American Le Mans Series (ALMS) review of round 9: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. Story and images by Mike Veglia.
Gorgeous Indian summer weather greeted the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) for their fall visit to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. In addition to a full and competitive field of ALMS sportscars, the SCCA Pro SPEED World Challenge Touring and GT Championship, Star Mazda Series, Mazda Miatta Series, Super Karts, and a STRANA super truck demonstration filled the weekend with nonstop events for three days.
In the ALMS the ever-dominant Audi R8s filled the top three spots of the grid in LMP-900. The Cadillac team was fast and looked strong after their podium performance at Mosport. In the LMP-675 class the Dyson Racing team rolled out their new MG Lola, one of three in the field from various teams in this growing class of ALMS. In the GTS class the Prodrive Ferrari 550 joined the Olive Garden Ferrari, American Viper Racing's Vipers, and the dominant Corvette team. In GT the normally all Porsche field included a Ferrari 550 fielded by Risi Racing.
The Infineon Audi R8 of Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela took the race lead from pole and never looked back. The race win was not easy with constant pressure from the #38 Champion Audi and the #8 Cadillac, but with good clean drives the team of Pirro and Biela brought the Audi home with a 25.799 second margin of victory in the 2 hour and 45 minute timed event.
"It was a perfect race for me," said Pirro, who teamed with Biela to win last year's ALMS event at this track as well. "I thank God the setup (on the car) did not go away. I was confident of being in control of the situation, and I was not worried."
"For the last 30 minutes I was worried about everything, but finally made it," said Biela. "We had a good car that was well-balanced, but in the back of my mind the bad luck we have had in past races this year was there, so I was needing better luck."
In LMP-675 the KnightHawk team of Claudia Huertgen, Steve Knight, and Chad Block took the team's first LMP-675 class win of the season in a Lola EX257-MG over the newest Lola EX257-MG of Dyson Racing. "This is better than apple pie at mom's place," said Knight, co-owner of the team. "We've worked so hard with this MG Lola and now we have a win with it."
In GTS Tomas Enge and Peter Kox in the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello took the race win, breaking the factory Corvette team's 7-race GTS class-winning streak. The Ferrari was clearly the fastest GTS car in the field. Terry Borcheller and Franz Konrad finished second in a Saleen S7R, with the Corvette of Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim third in class.
In GT Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr won the GT class in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RS, notching their fifth win of the season. Second in GT was the Ferrari 360 Modena of Anthony Lazzaro and Ralf Kelleners, with Kevin Buckler and Brian Cunningham in the Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 RS coming home third.
Finishing position, drivers, type of car, laps completed, reason out if any, winning time and margin of victory:
1. Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 112, 2:46:08.915, 25.799 seconds.
2. Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 112.
3. Max Angelelli and JJ Lehto; Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 111.
4. Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 111.
5. David Brabham and Jan Magnussen; Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 110.
6. Bill Auberlen and Bryan Herta; Panoz LMP-1 (LMP 900), 110.
7. Chad Block, Steve Knight and Claudia Huertgen; Lola EX257-MG (LMP 675), 109.
8. James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger; Lola EX257-MG (LMP 675), 108.
9. Jon Field and Rick Sutherland; Lola EX257-MG (LMP 675), 106.
10. Clint Field and Mark Neuhaus; Lola B2K10-Judd (LMP 900), 105.
11. Ben Devlin and Andy Lally; Lola B2K40-Millington (LMP 675), 105.
12. Milka Duno and Christian Vann; Dome S101-Judd (LMP 900), 104.
13. Tomas Enge and Peter Kox; Ferrari 550 Maranello (GTS), 104.
14. Terry Borcheller and Franz Konrad; Saleen S7R (GTS), 104.
15. Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins; Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS), 102, out of fuel.
16. Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 100.
17. Chris McMurry, Bryan Willman and Jeff Bucknum; Pilbeam MP84-Nissan (LMP 675), 100.
18. Pierre Ehret and Brett Arsenault; Pilbeam MP84-Nissan (LMP 675), 99.
19. Anthony Lazzaro and Ralf Kelleners; Ferrari 360 Modena (GT), 99.
20. Kevin Buckler and Brian Cunningham; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 99.
21. Marino Franchitti and Marc Bunting; Dodge Viper GTS-R (GTS), 97.
22. Michael Schrom and Vic Rice; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 97.
23. Leo Hindery and Peter Baron; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 96.
24. Tony Burgess, Andrew Bagnall and Hugh Plumb; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 96.
25. Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 96.
26. Dave Standridge, Richard Sterakna and Lars Giersing; Porsche 911 GT3 R (GT), 96.
27. Justin Jackson and Mike Fitzgerald; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 76, engine.
28. Eric Bernard and Emmanuel Collard; Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 57, engine.
29. Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell; Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS), 41, fire.
30. Emanuele Naspetti and Mimmo Schiattarella; Ferrari 550 Maranello (GTS), 22, suspension.
31. Tom Weickardt and Jeff Altenburg; Dodge Viper GTS-R (GTS), 10, suspension.
32. Dennis Spencer, Rich Grupp and Ryan Hampton; Lola B2K42-Mazda (LMP 675), 9, engine.
In SPEED World Challenge Touring some 50 cars arrived to qualify making for a huge field filled with talented drivers and teams, many with factory support. Series rookie Paul Lambert was second fast in the first session in his Sonnen Audi-Stasis Engineering Audi A4 Quattro. In each session following Paul was atop the time sheets, including pole on the (standing) starting grid. In the race Paul Lambert used his all-wheel drive quattro "advantage" to launch off the grid on the slightly uphill standing start to rocket into the lead before the first turn. Two-time defending series champion Pierre Kleinubing followed a close second in his Realtime Racing Acura Integra. Under braking, a weight advantage in the Acura was clear, but off the corners nothing could touch the Audi quattro. Around half distance an incident brought out a full-course caution. On the rolling restart Paul did everything possible to make that Audi A4 quattro as wide as he could to keep the number 1 Acura at bay. Soon after the restart the third place Mazda of Bonaccorsi started closing on the second place Acura of Kleinubing, thus taking some of the heat off Lambert. From there it was just a matter of running the rest of the race mistake free and bringing the Audi home for first time wins in the SPEED World Challenge Touring series for both Paul Lambert as a driver and for Audi as a constructor. In the end the result was Paul Lambert first in the Sonnen-Stevens Creek Audi A4, Pierre Kleinubing in second and Peter Cunningham in third (both in Realtime Racing Acura Integras).
In SPEED World Challenge GT the Champion Audi S4 of defending series champion Michael Galati used his quattro "advantage" to launch off the standing start from third on the grid to take the lead going into the first turn. Galati held the lead for several laps before being tapped from behind by Peter Cunningham in the Realtime Racing Acura NSX, knocking Galati back several spots and allowing the Porsche or Randy Pobst to slide past into the race lead. The running order remained Pobst in a Porsche, Cunningham in the Acura, and rounding out the podium positions was Justin Marks in a Porsche 911. Michael Galati came home in in fourth to salvage some points towards defending his driver's title.
Other support events included Star Mazda, Mazda Miata Pro Series, and Superkart races rounding out an action packed and exciting weekend at one of North America's premier road racing circuits.
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