{"id":837,"date":"2009-08-08T09:38:54","date_gmt":"2009-08-08T14:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racinginfocus.com\/rif\/?p=837"},"modified":"2010-01-03T18:32:26","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T23:32:26","slug":"american-le-mans-2009-mid-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/alms\/american-le-mans-2009-mid-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"American Le Mans 2009 – Mid Ohio"},"content":{"rendered":"
ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE MID OHIO | August 8, 2009<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Mid-Ohio Post-Race Notebook<\/strong><\/p>\n

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GT2 At Its Finest<\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nWhile Flying Lizard Motorsports\u2019 Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long ran away with yet another class win, their fifth of the season, GT2 lived up to the hype of being the most competitive and diverse category in the American Le Mans Series.<\/p>\n

At one point in the early stages, five manufacturers: Porsche, Chevrolet, BMW, Ferrari and Ford, all had cars in the top-six. Count PTG\u2019s Panoz Esperante, which ran as high as fifth mid-race, and it adds up to a quite a remarkable accomplishment for the series.<\/p>\n

“Those first few laps were frantic,” said Corvette Racing\u2019s Oliver Gavin, who finished fourth in the team\u2019s GT2 debut. “The first start was waved off, we were forming up again, and it all got rather confusing. A BMW got by me, and then the Ford GT, so I had to hustle my way past them. We had a bit of contact, a little rubbing and banging. I got a few shoves, and I gave them back. GT2 is a great class to race in!”<\/p>\n

By mid-race, both of the new Corvette C6.Rs were solidly running in second and third, and had appeared to be on their way for a debut double podium result in GT2. However, with just three minutes remaining, Dirk Muller made an impressive move around Olivier Beretta\u2019s Corvette to snatch away third.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t find a way by, so I had to wait for a mistake, and he finally got sideways in the last corner and I had the chance to jump inside and got him. It was great,\u201d said Muller after the race.<\/p>\n

Muller and co-driver Tommy Milner earned their third podium finish of the season, and fourth for their BMW Rahal Letterman Racing team. The Hilliard, Ohio-based squad has been making steady progress all season with its front-engined V8s, and had one of its most competitive outings to date, topping the time charts in two of the three practice sessions and staying in contention in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting closer and closer,\u201d Muller said. \u201cThe car has been awesome all year long. We need to keep trying things and go for the maximum. The crew did a hell of a job; we didn\u2019t change tires in the last pit stop. That pushed us forward to P3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plagued with straight line speed issues all season, but helped by a restrictor break after Long Beach, the Bimmers have still been lacking top speed, especially compared to other front-engined cars like the Dodge Viper or new Corvette.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be very honest, the Corvettes are very competitive, and they were driving away on the straights,\u201d Muller said. \u201cI\u2019m a little bit frustrated with that to be honest. They gained a lot of time in straight-line speed, but I was quicker in the corners, especially the final two… I think what you have seen here, you\u2019ll see over the whole rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2028Corvette Racing\u2019s No. 3 machine of Jan Magnussen and Johnny O\u2019Connell collected the team\u2019s first podium GT2. Both C6.Rs were mighty impressive, posting best lap times within four tenths of race-winner Long\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

Even more impressive was the Corvette\u2019s fuel economy. While not gambling on a one-stop like the Lizards, the cellulosic E85-fueled No. 3 Corvette stretched its fuel two further laps than the E10-powered No. 45 Porsche during the first round of stops.<\/p>\n

With ethanol consumption higher than E10 gasoline, IMSA allows E85 teams such as Corvette to use a 20 liter larger fuel tank, something Corvette has only been able to take advantage of with its new car. Its GT1 Corvette C6.R was only able to carry between 103-105 liters, compared to the allowable 110-liter capacity.<\/p>\n

“It’s not our usual result, but nonetheless today was a great victory for Corvette Racing,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “To come out here with only a few days of testing on two brand-new race cars, run with the leaders, demonstrate our pit stop prowess and race strategy, and finish second is a testament to how hard this team works. I think every fan of sports car racing now knows there is going to be some spectacular GT racing in the American Le Mans Series.”<\/p>\n

