MOBIL 1 TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING PIT NOTES - CORVETTE RACING

American Le Mans Series Pit Notes
Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

At 4:19 pm (6h 14m running), Liz Halliday (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Antonio Garcia.

At 4:24 pm (6h 19m running), Ron Fellows (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Johnny O'Connell.

At 4:26 pm (6h 21m running), Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Olivier Beretta, retains the lead in class.

At 4:35 pm (6h 30m running), top three in class:.

#2-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Frank Biela (203 laps), #1-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Rinaldo Capello (190 laps), #12-P1 (Lola/EX257 AER) Michael Lewis (178 laps)
#26-P2 (Acura/ARX-01a) Dario Franchitti (201 laps), #15-P2 (Lola/B06-43/Acura) Luis Diaz (195 laps), #16-P2 (Porsche RS Spyder) Andy Wallace (191 laps)
#4-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Oliver Gavin (187 laps), #3-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Ron Fellows (186 laps), #63-GT1 (Aston Martin DBR9) Antonio Garcia (181 laps)
#62-GT2 (Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) Jaime Melo (180 laps), #45-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Joerg Bergmeister (179 laps), #71-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Wolf Henzler (179 laps)

At 5:08 pm (7h 3m running), Yellow Flag: pits are closed. Debris on the course at turn 13.

At 5:12 pm (7h 7m running), Yellow flag: pits are open.

At 5:14 pm (7h 9m running), Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, no driver change, retains the lead in class.
At 5:14 pm (7h 9m running), Johnny O'Connell (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Jan Magnussen.
At 5:14 pm (7h 9m running), Antonio Garcia (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Liz Halliday.

At 5:30 pm (7h 25m running), Green Flag.

Correction: At 5:14 pm (7h 9m running), Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Max Papis, retains the lead in class.

At 5:35 pm (7h 30m running), Yellow Flag: pits are closed, debris in turn 3..

At 5:40 pm (7h 35m running), Yellow flag: pits are open.

At 5:46 pm (7h 41m running), Green Flag.

At 5:52 pm (7h 47m running), top three in class:.

#2-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Emanuele Pirro (234 laps), #1-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Tom Kristensen (221 laps), #12-P1 (Lola/EX257 AER) Michael Lewis (206 laps)
#26-P2 (Acura/ARX-01a) Tony Kanaan (233 laps), #15-P2 (Lola/B06-43/Acura) Adrian Fernandez (226 laps), #7-P2 (Porsche RS Spyder) Helio Castroneves (222 laps)
#4-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Max Papis (217 laps), #3-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Jan Magnussen (217 laps), #63-GT1 (Aston Martin DBR9) Liz Halliday (212 laps)
#62-GT2 (Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) Mika Salo (211 laps), #45-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Johannes van Overbeek (211 laps), #71-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Wolf Henzler (207 laps)

At 5:57 pm (7h 52m running), Liz Halliday (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. LF tire only, fuel, no driver change.

At 6:05 pm (8h 0m running), Yellow Flag: pits are closed.

At 6:09 pm (8h 4m running), Yellow flag: pits are open.

At 6:25 pm (8h 20m running), Max Papis (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Oliver Gavin, retains the lead in class

At 6:25 pm (8h 20m running), Jan Magnussen (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, no driver change.

At 6:28 pm (8h 23m running), Green Flag.

At 7:07 pm (9h 2m running), Liz Halliday (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Antonio Garcia.

At 7:16 pm (9h 11m running), Jan Magnussen (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Ron Fellows.

At 7:18 pm (9h 13m running), Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Olivier Beretta, retains the lead in class.

At 8:10 pm (10h 5m running), Ron Fellows (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Johnny O'Connell.

At 8:12 pm (10h 7m running), Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Max Papis, retains the lead in class.

At 8:23 pm (10h 18m running), top three in class:.

#2-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Marco Werner (308 laps), #1-P1 (Audi AG/R10/TDI) Allan McNish (296 laps), #37- P1 (Creation/CA06H/Judd) Jon Field (273 laps)
#26-P2 (Acura/ARX-01a) Bryan Herta (307 laps), #15-P2 (Lola/B06-43/Acura) Adrian Fernandez (300 laps), #7-P2 (Porsche RS Spyder) Timo Bernhard (296 laps)
#4-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Max Papis (288 laps), #3-GT1 (Corvette C6.R) Johnny O`Connell (288 laps), #63-GT1 (Aston Martin DBR9) Liz Halliday (281 laps)
#62-GT2 (Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) Jaime Melo (280 laps), #45-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Joerg Bergmeister (279 laps), #71-GT2 (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) Robin Liddell (274 laps)

Darren Turner (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) "The car is running like clockwork. I got confused during the two yellows so we lost a lot of time. It's really tough trying to keep up with the Corvettes but I'm happy with where the car is at today."

