitti will be Andy Lally and Butch Leitzinger. This is the second year Lally has joined Dyson for the Petit. He also helped the team finish second at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring. Leitzinger drove in the inaugural 1998 Petit and has driven in all ten since then, eight of them with Dyson Racing.
"One of the good things about this race is that it is toward the end of the year and drivers feel more freedom to go for it," stated Leitzinger. "Sebring is the year's first race and you think more in terms of points for the season, so you check yourself up a little bit, but here, you have the chance to drive flat out for ten hours."
"The cars have become so strong over the years that even a 24 hour race is a sprint race," said Lally. "This is a really quick track with great competition this year. It is a prestigious race to compete in and always fun to be part of."
"The history of the Porsche marquee is built on endurance excellence," noted Dyson. "Our cars are well-suited for Road Atlanta and we look forward tomorrow to adding to Porsche's history of long-distance success."
Zytek
Ginetta-Zytek is Fastest Specialist Manufacturer at Petit Le Mans Impressive performance for new car
The new 4.5-litre engined LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek 07S has qualified ninth overall and fourth in class for tomorrow's Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta, Georgia. It is a notable performance for a car that first turned a wheel only a few weeks ago. All the cars ahead of it on the grid will come from major vehicle manufacturers, the Ginetta-Zytek being the quickest from an independent chassis and engine supplier.
Just as impressive has been the performance of the qualifying driver, Olivier Pla who has never raced an LMP1 car before. The former two-time GP2 winner has been driving an LMP2 car in the Le Mans Series in Europe this year and at the Le Mans 24-hours. His time of 1m 07.660s was not much more than 1.4 seconds slower than the pole sitting factory Peugeot. It was also over 1.3 seconds faster than the pole sitter in 2007. "The car," says the young Frenchman, "has big, big potential." American Le Mans Series newcomer Olivier will share the Team LNT Ginetta-Zytek with Englishman Danny Watts who finished third in the LMP2 class during the 2007 event, also in a Zytek chassis.
Team LNT, which has entered the car, is confident that it has the right race set up for tomorrow's event. It is a 10-hour or 1,000 miles race, a punishing contest in which, as Stefan Johansson, who is driving a second LMP1 Zytek 07S in the race, the most important things is "to keep your nose clean."
Stefan finished the 25-minute qualifying session in 17th overall and eight in class. His car is new to Corsa Motorsports and, as he pointed out, "we are still learning a lot about its balance. We hope that we will have it dialled in a bit better for the race." Former Grand Prix driver Stefan will be part of a three-car team with Gunnar Jeannette and Johnny Mowlem.