Houston ALMS <<SPOILER>>

Go P1 interlopers. Go Ferrari. Beware the evil Porsches.

 

If the race goes like the qualifying, it's going to be a good one. David took pole in last moments of race by .006 over Allan and Dumas in third was .046 off Brabham. The Penske Porsche apparently was pushing it to the limit as he almost collected the wall a couple times. It seemed that each time Mika went out he was faster than the last time. Muller in the PWL 430 was second - that ought to be a great race between the two 430's as both have fantastic Ferrari drivers. Flying Lizards were third and fourth.... Risi-Krohn 430 was down at the bottom. The number #61 did well in Long Beach as Anthony was driving for them.

I was glad to hear Hindy say that Tomas was in Houston and he hopes to be back for Salt Lake City next month - also mentioned that Tomas was not replaced by ProDrive in 007 for Le Mans. Sure hope this all works out for him.

I also liked Hindy's comments about the car-park circuit and the way the Allan was driving the R10 around it . . considering the R10 is a 200 mph car made for the French roads and not the car-park racing - must have been a great sight.

Should be a great day tomorrow and a fantastic race in the early evening. Won't be taking the laptop along - only my scanner to listen in on the favorites.

We're headed to Houston very early in the morning for another great ALMS race.

GO AUDI #1 and RISI #62

Carol

 

Another helluva good race after 2 hours 45 minutes, the top three separated by seconds and if Dindo hadn't had the cut tire, they most likely would have had the overall win. Mika and Jaime did another fantastic job for Risi. The Krohn car had several problems, including needing a new rear deck, rear wing. I believe the next race the car goes back to red and hopefully back in the thick of things. It was great to see Tomas Enge in the pits - got a thumbs up from him and a big smile - he's hoping to be driving at SLC in a few weeks. The PWL 430 didn't do as well as I expected. I also saw Liz in her CBS suit, had a short chat and hug - she'll be doing all the CBS commentaries. The highlight of race for me was being tossed his ALMS Podium Champion hat and being sprayed with champagne. . .thanks Allan.

Great race again!!

Carol

 

Pics?

 

Here are some of my favorites I took.
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A fun race. I doubt Audi will stand for being shown up by P2 much more. The question is what will happen. Guesses?

And do the RSRs have what it takes to start challenging the F430s? It is looking like Salo owns them so far and that the close finish at Sebring was a fluke brought on by special circumstances. Are the GT3s just outclasses this year, or is Salo just that much of a better driver? The RSRs do seem to get on the podium each time for second anyway.

 

Salo started pulling away pretty quick at the beginning of the race, but #61 lost a spot or two to the Porsches, so I'd say it's a bit more of the drver rather than the equipment.

 

Nice pics.

Thanks.

I am clueless as to the results. Who won what?

 

Excellent photos, I've got to try better to make it next year.

 

RS Spyder 1st overall
Acura P2 next
Audi P1
(all finished within 1.3 seconds of each other)

Vettes swept GT1 - lol

Salo finished first in GT2 (Ferrari)
then two GT3 RSRs in second and third. The second place GT2 car was roughly 6 seconds behind Salo.

Results:
http://www.imsaracing.net/2003/lt/ltc.html

 

Always a very close race in that class

 

GT1 in ALMS right now is a joke. Hopefully the Aston will be back at Petit for some honest competition.

Carol