ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE OF ST. PETERSBURG PIT NOTES

American Le Mans Series Pit Notes
Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg
Pages 16-19

At 7:17 pm (2h 9m running), Scott Maxwell (#22-GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM) into the pits. No fuel, no driver change. driver water bottle only.

At 7:17 pm (2h 9m running), Terry Borcheller (#54-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, no driver change.

At 7:18 pm (2h 10m running), Johannes van Overbeek (#45-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) into the pits. No fuel, driver change: Jorg Bergmeister. The suspension problem is causing a lot of roll. Which is causing the car to be really loose and have a lot of understeer. Its difficult driving the car.

At 7:22 pm (2h 14m running), Bill Auberlen (#21-GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM) into the pits. 4 tires, fuel, no driver change. driver water bottle.

At 7:23 pm (2h 14m running), Tomas Enge (#31-GT2 Ferrari 430GT) officially retired: accident.

At 7:27 pm (2h 19m running), Jon Field (#37-P1 Creation/CA06H/Judd) into the pits. Fuel only, driver change: Richard Berry.

At 7:31 pm (2h 22m running), Tomas Enge (#31-GT2 Ferrari 430GT) was alert and talking to medical personnel on the scene. He was complaining of various pains and was taken to Bayfront Medical Center to be evaluated.

At 7:36 pm (2h 28m running), Green Flag. The top five cars are all on the lead lap, following overall leader Rinaldo Capello (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI).

At 7:36 pm (2h 28m running), Andy Wallace (#16-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) into the pits. No fuel, no driver change, long stop for problems with the upper wishbone, right front suspension.

At 7:36 pm (2h 28m running), Terry Borcheller (#54-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) into the pits, served penalty for extra man working on the car.

At 7:38 pm (2h 29m running), Sascha Maassen (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) leads in class by just 0.512 seconds over teammate Timo Bernhard (#7-P2 Porsche RS Spyder).

Jon Field (#37-P1 Creation/CA06H/Judd) "We were real loose in the slow corners. Car will be good when we figure out some issues with the tires."

At 7:39 pm (2h 30m running), Bill Auberlen (#21-GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM) spun and continued at turn 1.

At 7:40 pm (2h 32m running), Stefan Johansson (#9-P2 Acura/ARX-01a) into the pits serving stop and go penalty for driving through the pits while under caution and not stopping.

At 7:40 pm (2h 31m running), Chris Dyson (#20-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) straight off into the tires at turn 11, after Jorg Bergmeister (#45-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) hit Scott Maxwell (#22-GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM), driving him into the #20 car.

At 7:41 pm (2h 32m running), Tom Milner (#18-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) also stopped on course just past turn 11 with a broken right rear suspension.

At 7:40 pm (2h 32m running), Yellow Flag: pits are closed.

At 7:42 pm (2h 34m running), Scott Maxwell (#22-GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM) into the pits. No fuel, no driver change. touched up the body damage on the front end.

At 7:42 pm (2h 34m running), Yellow flag: pits are open.

At 7:51 pm (2h 43m running), Green Flag.

At 7:53 pm (2h 44m running), Rinaldo Capello (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) takes the white flag.

At 7:54 pm (2h 45m running), Rinaldo Capello (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) takes the overall win, followed by Emanuele Pirro (#2-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI).

At 7:54 pm (2h 45m running), Sascha Maassen (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) wins in LMP2 followed by Timo Bernhard (#7-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) less than 2 tenths behind.

At 7:55 pm (2h 46m running), Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) wins the GT1 class.

At 7:55 pm (2h 46m running), Mika Salo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) wins the GT2 class.

Milestones:

Rinaldo Capello (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) 23 wins (22 overall).

Allan McNish (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) 16 wins (15 overall).

Ryan Briscoe (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) first ALMS victory.

Sascha Maassen (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) 27 wins.

Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) 30 wins.

Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) 21 wins.

Mika Salo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) 5 wins (last 5 races he's started in a row).

Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) 4 wins (last 4 races he's started in a row).

Jorg Bergmeister (#45-GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) "We were lucky today. We lost a lap early so we were lucky to finish second. I'll take second, its good for points and good for the championship. I'll take second anytime."

Jaime Melo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) "The beginning was very difficult with the traffic and I kept trying to move forward but there was a P1 in front of me and blocked my move to the front. I tried to follow the #71 Porsche and then wait for the pit stop. But with the yellows we had to wait for the tires to make the car work. It would take two or three laps for the car to work right on the restarts. The team had a good strategy and Mike did a good job when he was in the car. Now we are looking forward to the rest of the season."

