American Le Mans Series

Sebring GT2 roundup

Alex Job Racing has had a disappointing Sebring but Petersen/ White Lightning takes third “Jewel In Endurance Racing Triple Crown? This is the story of the GT2 race in a nutshell. The #31 Petersen/ White Lightning Porsche lead at the beginning till they like Ollie Gavin fell victim to a hard charging Pirro. From then it was a chase of the 23 Job Porsche until that retired.

The number 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was started by defending GT2 series champion Timo Bernhard. Bernhard took the lead in class in the first hour from his third place starting position.

He then handed over to season long teammate Romain Dumas on lap 37 and the French driver continued to lead the GT2 field. Sascha Maasen assumed the seat early in the afternoon only to suffer an engine problem that ended the day for the AJR 23 entry just four hours and 107 laps into the race. Things began to unravel for Job on lap 20 when Randy Pobst, driving the 24/BellMicroproducts/ProVest/Alex Job Racing/Porsche 911 GT3, in sixth place began to hear transmission noise. Soon after third gear had gone, causing his lap times to increase. The team took the Porsche to the paddock and had to rebuild the transmission. ALMS series rules no longer allow the replacement of the transmission; teams have to rebuild the one that started the race in the car. This repair took about two hours. Upon returning to the track on lap 107, the transmission problems persisted with a loss of fifth gear. The car could not be repaired a second time to put it back on the track to complete 70% of race distance to score points so the car was withdrawn from the race.
Bergmeister started the Porsche in the class’s top spot but relinquished the position early in the event. The Las Vegas-based organization never fell below third-place despite a broken damper/ shock absorber in the race’s third hour and a malfunctioning radio that plagued the White Lightning Racing prepared Porsche throughout the race. The No. 31 would take over the top-spot in the GT2 class shortly before the start of the fourth hour. They would not forfeit first-place for the remainder of the event growing their lead from seconds to nearly eight laps as the 10:45 PM (ET) chequered flag fell on the races 12th hour and 321st lap.

A Sebring victory has long eluded the team, which won its first endurance sports car race, the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, in 1998. With tonight’s win, the team now holds claim to every major endurance race in the world as well as multiple Baja 500 and Baja 1000 victories. Todays win marks the fifth Sebring title for Luhr who has only entered the race six times. The fifth victory matches the record of Al Holbert and Johnny O?Connell for class victories at Sebring. This is the first Sebring victory for Bergmeister, who set the fast lap that gave the Petersen Porsche the pole position, and for Long. The GT2 victory completes Bergmeister’s personal Triple Crown joining his 24 At Daytona and Le Mans class championships. It is Long’s first ALMS victory. However, it puts him two-thirds of the way to his own Triple Crown as he joined with Bergmeister to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Petersen/ White Lightning in 2004. The Petersen Porsche 911 GT3 RSR gave the marquee its 27 Sebring title for the vaunted 911 chassis.
In a remarkable feat, today’s Sebring win also continues a unique achievement for these three drivers and Petersen/ White Lightning. Every event that these drivers have entered with the team, they have won. This includes Luhr’s 2001 Daytona title and 2003 Le Mans victory and Bergmeister and Long’s “04 win at La Sarthe.

J3 Racing finished second today at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. This second place finish represents the Georgia based team’s best ever American Le Mans Series finish.

The team unloaded their Porsche 911 GT3 for a weeks worth practice on Monday. At that stage they had no tyres but Pirelli came to the rescue. Drivers Justin Jackson, Tim Sugden and Nic Jonsson began fine tuning the car for the race. This season will see the J3 entry running on Pirelli tires. “The Pirellis are wanting a different set-up from the tire that we ran last year,” said Sugden. “The better part of practice has been spent setting up the car to maximize the handling. Sebring has about every kind of corner there is, so we have had to work hard on the shocks to get the car fast.”

Suffering from the flu all week Justin Jackson was not able to compete in the race. Jonsson and Sugden were able to go the twelve-hour distance.

The ALMS GT2 category witnessed an unusually high number of attrition with 10 of the GT2 cars retiring. The J3 crew took advantage of every opportunity. Early on in the race the team had a pit stop miscue and was assessed a stop-and-go penalty by the officials.

Racing into second position at around 7:30 p.m. the driver’s and crew had to manage a late race brake calliper issue. “We ran a good consistent race all day,” said Sugden. “The car ran really well and the handling was very predictable. Nic and I were able to keep the pace all day and not put ourselves in any positions to compromise the equipment. With about two hours to go, we had a leaky brake calliper. We had to stop and top off the brake fluid while staying ahead of the third place car. This is my best finish in the series, we just need to improve one more positon!”

“I had a spin early in turn 13, there was some oil down on the track and three of us went around,” said Jonsson. “The last two hours of the race was a little scary, we had to pump the brake pedal for the last part of the race. For the first ten hours the car ran great. We had a few mistakes, but nothing that really affected the outcome of the race for us. It is a great way to start the year.”

“I am proud of the whole team,” said Jaye Jackson. “We work hard without the budget of a lot of the teams and this is our best ever result. The crew did a great job to prepare the car and performed in the pits. Nic and Tim did the job behind the wheel and it paid off.”

Flying Lizard Motorsports soldiered to a third in GT2 class finish in the team’s No. 45 Porsche. The trio of Johannes van Overbeek, Jon Fogarty and Darren Law completed 311 laps around the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway, finishing 13th overall. “In what was a very competitive field, the No. 45 ran in the top three for most of the race. Unfortunately, brake problems from the beginning of the race eventually led to the loss of several laps in hour eight for repairs. I want to thank the crew once again for their quick wits and hard work in the face of unexpected problems today,” said van Overbeek.
Sister Porsche No. 44–driven by Lonnie Pechnik, Seth Neiman, and David Murry–was retired at the end of the second hour due to electrical problems with the engine. “Sebring bit the No. 44 once again this year,” said Neiman. “Retiring in hour two was not how we had planned to spend the day.”

So yet again it was a Porsche benefit race but the signs were there that it may change. In Europe most competition comes from the Ferrari 360, Surprisingly perhaps none were entered at Sebring but what we did see was increasing competitiveness from Panoz and TVR The Panoz cars showed that pace is not far off that of the Porsche and TVR showed that pace has improved and that with further power expected soon they will be closer still. Both TVR cars ran in the top 6 and the #41 TVR reached 4th until both stopped with engine problems. The team think it was fuel surge. Spyker arrived with two beautifully executed spiders, which were completely untested, but they will have gained hugely from the Sebring experience. TVR have perhaps done enough for a Le Mans entry, Spyker may have to wait till 2006.

© 2005 Planetlemans.com.