American Le Mans Series
2009 Sebring Winter Test – Day 3 Report
© American Le Mans Series
The third and final day of the Sebring Winter Test saw the first action of the Dyson Racing Lola B08/86 Mazda. Despite setting quick times it was still behind the three Acura cars at the end of the day. In GT2 the Porsches were fastest again.
Three test sessions were scheduled on Wednesday. In the opening session twelve cars took to the track. The Dyson Racing team completed 21 laps and ended the session third place, behind the two LMP1 Acura cars but over six tenths of a second quicker than the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura. De Ferran Motorsports was the quickest at the end of session six.
Porsche secured a 1-2-3 in GT2 again, with Farnbacher Loles Racing beating two Flying Lizard cars. The Robertson Racing Doran Ford GT-R was the first non-Porsche.
In the seventh session of the test days the top two did not change with de Ferran Motorsports once more leading home the Patrón Highcroft Racing car. This time the LMP2 Acura was back ahead of the Dyson Racing Lola, the gap between the two LMP2 cars just over half a second again. In GT2 the VICI Racing Porsche did not take part, while at the front Farnbacher Loles Racing no longer had a string of Porsches behind, but the Robertson Racing GT-R and the PTG Panoz.
Only eight cars used the third and final session of the day for some more practice with only six cars setting a ‘serious’ lap time, the other two cars having problems and/or ending their day early. The Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura was the only LMP1 out in the final session while in GT2 the Panoz Esperante topped the sheets again.
At the end of the eighth session the Winter Test officially came to an end as well. The count down to the opening round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season continues…
ALMS Test Session 6 Result
1. #66 de Ferran Motorsports, Acura ARX 02a (LMP1), 1:45.671 (126.052 mph)
2. #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing, Acura ARX 02a (LMP1), 1:46.157 (125.475 mph)
3. #16 Dyson Racing, Lola B08/86 Mazda (LMP2), 1:49.462 (121.686 mph)
4. #15 Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Acura ARX 01b (LMP2), 1:50.102 (120.979 mph)
5. #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:02.960 (108.328 mph)
6. #45 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:03.655 (107.719 mph)
7. #46 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:04.536 (106.957 mph)
8. #40 Robertson Racing, Doran Ford GT-R (LMGT2), 2:04.742 (106.780 mph)
9. #11 Primetime Race Group, Dodge Viper GT2 (LMGT2), 2:04.793 (106.737 mph)
10. #21 Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante (LMGT2), 2:04.935 (106.615 mph)
11. #92 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, BMW E92 M3 (LMGT2), 2:05.315 (106.292 mph)
12. #5 VICI Racing, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 3:07.601 (71.002 mph)
ALMS Test Session 7 Result
1. #66 de Ferran Motorsports, Acura ARX 02a (LMP1), 1:46.986 (124.502 mph)
2. #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing, Acura ARX 02a (LMP1), 1:47.110 (124.358 mph)
3. #15 Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Acura ARX 01b (LMP2), 1:49.008 (122.193 mph)
4. #16 Dyson Racing, Lola B08/86 Mazda (LMP2), 1:49.573 (121.563 mph)
5. #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:02.839 (108.435 mph)
6. #40 Robertson Racing, Doran Ford GT-R (LMGT2), 2:04.085 (107.346 mph)
7. #21 Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante (LMGT2), 2:04.232 (107.219 mph)
8. #45 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:04.592 (106.909 mph)
9. #92 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, BMW E92 M3 (LMGT2), 2:05.600 (106.051 mph)
10. #46 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:05.600 (106.051 mph)
11. #11 Primetime Race Group, Dodge Viper GT2 (LMGT2), 2:06.407 (105.374 mph)
ALMS Test Session 8 Result
1. #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing, Acura ARX 02a (LMP1), 1:46.367 (125.227 mph)
2. #21 Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante (LMGT2), 2:03.268 (108.057 mph)
3. #45 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:03.980 (107.437 mph)
4. #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:04.039 (107.386 mph)
5. #40 Robertson Racing, Doran Ford GT-R (LMGT2), 2:04.309 (107.152 mph)
6. #46 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (LMGT2), 2:04.979 (106.578 mph)
7. #11 Primetime Race Group, Dodge Viper GT2 (LMGT2), 2:13.969 (99.426 mph)
8. #16 Dyson Racing, Lola B08/86 Mazda (LMP2), 12:31.895 (17.715 mph)
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One hopes RLR is conducting a disciplined test regimen and has yet to show the M3′s potential. If they were trying to match times they have a big challenge ahead as they were down by at least 1.5 to 2 seconds in every session. I think the parties involved are too smart to have been caught out and did not want to reveal their strength at this time. Any thoughts?
I’m not ready to place blame for the lack of pace. However if you go back to its initial shake down runs they had French rubber on the car in Europe. They have since signed a deal with Dunlop as I sure they needed to offset the tire bill for the season and Dunlop has been putting good product under some cars, namely the F430 that has won the GT2 title two years running in the LMS.
For what its worth, I will say RLR is more likely playing good poker just getting the car shook out mostly. They’ll go back and make changes. Finding about 2 seconds isn’t all that tough.
I will say GT2 pole time will be around 1:59 this season…. Especially if they are running :02′s in testing.