Mika Salo (#62-GT2 Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta) (how has the Ferrari developed) "We knew the Porsches would be better and we had to make improvements. So we tested a lot and improved over the winter, better mileage, more power and more grip. They did a really good job a the factory. This is a brand new car for this weekend, it has never run before. The Sebring car was not a new car so we had to try and get this one ready in only a week. It should be even better at Long Beach. The only problem is it takes two laps to get grip after the safety car because of pick up in the tires. We just got the car last week so didn't do as much to this car as we wanted, or practice the pit stops like we wanted." (did you know the 31 had to stop). "Yes, we thought we would catch them at the next stop. But we really got screwed by the Porsches, they do a really good job of holding us back. Our car looks like a 5-year-old rally car now, and its brand new. Even in the straight line they try to push us off."

Olivier Beretta (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) "The street race is hard because you have to be more careful and the walls are quite close. For the fans its nice because they get right close to the cars, but for us it makes it harder."

Oliver Gavin (#4-GT1 Corvette C6.R) "This course isn't too bumpy, its quite quick, easy to drive really. Others were just driving crazy today. We wanted to go fast but also take it easy. When you have another car pushing you, you don't daydream and have to concentrate, you want the cars behind you to push you. On the restarts everyone struggled with getting going again. It took a couple of laps to get the cars right, but after that it was all right. These cars are going to be going to Le Mans, and our bosses would prefer it that we don't bend the car, and it's in our minds to not take any stupid risks. We push ourselves, the three and four car, and we would like more competition, but we are trying to take it easy to keep the cars for Le Mans."

Ryan Briscoe (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) (about his first race and ALMS victory) "Its amazing, fantastic. I don't know how we did it today. After the problems at the start it didn't look good. There was debris under the car from another prototype that came for the contact by cars at the start. It ran the temperatures up. I kept thinking at any moment the engine was going to blow. And then we couldn't get the grip. There was a big piece of wing under the car blocking the air. Apart from that we had a fast car, got some luck and went on to win." (was traffic more than expected) "They were out of control at times, especially at the start. Far before start line I was seeing Allan and the Andretti car barreling down into turn 1, in an endurance race mind you, and I thought the start was out of control. "(about the contact with 26) "I had brand new tires after a restart and I had a lot of pickup. I had a really good run on the (26) car into turn 10 and he wasn't getting a good run at all, and I tried to not run into him, but I did. It was unintentional and I am sorry that it happened, but it happened the way it happened."

Sascha Maassen (#6-P2 Porsche RS Spyder) "At Sebring it was technical problems that slowed us down. At this race it was other problems. Two penalties and then pitting under green with other problems, and I didn't think we would finish where we did. I passed one of the Hondas and passed Timo and thought we were third or fourth. I asked where we were and they said on the radio ‘first' and I asked are you sure? For us, the season starts today." (about the competition this season) "The Honda is very strong with very good drivers and very good teams, we are competing against them. They are fighting like at the start where it was lucky there wasn't more that happened in the first turn. Now we have 8 or 9 cars in the LMP2 with really great racing and I prefer that, even if it means that sometimes we might crash."

Allan McNish (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) "It was (action packed). I knew the start was important especially with the pace of the Porsche RS Spyders. I knew the best opportunity was going into turn 1. He lifted and I was already committed, at that point I had nothing else to do because I was too close to the wall and there was a car behind me. I thought I had the penalty because of the contact, but I was told I crossed the line first. And if I did that's the rules. " (about the pace of the race) "We expected it to be a busy race. As far as I'm concerned, this is what racing is about and this is what racing that we have is about. People push hard and go off but generally they did a very good job of getting the cars off the track. I was quite surprised by the pace we had at the beginning of the race. The car was better than it had been and better than predicted. It was able to maintain a better pace probably because of the rubber on the track and how the track came in over the weekend. We thought about the race (for tires) and I was surprised at how slow the other cars went at the start."

Rinaldo Capello (#1-P1 Audi AG/R10/TDI) (about the finish) "I knew it would have been difficult to keep the lead and I was really scared to drive the car because there was no grip at all. Then after the second and third lap the grip came back in a little and I thought we might have a chance to get the first position. Then a yellow came again and I thought we had no chance to win. Then again on the restart and with three laps to go I thought I would do it, but it was the most difficult three laps I ever did in my life. I lost two times the car in corners that you normally take flat and the car slipped bad but I held on to it. "

Michelin reports that this was the 75th overall victory for Michelin and the 201st class win in the series. That is in a total of 78 ALMS events.

And for the ALMS Trackside Pit Notes crew, this was the 75th race for Lee Driggers, including every event held in North America since the first race in Sebring 1999 (just had to give myself a plug). Congrats Lee!!!- ed.

Next event: Long Beach in two weeks.