American Le Mans 2009 – Road America

TIME WARNER CABLE ROAD RACE SHOWCASE FEATURING ROAD AMERICA | AUGUST 16, 2009

 

Road America Post-Race Notebook

 

Highcroft Confirms 2010 Return; Fernandez Still Up In The Air

A week after Gil de Ferran announced his team’s intentions of returning to sportscars next year, Duncan Dayton confirmed that his Patron Highcroft Racing team will indeed be back to the ALMS with a prototype in 2010.

“It’s definitely where we want to be,” Dayton said of the ALMS. “It fits Patron very well, but that’s not to say we’d do something else in conjunction with it. But first and foremost, we’re an ALMS entrant.”

While there’s no word from Acura whether it will continue its factory involvement in the ALMS, Lowe’s Fernandez Racing co-owner and managing director Tom Anderson says they have an option to run their Acura ARX-01b as a customer car in 2010.

“When you’re looking at costs, the most cost-effective thing for Fernandez Racing to do is to run our current car because we own it,” Anderson said. “We’d still need to lease the engine from Acura, which they’ve agreed to do. From a costs standpoint, not having to buy new equipment [would help.]”

Fernandez has yet to confirm its 2010 motorsports program, and is also evaluating options in IndyCar, where the team was last seen in 2006.

“We’re a business and we’re looking to stay in racing, and anything that makes good business sense,” Anderson said. “Obviously the least expensive thing for us to do is to continue with our current equipment. But if the correct business partner appeared, we’d consider other series for sure. We have had discussions regarding IndyCar, but as of yet, we haven’t entered any agreement in regards to our 2010 season.”

Wave-By: Win Or Lose?

It’s been an ongoing situation in the American Le Mans Series for as long as I can remember, but it’s now becoming more apparent with the increased competition in GT2. What am I talking about? Well, it’s the wave-by.

Whenever a full-course caution comes out, the pace car picks up the overall leader. And if that leader makes a pit stop under yellow, all the cars down a lap directly behind it will get the ‘wave-by’ from IMSA to catch back up to the tail end of the lap, similar to the ‘Lucky Dog’ rule in NASCAR.

The only problem is that it could severely change the outcome of another category’s race, and it happened again in Sunday’s Time Warner Road Race Showcase at Road America.

Overall race leader Simon Pagenaud had passed both of the GT2 class-leading Rahal Letterman Racing BMW M3s on the track, just as two GT Challenge cars collided in Canada Corner, bringing out a full-course caution.

Scott Sharp, who was running second overall, ahead of the rest of the GT2 pack, but behind the two Bimmers, stayed out on the track while Pagenaud pitted. This put the two BMWs ahead of new race leader Sharp, and were subsequently given the wave-by. It effectively provided the two BMWs with a lap over their competition.

There was no hiding the fact that the factory RLR machines were the dominant cars all weekend, and their one-lap advantage wouldn’t have likely changed the results. But countless race-contending cars have been caught out by this procedure in the past.

“I don’t think you should ever kill a race based on where a pace car lands,” said race winner Bill Auberlen. “They need to fix this because there are on any given weekend eight or nine GT2 cars that can win a race.”

What made Sunday’s situation even more complicated was that the drivers were told during the morning meeting that officials would try and hold waving the full course caution in a low-priority incident, such as a car stuck in the gravel trap, if it could help keep the GT2 pack from not being separated.

Local yellows were deployed immediately after John Baker’s Porsche was beached in the gravel trap, but IMSA race control issued the full-course caution approximately 50 seconds after the incident, presumably in efforts to not split up the GT2 freight train.

Ultimately, the call backfired as the overall leader got around all the GT2 cars, but not the second placed P1 car, which ended up becoming the new race leader after the original leader pitted.

“Basically, if there’s going to be a change, it needs to be a rules change and not a subjective ‘trying’ situation,” said Patrick Long, who benefited with a wave-by at Mid-Ohio, but lost out at Road America. “There needs to be a rule change saying all GT cars can pass the overall leader, even after the yellow, if they want to do that.”

Long and co-driver Jorg Bergmeister finished fourth in class, marking their first loss since Sebring in March. The Flying Lizard Motorsports duo wouldn’t have likely been able to mount a challenge to the BMWs, but want to have a better grasp on the procedure moving forward.

“The rules have been the same ever since I’ve been in the ALMS, and there is always a gain or loss position there,” Bergmeister said. “Today would have been better to probably keep it the way we’ve always had it and just thrown the yellow when the car is in the gravel. That would have put four or five cars on the lead lap. It is what it is.”


Long suggests having all the GT cars get waved by the prototypes during the yellow, similar to what’s done in Grand-Am. Another possibility could involve having multiple pace cars pick up each respective class leader.

But ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton said picking up the four individual classes would be next to impossible. During the Radio Le Mans race broadcast, Atherton said the caution/wave-by procedure is an ongoing issue and the “smartest minds within IMSA are working on it.”

Others, like fifth place finisher Jamie Melo, have the best solution: If you’re out in front, you won’t be caught out.

“You just need to be quick enough,” he said. “If you’re leading, you won’t have that problem. We can’t worry about a rule like this; it’s just the way of racing. We just have to hope to be in front of everyone, so it won’t be a problem.”

Alex Job Racing Eyeing 2010 GT Challenge Program

Alex Job could be returning as an ALMS team owner, as soon as 2010. The three-time GT2 champion entrant is taking a close look at entering up to two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the GT Challenge next year.

The AJR organization, which was last seen in the ALMS in 2006, has been staying busy in Patron GT3 Challenge with driver Mitchell Pagerey, as well as a five-car squad in Porsche Club of America events.

“We committed to the Patron GT3 Championship [this year], but after doing Sebring when the ALMS Challenge was announced, we had some interest in it,” Job said. “We looked at it pretty hard, but in the end, we had set a budget aside, and that was for the Patron GT3 Challenge.

“Now we’re looking at what IMSA and the American Le Mans has to offer for next year, and it’s starting to look quite attractive for the GT Challenge. It’s not just a five-race series now and it’s fully incorporated into the ALMS package. We’re very interested.

“In the ideal world, I’d like to have two cars. But it depends on budget. We live in very challenging economic times. I won’t do a program unless a proper budget is there because eventually it will catch up with you. You can’t be successful in motorsports unless you have a full financial commitment.”

News & Notes

•During his Q&A session Sunday morning, Scott Atherton said to expect a similar schedule for 2010, despite seven of the ten events being up for renewal. The Series is also talking to two potential new venues, which could replace or add to the current slate. Expect an announcement possibly before the annual “State of the Series” address at Road Atlanta.

•The ALMS Challenge season-finale, originally scheduled for Mosport in two weeks, has been moved to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October. IMSA officials made the announcement on Sunday, citing safety concerns with the challenging Mosport course possibly throwing some challenges to the lesser-experienced Challenge drivers, especially in a multi-class racing environment.

 

© RIF/ALMS