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VeteranAnother win for Audi, the first for Acura and Andretti Green Racing, and the most exciting finish in race history marked the start of the 2007 American Le Mans Series on Saturday. Marco Werner, Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela drove to victory at the 55th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in one of the most thrilling editions of the Florida classic in its history. It marked the second straight Sebring win and ninth victory in as many races in the short life of the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI. Werner crossed the finish line after 363 laps for his third victory in five Sebring starts. Biela won for the fourth time in America's greatest sports car race (tied with Tom Kristensen), and Pirro won for the first time since 2000.
Werner, in the P1 class, was seven laps up on Bryan Herta in the P2 class Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX LMP2 entry that he shared with Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. The class win for Andretti Green Racing came less than a year after Acura publicly announced its entry into the American Le Mans Series. Herta, Franchitti and Kanaan led overall three different times and finished two laps ahead of the Lowe's Fernandez Racing Lola of Adrian Fernandez, Luis Diaz and David Martinez. It is quite an accomplishment for an Acura program that hit the track for the first time in late August. But miles and miles of testing, a 12-hour simulation race at Sebring and many months of tireless work paid off.
In GT1, Corvette Racing won its class for the fifth time in six years as Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis took a 17-second victory over their sister car in a race that saw the two Corvettes on the same lap the entire way. Beretta and Gavin won last year with Jan Magnussen, who teamed this year with Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell. "Like everyone knows, Sebring is a tough track and is a great test for Le Mans," said Beretta, the Series' all-time leader with 29 wins and a three-time winner at Sebring. We worked very well and had fantastic pit stops as usual. T he car at the end of the race was like it was on Lap 1. This team knows exactly what to do. We pushed the car because we had strong competition with the No. 3 car. Everything went perfectly."
Undoubtedly the highlight of the day was the GT2 class finish. Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo beat Jorg Bergmeister of Flying Lizard Motorsports to the finish line by 0.20 seconds, the closest finish in Sebring's 55-year history and the closest finish ever in the American Le Mans Series' GT2 class. Melo, who drove with Mika Salo and Johnny Mowlem, led by five seconds with 11 minutes left but by the final lap Bergmeister was tucked right behind his rear bumper. The two cars crossed the start-finish line just before Werner took the checkered flag. So instead of a one-second victory, Melo had to hold off the young Porsche factory driver for another full circuit. Bergmeister, partnering with Johannes van Overbeek and Marc Lieb, finally caught up with Melo entering Turn 16 and on to the long backstretch. He pulled alongside Melo and barely moved past him as the two headed into the final turn. They remained door-to-door and made contact as Melo edged across the line.
Are these cars cool or what?
I got very caught up in the last four hours of this race. It was awesome. It helped that one of my favorite drivers, Dario Franchitti, was on a team leading its class and competing for the overall win. It even included the above described NASCAR finish in GT2. Please don't tell my wife but i think I am hooked on both the American LeMans series and the Grand Am Series. Lets see that's Nextel Cup, Busch, Craftsman Truck, IRL, F1, CART, ARCA, ASA, USAR, WoO, USAC, GrandAm and LeMans? Shhhhhh.
more...
http://www.americanlemans.com/home/ALMSHome.aspx
http://www.corvetteracing.com/pictures/2007/sebring/pages/sebring004_jpg.shtml
