American Le Mans Series

Sebring 12H – Thursday Practice 1 Report

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

A nice sunlit Sebring International Raceway saw thirty-three cars take to the track during the first American Le Mans Series practice on Thursday. All classes tested together in the first of three practice sessions today. As expected Peugeot was quickest…

At 10:30 am the green flag was waved and the cars rolled down the pit lane to get into action. Anthony Davidson was the first LMP1 driver to post a fast lap time, but only a minute later Emanuele Pirro in the Drayson Racing Lola Judd posted a faster time.

Sebastien Bourdais then took the #08 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP around for a few flying laps, the car having a new tub after the Peugeot mechanics discovered a small crack in the old tub during a check. Fifteen minutes into the session the French driver posted a 1:45.905.

At 10:52 am, just after Chris Dyson set the best LMP2 lap time Pierre Kaffer hit a tyre wall, causing damage to the left side of the car. While the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT2 slowly drove back to the pit lane, the red flag was shown so that the safety team could inspect the tire wall.

Exactly 30 minutes into the session the green flag was shown again and most teams were back out on the track immediately. Sebastien Bourdais took out the #08 again and improved his lap time to 1:45.840.

Unfortunately at 11:15 am the red flag was shown again when the Autocon Lola B06/10 AER stopped out on the track at Turn 6, shortly after Simon Pagenaud had improved the LMP2 time. After it had been towed to safety the session was restarted for another ten minutes. The fastest lap time was not bettered by anyone in the remaining time, although Pagenaud improved the fastest LMP2 time.

In GT2 the two BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team BMW E92 M3s were on top throughout the session. Bill Auberlen eventually posted the fastest time, a 2:01.556, just over two tenths quicker than the #90 car. Third quickest was the #01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F430 GT ahead of the #17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 997 GT3 RSR. They were almost half a second behind the fastest BMW.

The session also saw the return of the Robertson Racing Ford GT. Despite being slowest GT2 out on the track David Robertson was extremely happy to be back on the track after two major crashes here at the track and was full of praise for his team. “I’m in awe of how much work this team has put in over the last few weeks. To be where we are today is amazing. They’ve really done a lot of work getting the car ready for today.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay posted the fastest lap time in the LMPC class. The Level 5 Motorsports driver set a 1:56.289, over a second and a half quicker than the next car in the class, the #99 Green Earth Team Gunnar FLM09. The fastest car in GTC yesterday, the #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup did not take part in this practice session, Andy Lally set the fastest lap time in this morning’s session. Lally posted a 2:07.547, 0.15s ahead of the GMG Racing car.