{"id":816,"date":"2009-04-04T01:13:04","date_gmt":"2009-04-04T06:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racinginfocus.com\/rif\/?p=816"},"modified":"2010-01-03T18:17:40","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T23:17:40","slug":"american-le-mans-2009-%e2%80%93-st-petersburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/alms\/american-le-mans-2009-%e2%80%93-st-petersburg\/","title":{"rendered":"American Le Mans 2009 \u2013 ST. PETERSBURG"},"content":{"rendered":"
ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE OF ST. PETERSBURG | APRIL 4, 2009<\/span><\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ALMS: St. Pete Post-Race Notebook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strong Run for LG Motorsports
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nTwo weeks ago, Lou Gigliotti hadn\u2019t even planned on competing in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. But given his team\u2019s fourth place finish Saturday, the veteran World Challenge driver\/owner is walking away a relatively happy man.<\/p>\n

After a promising run cut short at Sebring, Gigliotti once again teamed up with rising star Eric Curran in his Riley Technologies-built Corvette C6, thanks to some last minute support from Sonny Whelen, Curran\u2019s World Challenge employer. <\/p>\n

The GT2-spec Corvette ran as high as second during the race in the hands of Curran, who also set the car\u2019s best lap time of 1:14.933. Towards the middle of his stint, Curran came under attack from Dominik Farnbacher in the No. 21 Panoz, as well as Dirk Muller\u2019s No. 92 BMW, who both got by the yellow-flamed Vette with about 20 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis car was similar to mine in terms of speed,\u201d Curran said of Farnbacher\u2019s Panoz. \u201cThe only downside of this Corvette right now is that it can\u2019t maintain that pace, whether it\u2019s the tires or our chassis setup. The car\u2019s showing speed and we\u2019re getting closer. We need to get it to be consistently fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tire compounds ended up playing a role here, as track temperatures soared to 112 degrees in the race, considerably higher than yesterday. Gigliotti admits they made the wrong call in using soft compound Dunlops instead of opting for a harder compound better suited for the warmer conditions. Other teams also appeared to make this mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all about tires today,\u201d Gigliotti said. \u201cEric had stickers on and got six or seven laps on them, then [they started to go away]. He started running 1:17\u2019s, then 1:18\u2019s, and then dipped into the 1:20\u2019s near the end and was hanging on for dear life.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite the challenges, the Riley Corvette came home in fourth, the team\u2019s best finish in the Series to date, and in only Curran\u2019s third ALMS start. Lack of track time hurt many teams this weekend, and Curran thinks they could have had a more solid run if they had more time to dial in the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the potential of this car and we\u2019ll keep working on it,\u201d Curran said. \u201cThe short amount of time here didn\u2019t help us, either. This morning, I did one lap. We just needed more time. The car\u2019s still under development, but it\u2019s got a ton of progress. Running that thing up to second place was pretty exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

LG Motorsports is currently entered for the next round at Long Beach, but Gigliotti says the team will not make the trip unless additional funding is found. In fact, some of this weekend\u2019s expenses came out of Gigliotti\u2019s own pocket, in an effort to showcase the team\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, Curran hopes to be back behind the wheel of the Riley Corvette soon, and will definitely be racing his Whelen Engineering Corvette in the SPEED World Challenge GT Series at Long Beach in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that the American Le Mans Series is so competitive and there\u2019s so many top-notch cars,\u201d Curran said. \u201cWe\u2019re out-classed in terms of budget compared to some of these teams. But here we are and we\u2019re fighting hard, and we\u2019re hoping to get some additional sponsorship and keep going with this. I think with some more test time and development, Lou and I could be a threat for these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traffic on the Streets<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With only 17 starters, you\u2019d think traffic wouldn\u2019t play a large factor in the race. But if you\u2019re a LMP2 competitor, think again. Regulation changes during the off-season have put the smaller prototypes at reduced speeds, thanks to a larger restrictor and minimum weight increase.<\/p>\n