Dream Debut For Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder<\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nAsk Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf of their chances before Saturday\u2019s Acura Sports Car Challenge, and they would have been happy with a finish in their first race with the Porsche RS Spyder. The Team Cytosport duo accomplished their goal, and much more Saturday, with a runner-up result and drive of the race from Graf.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ask me, I just kept on pushing!\u201d said an elated Graf after the race. \u201cGeoff Carter, the team manager, kept on telling me, \u2018Keep pushing, keep pushing.\u2019 That\u2019s what I did; I kept pushing as hard as I could. I had no clue where we were. I asked him which position we were in with three minutes remaining. It was an unbelievable run. Thanks a lot to Porsche for building this kind of car.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a steady third place run in class and seventh overall, it had appeared Pickett had potentially thrown away the race when he made contact with a BMW, which resulted in a stop and go penalty, dropping him a lap down from the P2 leaders.<\/p>\n

But all was not lost. Once Graf took over controls, the Muscle Milk machine was on fire. Over the course of the long green-flag run, the veteran German driver gained back nearly all of the lost time, and worked his way up to second, passing the eventual race-winning Lowe\u2019s Fernandez Acura of Adrian Fernandez.<\/p>\n

But a late caution, and clever strategy by Fernandez, put the Acura out in front of the overall leaders during the final round of pit stops, effectively giving Lowe\u2019s machine a one lap lead over the P2 competition. Restarting from third, Graf hounded the second-placed Dyson Lola-Mazda of Marino Franchitti, which proved to pay off after the Scot collided with GT traffic and retired with suspension damage in the final 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarino was very quick but I was a lot faster on the back part of the sections,\u201d Graf explained. \u201cI knew my only chance around him was through traffic, and that\u2019s what happened. Obviously I hated it for it to happen the way it did, but it played in our favor. I was looking for the right opportunity and was hoping to sneak my way in there, and that was my only chance really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graf then was able to cut Fernandez\u2019s 49-plus-second lead down to 10 seconds in the final 15 minutes, not enough for the win, but a well-deserved finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably one of my most meaningful races,\u201d said Pickett. \u201cThis is so hard to do at this level. The coordination, the effort it takes, the people you have to pull together, the funding. Everything has to be right, and it was today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this result shows how well thought through this car is and what kind of job we put down,\u201d Graf added. \u201cHat\u2019s off to the team. They did a fantastic job preparing this car. We didn\u2019t have any trouble the whole weekend, not a single thing. The Muscle Milk car just worked perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those Crazy Regulations<\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nAfter spending the entire weekend attempting to get to the bottom of the 2010 ACO regulations, I\u2019m left with just as many questions as answers on what the future holds for the rules package, particularly in GT2.<\/p>\n

Risi Competizione\u2019s Rick Mayer told me at Lime Rock that next year\u2019s rules package would likely include include changes in aerodynamics, electronics and tires. A class-wide ECU from Magneti Marelli has also been rumored.<\/p>\n

The ACO\u2019s Daniel Perdrix was on-hand this weekend, but declined to comment on the impending changes until its announced in two weeks\u2019 time at the Le Mans Series event at Nurburgring.<\/p>\n

Many ALMS teams have since been left in limbo. It\u2019s unlikely the ACO\u2019s GT2 regulations will be a carbon copy of the FIA\u2019s new GT2 formula, meaning manufacturers will have to modify its cars accordingly between FIA GT and ALMS\/LMS\/Le Mans competition.<\/p>\n

Risi Competizione team manager Dave Sims confirmed the team will in fact run a \u201chighly modified\u201d Ferrari F430 GT for the entire 2010 season, and roll out with Ferrari\u2019s new F458 model in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chassis we have right now will go back to Italy and will be transformed into 2010 spec,\u201d Sims said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be highly modifying the existing 430s. Porsche is going to do the same thing; they\u2019re not going to build a brand-new car until 2011, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corvette\u2019s new GT2-spec C6.R has been built to ACO regulations, and will have a new production-based 5.5 liter V8 engine next year to comply with 2010 rules. Program manager Doug Fehan told me GM will be presenting the car to the FIA for 2010 homologation approval later this year.<\/p>\n

Fehan is a backer of a single GT class formula, something that could be seen in ACO-sanctioned races next year, but not in FIA, where Stephane Ratel\u2019s World GT Championship for new-spec GT1 cars has been green lighted, with new-spec GT2 cars relegated to a European-only championship.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all rather confusing at this stage, and we can only hope for official clarification in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 RIF\/ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE MID OHIO | August 8, 2009 \u00a0 Mid-Ohio Post-Race Notebook \u00a0 GT2 At Its Finest While Flying Lizard Motorsports\u2019 Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long ran away with yet another class win, their fifth of the season, GT2 lived up to the hype of being the most competitive and diverse category in …<\/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":[214,39,5264,69,207,5283,211,5300,5275,204,100,5298,208,201,5299,206,213,5297,205,202,5277,210],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837"}],"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=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}