American Le Mans Series

Penske Motorsport fastest on final test day

© American Le Mans Series

Frenchman Emmanuel Collard, Penske Motorsports and its Porsche RS Spyder remained at the time of the timing sheet Wednesday afternoon at Sebring on the final day of the American Le Mans Series Winter Test. The Porsche factory pilot’s best time was a 1:47.166 lap around the 17-turn, 3.7-mile circuit during the day’s first session.

Collard’s time in the No. 7 Porsche LMP2 was 0.116 seconds faster than the Acura-powered Lola B05/40 from Lowe’s Fernandez Racing and Adrian Fernandez. The Mexican star was quickest in the afternoon session at 1:47.503 as the winds picked up around the circuit, as did a few sprinkles of rain.^"The car is a big improvement over last year," Collard said. "We have been gaining more in the car everywhere. We have done many endurance runs since last year so we are better in that area."

Bryan Herta in the Andretti Green Racing Courage LC75-Acura was third fastest on the day with a 1:47.520 in the morning session. Penske’s Sascha Maassen was next at 1:47.564 in the afternoon, followed by the Acura-powered Highcroft Racing Courage. The Porsche-powered cars have bested their competitors in each of the five sessions this week but the gap has been closing rapidly as the three Acura-powered have gained experience and track time.

Dyson Racing’s new Porsche RS Spyder and the Lola B05/40-AER of Intersport Racing each were within 1.5 seconds of Collard.

Tafel Racing was the quickest GT2 car in both sessions Wednesday. The Georgia-based team is entering two new Porsche 997 RSRs for the full American Le Mans Series season. The No. 71 entry of Wolf Henzler and Robin Liddell was the best of the team cars at 2:01.678, which was the second-fastest GT2 time of the week.

Another new Porsche, the No. 45 of Johannes van Overbeek and Jorg Bergmeister from Flying Lizard Motorsports, was second in class at 2:02.480 for its best time of the week. Third in class was the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta of Jaime Melo and Johnny Mowlem.

The other Tafel car, driven by team owner Jim Tafel and Dominik Farnbacher, was third Wednesday at 2:02.704. In middle of the two Porsches sat the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT of Jaime Melo and Johnny Mowlem at 2:02.492.{mospagebreak }Emmanuel Collard, Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)
"The car is a big improvement over last year. We have been gaining more in the car everywhere. We have done many endurance runs since last year so we are better in that area."

Joey Hand, Panoz Team PTG Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2)
"It’s going good so far. The biggest thing with Panoz is that you have so much power. In the BMW we would be passed easily by the prototypes. Now that’s not the case. The handling is something that is different. You sit so far back in the car, just about at the rear axle. But I’m getting used to it."^Stefan Johansson, Highcroft Racing Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2)
"We really haven’t done much to the car. Neither have we done enough to know how we are on reliability. We’ll find out for sure in a few weeks."

Wolf Henzler, Tafel Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"We had a good three days of testing. Tony put together a very good plan that we were able to complete. The car ran strong, no big problems that stopped us from doing our scheduled work. The weather conditions today were very good and the grip level of the track allowed us to do some consistent lap times. I hope the time sheet is a look at things to come for the race in March."

Sascha Maassen, Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)
"For the drivers there are noticible differences (with the new-generation RS Spyder). The good thing is that we drove here with last year’s car and have transitioned some of those things over. And we also have a full year of development with the previous car.

"The main changes are with the aero and some suspension stuff. It’s also not as quick as before with the smaller restrictors. Drivability has been the biggest area of improvement over the past two days. We also hope that means better performance for March."

Dave Robertson, Robertson Racing Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2)
"We have been fighting some chassis issues but overall we have made a lot of progress. We have the car where it will run in the 2:06s. The rear end is still acting up a little. There are going to be a few fixes to the suspension, then we’ll test again to find out where we are."{mospagebreak }SESSION 1

1. Penske Motorsports, Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:47.166 (124.293 mph)
2. Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Lola B05/40-Acura, 1:47.282 (124.159 mph)
3. Andretti Green Racing, Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2), 1:47.520 (123.884 mph)
4. Dyson Racing, Porsch RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:47.885 (123.465 mph)
5. Highcroft Racing, Courage C75-Acura (LMP2), 1:49.071 (122.122 mph)
6. Intersport Racing, Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2), 1:50.032 (121.056 mph)
7. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.198 (109.003 mph)
8. Risi Competizione, Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta (GT2), 2:02.492 (108.742 mph)
9. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.704 (107.538 mph)
10. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:03.253 (108.070 mph)
11. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.907 (107.500 mph)
12. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.917 (107.491 mph)
13. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:04.386 (107.086 mph)
14. Robertson Racing, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:19.792 (100.922 mph)

SESSION 2

1. Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Lola B05/40-Acura (LMP2), 1:47.503 (123.904 mph)
2. Penske Motorsports, Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:47.564 (123.833 mph)
3. Dyson Racing, Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:48.045 (123.282 mph)
4. Highcroft Racing, Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2), 1:48.388 (122.89 mph)
5. Andretti Green Racing, Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2), 1:48.537 (122.723 mph)
6. Intersport Racing, Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2), 1:49.826 (121.283 mph)
7. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:01.678 (109.469 mph)
8. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.480 (108.752 mph)
9. Risi Competizione, Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta (GT2), 2:02.549 (108.691 mph)
10. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.755 (108.509 mph)
11. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:03.273 (108.053 mph)
12. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:05.079 (106.493 mph)
13. Robertson Racing, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:06.403 (105.377 mph)
14. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:07.432 (104.526 mph)

_{(credits: American Le Mans Series)}