American Le Mans Series
ALMS round 3 – Laguna Seca LMP preview
© Intersport Racing
After an exciting showing at the Long Beach Grand Prix, the American Le Mans Series remains on the west coast for a six-hour test of endurance at one of America’s most famous tracks; Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The series sees a very large entry list for the third straight race of 2010. Thirty-six cars are set to make the start at this year’s Laguna Seca race. Navigating all this traffic cleanly and efficiently is certainly on the teams’ minds, especially with this year’s running awarding more points due to its endurance format. Teams will be instructing their drivers to keep their cars in once piece and be smart while overtaking.
Laguna Seca marks the second race with the series’ the new LMP regulations. At Long Beach, the series combined the two LMP classes with performance restrictions placed on the more powerful LMP1 cars. This created some thrilling racing. The race turned into a cat and mouse game between the light and nimble P2 machines and the heavier, but more powerful P1 cars. The P1 cars were able to stretch their legs on Long Beach’s lengthy front straight, but the P2 cars would gradually lessen the deficit through the tight confines of the rest of the track. This brought back fond memories of some of the great Porsche vs. Audi battles of the 2007 and 2008 season.
The race came down to the final lap with racing veteran, Adrian Fernandez trying desperately to keep his Lola B09/60 Aston Martin ahead of the hard charging HPD ARX-01c of Highcroft Racing’s young driver, Simon Pagenaud. Bothered by Pagenaud’s pressure, Fernandez had a slip up in Turn 8 allowing Pagenaud through for the win. It certainly was a promising start for the series’ new rules package.
Unfortunately, Aston Martin Racing will not be present at Laguna Seca for a rematch of Long Beach; instead the team will turn their focus towards preparation for Le Mans.
Aston Martin’s absence leaves the series regulars to fight for top honors. One team to keep an eye on is the Columbus, Ohio based squad of Intersport Racing. Intersport driver Jon Field had a strong performance in his Lola B06/10 in the early half of the Long Beach round, overtaking David Brabham in the HPD and Harold Primat in the Aston Martin. From there, Field was able to stretch a comfortable margin over the LMP field before a slow pit stop and fuel issues forced the team to retire. If the team can have a trouble free run, look for Jon and son Clint to secure a very strong result at Laguna.
Highcroft Racing is another early Laguna favorite after a strong run at Sebring and a victory at Long Beach. Highcroft enters Laguna tied in LMP points with Sebring LMP2 winners, Cytosport Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder. Highcroft arguably has the strongest driver lineups in the whole series with David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti along for the endurance races. Highcroft’s driver lineup and strong car will be a force to be reckoned with.
Rounding out the prototype ranks is the Porsche RS Spyder from Cytosport, a Drayson Racing’s Lola B09/60 Judd, Autocon Racing’s Lola B06/10 and a single Lola B09/86 from American sports car racing stalwarts, Dyson Racing. Dyson Racing looks to rebound after a disappointing start so far to the 2010 championship.
A big thank you to guest writer Joey Selmants for this ALMS preview!
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Intersport will have no impact unless it causes an accident.
Jon Field is quick enough, on the ragged edge and that might be fun for some fans, I actually loath it because its a fruitless exorcise in how to drive hard, so hard that the car breaks.
He might get the lead, then maybe keep it until fuel stops and change to Clint who thus far has not proven he is up to the challenge or pace needed to win. The final driver is a pay driver and we know how that generally goes…
This is a solely a race between Highcroft and Greg Pickett’s Muscle Milk Porsche.
I can see a challenge though minor until they prove otherwise from The Lord. Double Stints for Pirro will be key here and Cocker might be on pace but the Lord giving up 2-3 seconds a lap if not more is just too much to ask.
The tactics are easy to figure out -
For Highcroft, drive to a pace they can keep and stick too it, keep mistakes to a minimum.
Muscle Milk’s plan; if I were me I would put Pickett in the car for the first stint and pray he doesn’t get too far behind. From the 1st pit stop on, double stint Maassen and Graf until the end.
BTW this will be the tactic for most of the LMPC teams with a “C” grade driver.
This is also what I do if I was Dyson or Drayson, it really doesn’t matter. Chris Dyson has yet to prove he can stand up to the pressure of leading and the MazLola has proven just unreliable enough to keep them from challenging for even a podium.
This will still be an interesting race anyway and I expect the four teams I just mentioned to challenge for victory, the question remains -
How much will the team owner/drivers will be involved in driving duties? I see Chris Dyson as the only legit driver/owner not to loose so much time that the other drivers have to drive flat out, take risk in traffic or try unconventional pit tactics.
My pick -
1) Highcroft – Just too much talent, polished team, reliable car though it did let them down at Sebring
2) Muscle Milk – Graf seem to struggle at Long Beach. Not sure what it was, but Porsche seemingly having stop development of the Spyder while new bits are coming from Wirth all the time for the Acura, it just seems they won’t be on the ultimate pace. But still will take away solid points and be ready to pick up the pieces if Highcroft falters again.
3) Drayson – I pick them because the Lola/Judd combination has proven more reliable than the Lola/Mazda version. The only question becomes, can they challenge for 2nd place, let alone victory with The Lord driving more than one stint?