P2 class winners Lowe\u2019s Fernandez Racing had a trouble-free race, but also played a cautious approach when navigating through traffic. With a lower top-end speed, P2 cars such as Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz\u2019s Acura ARX-01b have trouble overtaking slower GT cars, especially on the tight and twisty bits of the street circuit. And it may even prove to be a tougher challenge come Long Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me in particular, it was extremely tough to pass the GT2\u2019s with the weight and restrictor penalty we have this year [in LMP2],\u201d Diaz said. \u201cIt was really, really tough. I can anticipate it being a nightmare with the [GT1] Corvettes at Long Beach for sure. We have to be extremely cautious. Compared to last year, we\u2019re losing quite a bit more in traffic than this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chase is on in GT2<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It only takes one bad race for your championship hopes to fade away. Luckily, we\u2019re only two events into the season, and there\u2019s still plenty of time to rebound. But in the ultra-competitive world of GT2, every point could ultimately end up making a difference. That would be bad news for Risi Competizione, as the Sebring-winning Ferrari retired early on Saturday, scoring zero points.<\/p>\n

Pierre Kaffer started from the top spot after co-driver Jamie Melo put the \u2018Rosso Red\u2019 Ferrari F430 GT on the pole the day earlier. However, Kaffer made an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 27, with the Houston-based team discovering the car had suffered a broken right-front suspension. It was then retired shortly after.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a shame for the team and the mechanics because we were in a good spot for the race and the championship, and to stop the race is a shame for us and for Ferrari,\u201d Kaffer said. \u201cThere was no contact, nothing, with the wall or other people but I felt after 2 or 3 laps that something was wrong with the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Risi held the GT2 championship lead heading into St. Pete, but now fall to third in the standings, behind race winners Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche, as well as the Panoz Team PTG pairing of Dominik Farnbacher and Ian James, who pulled off yet another third-place finish on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Ten points now separate first from third, with the Panoz duo only four markers from the championship lead. And who would have thought that one of the fastest GT2 cars is not yet in the title mix? For the second straight race, Farnbacher Loles Racing suffered cruel luck as a brake line cut the Porsche\u2019s right rear tire, shredding rubber into the suspension and causing a lengthy repair job. Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner had to settle for a seventh place finish, which in result lost them more ground in the GT2 championship chase.<\/p>\n

Briefly…
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nOur thoughts are with de Ferran Motorsports CEO, and former HPD President, Robert Clarke, who is the hospital tonight after sustaining head injuries from a fall off a golf cart Saturday morning. We\u2019ll pass along more information as it becomes available.<\/p>\n

David Murry proved that Sebring was no fluke. The Robertson Racing driver peddled his Doran Ford GT-R up into the GT2 class lead for a brief moment in the race, thanks to some clever pit strategy. Murry and co-driver Andrea Robertson were legitimately running as high as second at one point, but settled for a sixth place result. Hat\u2019s off to the Dick Barbour-led team.<\/p>\n

Primetime Race Group isn\u2019t having much luck at one of its home tracks. The Hollywood, Fla.-based team suffered its second consecutive race-ending crash at St. Pete, after team owner\/driver Joel Feinberg slammed his Dodge Viper Competition Coupe into the wall. One year ago, the Primetime Viper was totaled in a multi-car accident on the streets. Here\u2019s to better luck next year.<\/p>\n

Next Stop: Long Beach
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

From one street course to the other. In two weeks\u2019 time, the Series will be in Southern California for the Long Beach Grand Prix. Once again another scenic, waterfront destination, Long Beach could throw up some different challenges for teams, as car setups will likely not be the same. Flying Lizard Motorsports\u2019 Patrick Long explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a little tougher on setup at St. Pete because you have a lot more direction changes left and right. Where at Long Beach, there\u2019s a lot more 90 degree radiuses, where you can be going toward the same direction, and it will succeed to work for you. In saying that, the weather and circuits are completely different, so there\u2019s a lot of variable there. So I don\u2019t think our setups will transfer straight to Long Beach, but we do have a head start.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF\/ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE OF ST. PETERSBURG | APRIL 4, 2009 \u00a0 ALMS: St. Pete Post-Race Notebook Strong Run for LG Motorsports Two weeks ago, Lou Gigliotti hadn\u2019t even planned on competing in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. But given his team\u2019s fourth place finish Saturday, the veteran World Challenge driver\/owner is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[184,5264,5283,86,182,174,99,5275,100,185,181,183,5281],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}