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

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

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.

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.

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.