At 9:03 pm (10h 58m running), Johnny O'Connell (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Jan Magnussen.

At 9:03 pm (10h 58m running), Liz Halliday (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Darren Turner.

At 9:04 pm (10h 59m running), Max Papis (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R), leader in class, into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, driver change: Oliver Gavin, retains the lead in class.

At 9:17 pm (11h 12m running), the air temperature is 63 degrees with at track temperature of 69 degrees, under dark skies

At 9:53 pm (11h 48m running), Darren Turner (#63-GT1 Aston Martin DBR9) into the pits. Fuel only, no driver change.

At 9:56 pm (11h 51m running), Jan Magnussen (#3-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. Fuel only, no driver change.

At 9:57 pm (11h 52m running), Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) into the pits. Fuel only, no driver change.

At 10:08 pm (12h 3m running), Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) and Jorg Bergmeister (#45-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) are side by side going into turn 13. It's a drag race going down he back stretch as the 45 edges ahead. Coming through the last turn they are door to door, banging wheels as Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) pulls ahead by 0.202 seconds at the line. The first win at Sebring for Ferrari
since 1998.

Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) wins for Corvette.

Unofficial Milestones:

The finish in the GT2 class was the closest finish in Sebring history and the closest GT2 finish in ALMS history.

Marco Werner (#2-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) – 15 career victories.

Frank Biela (#2-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) – 22 career victories.

Emanuele Pirro (#2-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) - 16 career victories.

Dario Franchitti (#26-P2 Acura/ARX-01a) – first ALMS victory in first ALMS race.

Tony Kanaan (#26-P2 Acura/ARX-01a) - first ALMS victory in first ALMS race.

Bryan Herta (#26-P2 Acura/ARX-01a) – first ALMS victory.

Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) – 20 career victories.

Max Papis (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) – 2 career victories.

Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) – 29 career victories – most in ALMS history.

Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) – 3 career victories (in a row, in his last three starts)

Johnny Mowlem (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) – 4 career victories.

Mika Salo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) – 4 career victories (in a row, in his last four starts).

Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) "I made a mistake in qualifying and after that we tried to keep pushing to recover. The car was really, really good. The tires were working very well. We did double stints and were very consistent. That helped us come to the front again." … "I just need to say thanks to Risi Competizione. We had a great weekend. It was a fantastic last lap. I've never had a finish like that. I had brake problems late and tried to keep it steady. He (Bergmeister) overtook me on the back straight and I braked a little early and out of Turn 17. I put a little more and opened the throttle as soon as possible. I got it. (The issues) were brakes more than tires." … "Even with the brake problems, I tried to keep the car in line. I saw the Porsche coming and tried to push as hard as possible. I could have lost the race in the last corner."

Mika Salo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) "I had no problem with the car. Sometimes when we pitted we would have a starting issue. Sometimes it would be fine. It was really tight with the No. 45 car. We were absolutely flat out the entire way. The GT2 is the best racing in this Series. It's going to be like this all year, so

we have to improve so we don't have any more finishes like this!" … "We tested a lot in the winter and we knew the Porsche was going to be quick. We have to work even harder. There is a little more grip and a little more power. We are a lot better on pit stops now. If we can start the car, we will be OK. The guys improved a lot and helped make the car quicker."

Johnny Mowlem (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) "It's an honor that Risi asked me along and support them in whatever way I could. It was just awesome. Every time we were out there, we were driving as hard as we could. To finally get to the end and have Jaime drive for two hours like he did and have that kind of final lap, he's my hero! To win is just fantastic."

Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) "Like everyone knows, Sebring is a tough track and is a great test for Le Mans. We worked very well and had fantastic pit stops as usual. The 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."

Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) "It's great to get off to a good start and a winning start. It's great to see such preparation for the season and for Le Mans. This was a fantastic test for us. The AC performed so well that we sometimes wanted to turn it off, and that's unusual for a closed car. Nearly every driver who got out of the car was looking fresh and really good. If we can stay focused and sharp and fresh, that will be a really big, big help at Le Mans."

Max Papis (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) "This was a very tactical, very thoughtful race. Maybe from the outside it looked differently, but we drove it as hard as we could. It came down to pit stops and in- and out-laps. I personally enjoyed working with the two Ollies. When I gave it back to them, I felt so relieved because everything was in order. This is a very difficult track in terms of reliability and staying out of traffic. It's not easy to do when your sister car is two seconds behind you. This is a great family and I'm proud to be a part of that." … "This shows the innovation of Corvette Racing and how GM is involved in our racing. It's great to see the enthusiasm of all the GM engineers when they put the AC in." … "This was my first win after my dad passed away and want to dedicate this to him."

Next stop: St Pete.