12 Hours in at Le Mans
Posted on 06.14.2008
in Series News • ALMS
photo by Regis Lefebure At the halfway of the 76th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Risi Competizione continued to lead in GT2 with its Ferrari F430 GT clicking off lap after lap in darkness at La Sarthe. Gianmaria Bruni was in the midst of his second stint with a lap in hand over Rob Bell in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari.
The Risi entry led the American Le Mans Series contingent through 12 hours of the world’s most famous race. The defending Series GT2 champion has had dismal luck in the first half of the season but a victory at Le Mans would do a lot to erase those memories.
“It was getting a bit hard in the last stint, when it was completely dark but otherwise the car is going very well and is very well balanced,” said Jaime Melo, who with Bruni and Mika Salo had advanced The Michelin tires have been very consistent for the triple stint and so far, so good. In the traffic, it’s quite hard to get through – especially the slower prototypes – but everything is going okay. I hope we can finish the race in the same position as now.”
Tight fights for the lead in all classes were the norm. In GT1, the battle between Aston Martin Racing and Corvette Racing was living up to expectations…again. David Brabham, who drives for Patrón Highcroft Racing and Acura in the American Le Mans Series, led in the No. 009 works Aston Martin DBR9 by just 30 seconds over class pole-winner Jan Magnussen in the factory Corvette C6.R that he shares with Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows.
The second Aston Martin was third with Karl Wendlinger at the wheel and also on the lead lap. Corvette Racing’s other entry was a lap down with Olivier Beretta at the wheel, the team having to replace the alternator early in the evening.
Out front, Peugeot and Audi kept up their chase with former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve leading in the No. 7 Peugeot 908 over Audi’s Dindo Capello, driving the No. 2 Audi R10 TDI that he is sharing with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen. The Audis cannot keep up with the Peugeots on speed but they are winning the race in the pits. The No. 2 car made 16 stops in the race’s first half, three less than the leading Peugeot and was behind by less than three minutes.
Audis also were running fourth and fifth.
Also in P1, the Autocon Motorsports Creation-Judd ran 15th in class and 36th overall.
In LMP2, Penske Racing’s Sascha Maassen ran second in the Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder, only 2:30 behind the Porsche from Van Merksteijn Motorsport. The RS Spyder has never raced in a 24-hour race but both were showing well.
On the downside, the second Risi Ferrari crashed out in the second hour when Tracy Krohn went off hard in the Porsche Curves. The rear suspension was terminally damaged.
The Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, the pre-race favorite in GT2, had a disastrous opening when Seth Neiman was hit by American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long as both cars went into the gravel. The Lizard entry suffered significant damage including severe bodywork damage on all sides, a broken rear wheel (and the other three badly damaged), two broken radiators and right rear suspension damage.
The Lizard crew repaired the car in 80 minutes but brought the car back in to realign the frame. It was 34 laps down at the 12-hour mark.
The Team Cytosport/Charouz Racing Lola-Judd also retired prior to the halfway point with the entry of Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Jan Lammers going down to a broken engine valve.
Share this Article:
del.icio.us | Digg | Google | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Technorati
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend