Creation Sport CA1? Never heard about that car. Can’t google anything either.

google “Creation Autosportif” and you’ll get the “Creation CA-07″ which is the previous model…

CA1 was meant to be CA10.

well Creation is back, but that TBA for the drivers…

probably Cambell-Walter and Iannetta or maybe they can get someone good in the car.

How will the Challenge class cars be classified in an ACO sanctioned event? Unclassified, just like the Dyson entry @ PLM that ran on biobutanol?

Despite being #1 at the test the Aston Martin’s target was the P1 Acura’s times from last year. I suppose they were pushing very hard to match them, hence the crash.

Too bad this proven race car couldn’t match a ride that still had teething problems.

I wonder if the creation is really a new car. The new generation of P1 cars are quite competitive.

It’s not much of a surprise really when you take into consideration that the Acura was on the overall pole last year, beating the Diesels.

Yes Kyle but what remains is how much were the then new Audi’s and vaguely tweaked 908’s were pushing to get pole? Why beat up on the equipment if you know they aren’t going to be there in the end?

They made a calculated move, the Acuras ran into typical new car problems and they were a non-factor.

Acura at Petit was near the pace, given a completely new car and the fact development had basically stopped on the car (Writh was focusing on the F1 chassis) just after Audi announced it wasn’t going to contest the entire series schedule.

Another year of development with Honda’s deep pockets could have put the car on equal pace and given Acura RDX’s have a turbocharged engine could add direct injection to it and be one step further. I think there biggest problem was overcoming the drag created by the same size tires on longer straights. The fact they could carry more corner speed meant that top speed was reached sooner on the straights but because there isn’t much grunt in a 3.4L engine while the diesels continue to make torque up to redline are pulling, well like a diesel on straights.

I expect Aston IF this car is crewed by say Fernandez’ old crew (only Anderson has moved on that I know of) that they’ll be equal to the 908 crews at the very least. If they can stay within a second or so of the ultimate pace they can challenge. Look how competitive the LMP2 Acuras were on their debut, sure they didn’t have the overall lap speed, but through effective pit work they were able to remain on the lead lap most of the race and use fuel mileage to there advantage.

In the end however I don’t think you can stop Peugeot from going at least one, two. The wild card(s) of course are the GTC’s and LMP-C’s even if there are smatterings of true professional drivers in these cars with series experience.

The most interesting race IMHO comes down to how much Greg Pickett sees seat time in the Porsche. I have a feeling if they are a threat to be competitive I think Greg’s time will be minimal in the car, he’s some 2 seconds back of the top drivers in their prime. You can’t give up that kind of time when you have a car still quick enough to challenge for the LMP2 victory and even supplant the other LMP1 cars if other petrol cars run into problems.

What we know is that both the LMP2 Acura and Porsche Spyder can both run 12 hours without problem, be fast, competitive and challenge the pace of the LMP1 cars despite all the efforts by the ACO to slow them down…

Still an interesting race at the front, not as good as in 2007 or 2008 but none the less interesting, we might know who’s going to be first, but aren’t quite sure who’s going to be second and how that will wash out when race #2 in Long Beach comes up in roughly a month.

LMP-C and GT-C are minor events going on, I largely have no interest and it seems beyond car counts overall its not that interesting to most fans.

GT2 is the opening salvo of WWIII. I can’t recall a collection of driving talent and competitive iron in a production based class at any time in America. Well not since the IMSA GTO/GTS battles between GM via Dingman Bros/Buzz McCall/Rocketsports, Ford/Mercury with Jack “In The Hat” Roush and AudiSport/Group 44 with its Quattro 90 sedans.

Save for Sebring and Daytona those where sprint races but knockdown dragged out sprint races. Roush was using 3 different engine during that time, sometimes in the same season! GM was using both V8 and 4L V6 power in those days.

I think Melo/Bruni/Kaffer are the group to beat. The Corvette might be the cream and fastest over one lap, maybe five laps, but overall the Ferrari still has the best tire wear. I also think most “pundits” are writing off Scott Sharp. He’s in a proven fast reliable car and I’m sure Risi is helping them just as they did other Ferrari teams in the past especially since its basically 2 competitive Ferrari vs the rest of the field.

Looking forward too it.

Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo will have de company of João Barbosa at the wheel of the #02 Extreme Speed Motorsports car. Not only in Sebring, but also, at least, in Petit le Mans.
http://www.lemansportugal.com/?p=8963

The point is not that the Acura didn’t make it to the end, but rather of it’s outright pace out of the box. Given it had just been “invented” and was able to clock in 1:45 and 1:44s at sebring it was remarkable. That’s faster than the R10 and in 200 and 2007. It broke the R10’s record on many ALMS circuits too.

So if that car had continually been developed throughout the season they might have had something to work with this season. After preseason the car never had an update.

Meanwhile the Lola Aston has 3 years of development and racing but still can’t match the times. It’s best time is a 1:46 .

Even with a 4 liter engine, with enough money Acura can still give their car a nice power band to challenge the V12. It only depends how much you want to spend.

3 cars in P2??!! Come on now!! They’re guaranteed to podium. What happened to the days of a larger P2 class making it more of a challenge?

the economy went downhill… and P1 is more telivised and more “honorable” to win. however i do agree… i wish there were more in both P1 and P2… maybe Pesca and Oreca could come over… maybe Rebellion or Kolles or Oak or Pegasas or WFR or Strakka could come over to deepen the fields but that is wishful thinking by far… we might see 3 or 4 more before the race total, but not in one class alone. We might see ECO, however they were not fast at all, Van der staur might show up, maybe a second Creation, and very likely the corsa zytek… but that is all.

I think it’s also partly because of the new regs coming next year. You wouldn’t want to spend on a new car and engine knowing it will all be scraped next year.

It’s supposed to make the prototype classes cheaper and safer. So maybe some are just waiting and doing the math to see if their budget is there.

I suppose that is why the GT3 Challenge class was added last year so the there are more cars in the line-up. I remember Penske had a couple of cars in P2 and one race they had 3 cars. Andretti Green Racing had a car too. Hopefully things will get better and more teams will join the line-up.

Go Tequila Patron for adding two Ferrari’s to GT2 and becoming the ALMS series title sponsor!

we know who will win P1.

the best of the rest could be Creation, Intersport, and Drayson (Aston will be the top 3 for sure i bet)and autocon will be off the pace as usual

p2 will probably be Acura/Honda but maybe Cytosport

LMPC, considering any finish, will either be Level 5 ( both cars will be fast) or Genoa

GT2 will be Vettes, Lizard, BMW, Falken Tire, Extreeme Speed, or risi

GTC will be GMG (go Safronas) or TRG or MAYBE Alex Job…

anyone else wanna add to this list

Come on Dan! Are you saying Peugeot will win?

yes! the deisel engine makes no one else have a chance! MAybe Aston and posibly Patron but that is all….