And the P2 cars are 1, 2, 3 with the AGR Acura on pole. Maybe the first legitimate win for a P2 car against the Audis. Risi put the Ferrari on pole in GT2.
Thanks for the update. This could get interesting...rather than the 'parade laps' some people promote as 'racing'. CH
The Porsche RS Sypders that went 1-2 overall at Mid-Ohio last year beat 20 other cars including one Audi R8, three other LMP1 cars, and three LMP2 cars. Dyson Racing's Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver beat 34 other cars at the 2003 race at Infineon in their # 16 Lola EX257/AER. They beat two Audi R8s, five other P900 (LMP1) cars, and three other P675 (LMP2) cars. The P900 and P675 refers to kilograms. The Audi R8s had 30 more hp in 2003 than they did in 2005 (520 vs. 550). They likely had more torque in 2003 than in 2005. The one Audi R8 that raced in 2006 had 35 more kilograms (around 77 pounds) than in 2005 (935 in 2006 vs. 900 in 2005). The winning Lola EX257 weighed several hundred pounds less than the 2003 R8, but had around 100 less hp (450 vs 550). They weighed around 1,520 pounds. The RS Spyder that won at Mid-Ohio weighs around 1,650 pounds, but has 480 hp, support from Porshce (not a factory team, but a factory supported team so they get no money for finishing like privateer teams) and the fact that Penske runs it.
The R8 that the Spyders beat at Mid-Ohio were drug off the floor at Champion Audi for 2 or 3 races while the R10 was sent back to Germany after winning Sebring to prepare for LeMans. I also understand the P2 cars advantage on short, tight street courses. There was some talk of altering the Spyders to P1 form next year. Where have you been. Pic is Mid-Ohio 2006. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The RS Spyders should be in P1, but then it would be weird with Porsche owning around 30 % of VW... 1998 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner thinks Porsche should be in P1: http://www.the-paddock.net/component/option,com_magazine/func,show_article/id,791/Itemid,1/
Interesing note, that P1 is supposed to be for factory teams and P2 for privateers. But I hardly think Porsche is the only near-factory presence in P2 with Acura very obviously there in strength. How does one distinguish between a factory team and a near-factory team?
I was out at Long Beach on Friday and even without the coveted media credential was able to snap some good shots. The ALMS post (with a gallery) went up here: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/15/spoiler-alert-alms-results-and-gallery-from-americas-monaco/ and the rest of the pics are here: http://www.frank4cars.fotki.com/other_automotive_events/races/long-beach-grand-pr-1/ I was shooting from about 9-5. 2200 pics taken, about 1,000 posted, with 300 in the highlight gallery and about 100 used for articles. I was supposed to go back Saturday or Sunday to get actual racing shots and more ground-level photos, but the plans changed.
Great pictures Frank, thanks! They should retire the trophy for that Corvette gang, they are unstoppable. CH
You do realize they raced unopposed in GT1, right? And have been all year so far. Where are the Astons and the 550's? The lonely vettes need some company.
if they can get some entrants in gt-1 on a regular basis, this would be like the camel gt of the bishop days. this is a good series that needs a few more warm bodies in gt-1 to make it great!
+1 ALMS is a great series that i enjoy watching and have become quite a follower of but more gt-1 cars are needed
Or, they should take the air inlet restrictors off the engine and let them run wide open at Road America. It would be nice to see what the LS7.R could do unrestricted. P2 cars might not be too happy about that.
not such a good race for the R10's - hoping for better this Saturday in Houston Hoping for another GT1 win for Guiseppe and the guys in #62. Carol
I was at the race too. I found it virtually impossible to find out who was in the lead most of the time. As you know they all race at the same time. Even sitting in front of the big screen, the results(for everyone) crawl across the top of the screen so that it's very difficult to see who the leaders are. They need to make it easy and break it out into categories. IMO I think they try to jumble it all together so that it's not as obvious that there are too few cars. The two Vettes for example, from the same team, are the only ones racing in their category. What's up with that?
Lights in front of the rear tire indicate position in class. 3 on = 3rd, 1 on = 1st in class. Color of the lights indicate class, P1, P2 etc. I never studied which color is which class because I knew the cars. Carol knows.
I may get killed for saying this, but what's up with Speed wasting time letting us know the fuel type scrolling across the screen. I'm sorry, but I really could care less. Seems like a very political move to me. Since this and FIA GT are my favorite racing this kind of thing drives me nuts.
OK, thanks. That was the other thing, we had no clue what the lights meant. This series has potential but I think some education and promotion is in order to gain more spectators. It's got the name going for it so they should tap into that some more if possible and maybe simplify things while they're at it.
