American Le Mans Series

The Planetlemans ALMS 2007 season review (The GTs - part 2)

© Robin Thompson

After Lime Rock, the ALMS moved to Mid-Ohio where the first hour brought grief again for Ferrari. Enge and Salo were involved in a serious exchange of hostilities which would end up with two severe penalties, Risi losing the race to the Lizards after threatening withdrawal and P/WL firing Enge on the spot in a very polemic decision.

© American Le Mans Series

This was probably the most critical point of the season for Giuseppe Risi's team, Salo acknowledging an aggressive move on Enge to take him out of the race in what could have been a serious crisis for the most attractive class in the 2007 ALMS championship.

But as the series moved to the 4-hour long Road America race, the Risi domination was asserted by yet another Melo-Salo win ahead of the very strong Rahal-Letterman and Tafel Porsches. The 45 Flying Lizard car could only finish fifth after early contact from the winning Ferrari had the lost quite some time at the pits.

Mosport was the next round and the Canadian circuit would witness a Risi 1-2 with Salo-Melo ahead of Helary-Bruni, not a good day for the Lizards and Rahal-Letterman collecting another podium. On to Detroit where drama would hit the Lizards, the 45 car ending engulfed in flames and victory going again to their archrivals Risi.

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Petit Le Mans however would see the red-grey Porsche team come back in a fantastic fashion: Marc Lieb joining van Overbeek and Bergmeister on car 45 for a great victory ahead of the Tafel and Rahal-Letterman Porsches bringing the championship to a decisive point on the last round. A rebellious brake light would pulverize the chances of the Risi team after half race and Laguna Seca would be the race where the championship would be defined. In a year dominated by Ferrari and Risi a Porsche 1-2-3 at Petit and the regularity of Flying Lizard meant that the dice were still rolling….

And roll they did at Laguna Seca but this time fortune favoured Ferrari and Risi which grabbed the crown with both hands lapping their year-long rivals and winning in a commanding way while Tafel and Rahal-Letterman confirmed their strong year with another podium at California.
A great year certainly for GT2 and a wonderful season for both Risi Competizione and Flyng Lizard. Even after the Salo vs Enge incident and the Detroit fore respectively, both teams managed to be at the top of the game and deliver fantastic performances. Petersen-White Lightning was in a year with up and downs, the Porsche-to-Ferrari transition not as successful as expected although the Utah victory proved they are still a winning team. Very strong seasons from Tafel and Rahal-Letterman, the latter on a splendid debut year with podiums aplenty.

The future can only get better: with the promise of Vipers, Corvettes and Ford GTs joining the class we can only hope for more entries, more great racing and fierce competition. Sebring will start unveiling the new season in a few months.

gabriel@planetlemans.com