MAGNUSSEN, O'CONNELL TOGETHER AGAIN AT SEBRING

Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen are back together as full-time teammates in the American Le Mans Series this season.

Nine years ago, Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen first shared a seat at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Monday saw the two reunited in the American Le Mans Series in one of Corvette Racing's championship-winning Corvette C6.R. Magnussen and O'Connell will compete for the full season in the team's No. 3 entry.

O'Connell and Magnussen were teammates for the Panoz factory prototype effort and recorded the marque's first Series victory with a win at Mosport in 1999, their only full-season effort together. Together they have combined for 36 class victories and 80 podium finishes in 124 starts.

"Johnny and I had a lot of success with Panoz, and I'm looking forward to that again," Magnussen said. "Hopefully we can win a championship together. Our driving styles are very similar so there won't be any problems there."

Monday, March 12, 2007 Practice Results:

Risi Competizione's Ferrari F430 GT was the quickest GT2 car in both of Monday's sessions.

The GT1 battle between Corvette and Aston Martin appears as if it will as close this week as it was last season with just 0.372 seconds separating the top three cars. Corvette Racing's #4 Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis led the way with a 1:58.557 in the afternoon session, followed by the sister entry of the #3 C6R driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen. Team Modena's Aston Martin DBR9 was the quickest car in the morning session and improved its time by a tenth of a second to 1:58.929 in the afternoon.

Ferraris dominated GT2 as the Italian marque's F430 GT held the top three positions. Risi Competizione's Ferrari of Jamie Melo, Mika Salo and Johnny Mowlem was quickest at 2:02.159, nearly a half second under the track qualifying record. The Corsa Motorsports/White Lightning Racing entry of Rui Aguas and Maurizio Mediani were a half second back, just ahead of the Petersen/White Lightning Ferrari of Tomas Enge (former Aston Martin 2006 GT1 driver), Tim Bergmeister and Memo Gidley.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 Practice Results:

Jan Magnussen topped the chart in GT1 with a 1:57.466 in the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R. The Dane, teaming with Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, was 0.103 seconds ahead of the #4 sister car of Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Max Papis. They were followed by Team Modena's Aston Martin DBR9 at 1:59.820.

Corsa/White Lightning's Rui Aguas turned in the best GT2 time Tuesday in the team's Ferrari F430 GT.

Rui Aguas set his first fast lap in the American Le Mans Series and the first for Corsa Motorsports/White Lightning Racing in GT2. Aguas turned in a 2:03.227 in the team's Ferrari F430 GT, almost 0.4 seconds better than the existing track record. Aguas is at Sebring for the first time but has adapted well early on.

"This is a big step forward," said Aguas, who will drive with Maurizio Mediani and Jose Maria Lopez. "The track is very nice. It's very bumpy and completely different than what we have in Europe. It will be very interesting to run with the prototype cars. We raced with GT1 cars last year in Europe, but the LMP1s and LMP2s are just unbelievably quick."

Second quickest in class was Flying Lizard's Jörg Bergmeister in the team's new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The Porsche factory driver was 0.267 seconds back of the Corsa/White Lightning Ferrari. Other F430 GTs from Risi Competizione were within a half second of Bergmeister and the Porsche.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Practice Results:

Practice #1:

Antonio Garcia turned in a 1:59.254 in the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9.

Team Modena's Aston Martin DBR9 turned in a 1:59.524 with Antonio Garcia behind the wheel of the GT1 entry. Neither of Corvette Racing's two Corvette C6.Rs participated in the session but both will return to the track for today's 2:15 p.m. session.

Ferraris again held the top three spots in GT2. Risi Competizione's two F430 GTs set the pace with Johnny Mowlem posting the fastest time at 2:03.425. He was just ahead of Colin Braun in the Risi/Krohn Racing Ferrari at 2:03.567. Tafel Racing's first Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was the fastest Porsche at 2:03.717 with Porsche factory driver Patrick Long turning in the time.

Practice #2:

Corvette Racing's first time on the track Wednesday resulted in a 1-2 position in GT1. Olivier Beretta's time of 1:57.361 led the pack in the #4 Corvette C6.R he will share with Oliver Gavin and Max Papis. Johnny O'Connell in the sister #3 C6R Corvette was second quickest at 1:57.421.

Petersen/White Lightning's Tomas Enge was the fastest GT2 driver Wednesday afternoon.

Ferraris were first and second in GT2. Tomas Enge (former Aston Martin 2006 GT1 driver) led all drivers with a 2:02.694 lap in Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing's F430 GT. The Czech driver, teaming with Tim Bergmeister and Memo Gidley, was 0.25 seconds ahead of the lead Ferrari from Risi Competizione. Both cars were under the class qualifying record.

Tafel Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was third fastest and quickest of all the GT2 Porsche entries. Dominik Farnbacher's time of 2:03.931 was the team's best.

The 2007 American Le Mans Series opens with the 55th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 17 at Sebring International Raceway. The green flag will fall shortly after 10 a.m. with SPEED providing live coverage. The race also will be broadcast by American Le Mans Radio with IMSA Live Timing & Scoring available at americanlemans.com.