American Le Mans Series

Sebring LMP1 roundup

The results of the GT1 race go part way to telling the story of an enthralling race. After the politics before the race the cars and the drivers did the talking once the flag dropped. For much of the early part of the race it could be pick one from eight for final victory, Only the Nash Saleen and the Viper were not in the early race mix.

© Planetlemans / Dennis Murray

The Viper finished which was a huge achievement for the team after its major accident early in the week. This team is everything that is great sportscar racing, great racing needs the privateers who race because that is what they love to do and the Viper and the team does things it should not be able to achieve. A huge well-done Tom and your team. O the other privateers the Nash Saleen had a troubled race, which finally ended with an accident, but it had been troubled throughout.

The Larre Ferrari was in the mix until the gearbox failed, it even lead at one period but while still a very fine car the pace of the new Aston and C6R showed that perhaps its days are numbered. The PCM Corvette ran on the same lap as the leaders for several hours, a fine performance from a team new to GT racing with what is a chassis that originates from 2001. Only a late race suspension failure prevented them from getting more from the race. They came they learned and they will come back stronger.

The Acemo Saleen seemed down on speed but they ran well making up positions as others faltered. The classic endurance run where to finish first first you must finish. The team were gutted when a very late race oil leak lost them a well-deserved podium. The race though was really about the new factory cars. The Maserati finished after a long repair but the pace was never quite enough, its best lap nearly three seconds slower than the Astons and C6R and only the C5R, the Viper and Nash Saleen had slower laps and the C5R was very close. So fears that it would come to the ALMS and move the goal posts seem unfounded? Perhaps not as the Maserati has tested and was developed on the smooth tracks of Europe so Sebring was very difficult for the team. We must wait and see but the sooner the “legal? car is ready the better.

Aston Martin Racing’s all-new DBR9 took a surprise GT1 class victory and fourth place overall in its debut race. Record crowds saw David Brabham, Stephane Ortelli and Darren Turner, celebrate a GT1 class victory in the number 57 DBR9, ahead of the number 3 and number 4 Corvette C6-R’s. A victory at Sebring represents an extraordinary achievement in what is a test and development year for a brand new car and team. It would be great if they felt they could now consider a more extensive race calendar this year.
For much of the race it was the #58 Aston that ran behind and pressurised the two factory C6R Corvettes, but accident damage to the rear suspension meant a long behind the wall repair. Otherwise it ran fast without problems.

Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen brought the #4 Compuware Corvette C6-R into third place in GT1 at Sebring, finishing sixth overall, after an incident packed race. Oliver started from class pole position and the team kept the car in the class lead for over 8 hours despite being punted off by Pirro in the first hour. However, a back marker collided with Olivier and caused substantial damage to the right rear of the car. He managed to get it back to the pits and the team lost over 40 minutes making the necessary repairs. They fought hard to regain some of the lost time and finished 6th, 3rd in GT1 behind the #57 Aston Martin and the sister #3 Corvette. Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Max Papis in the other Corvette also suffered problems and a lengthy pit stop when a front brake rotor failed, pitching Johnny into the tyre wall. Ironically they had been running strongly in second place in class and it happened just before the #4 car had their incident.
It was a great credit to the team that they battled back in the final third of the race. The #3 car was just one lap behind the Aston at the end and the #4 grabbed 3rd spot just 6 minutes from the end of the race.
It was certainly a start for the Corvette team that promises much for the season ahead. “It’s an extremely promising start to the season”, Olly confirmed, “we were leading for the first 8 hours and, after the crew repaired the car it was running strongly, consistently and quickly to the end of the race. We’re going to be there for the rest of the year, pushing hard.”

Sebring GT1 Top 10:
1. Brabham/Turner/Ortelli Aston Martin
2. Fellows/O’Connell/Papis Corvette
3. Gavin/Magnussen/Beretta Corvette
4. Borcheller/Mowlem/Kelleners ACEMCO Saleen
5. Bertollini/De Simone/Babini Maserati
6. Figge/Dalziel/Empringham Corvette
7. Weickardt/Rugolo/Belloc Viper
8. Kox/Lamy/Sarrazin Aston Martin
9. Sutherland/Smith/Cole Saleen
10. Bouchut/Bourdais/Golin Ferrari

The GT1 race was all we hoped for and perhaps more and will be a race that will be remembered for many years for the racing long after the politics have been forgotten.

© 2005 Planetlemans.com.