Backstretch Motorsports

For all the planning, preparations and sometimes panic with getting cars and equipment ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not much is said about the return trip back to the States for American Le Mans Series teams. This year the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park is four weeks after Le Mans, which is a contrast to the two-week turnaround needed to ship cargo to Europe for the Le Mans Test Day following the Utah Grand Prix.

Corvette Racing has become a bit of an expert, having crossed the Atlantic each year since 2000 and winning its class five times in that span. Gary Pratt, co-founder of Pratt & Miller which builds, supplies and supports the factory Corvettes for General Motors, takes us through the post-Le Mans process.

[read more…]

Dirk Werner: “There is a very high level of competition here - there are great drivers and the cars are a lot of fun to drive.”

The age-old axiom of first finishing before you can finish first has never sounded truer in the ears of Farnbacher Loles Racing. Performance hasn’t been an issue in the first four rounds of the American Le Mans Series season. Results on the other hand have been a bit hard to come by for the team in the midst of its first full season of Series competition.

[read more…]

It’s hard to remember a time when an Audi victory in the American Le Mans Series was considered a surprise. But that’s just what happened on Saturday though as Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr scored an unlikely victory in the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach as the two Audi R10 TDIs finished 1-2.

Werner crossed the finish line 1.964 seconds ahead of Emanuele Pirro in the sister Audi as the German manufacturer finished 1-2 overall in an American Le Mans Series race for the first time since St. Petersburg in 2007, also a street circuit.

[read more…]

Back at the track where he and Romain Dumas started their run to the American Le Mans Series LMP2 championship a year ago, Timo Bernhard took pole position for Porsche and Penske Racing at the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on Friday. The German Porsche factory pilot posted a lap of 1:11.330 (99.324 mph) in a competitive and record-breaking day in southern California.

Bernhard’s lap around 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit was good enough for a 0.094-second gap over Luis Diaz in Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Acura ARX-01b. Bernhard, who again will team with Dumas, also broke Dario Franchitti’s track record of 1:11.838 set last season in Andretti Green Racing’s Acura.

[read more…]

In the landscape of American motorsports, it doesn’t get much more glamorous than the Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend. After a sensational debut in 2007, the American Le Mans Series returns again this weekend for the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, Round 3 of the 2008 season. In addition to title sponsorship of Saturday’s race, Patrón also is the primary sponsor of the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b, which David Brabham and Scott Sharp will pilot in search of the team’s first LMP2 victory. In preparation for the race, they discussed the challenges of the weekend.

[read more…]

Marco Werner’s affinity for street circuits shone again Friday. The Audi factory driver captured the overall pole position for Saturday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio with a record run, besting Penske Racing’s Romain Dumas as Audi looked to regain its winning ways in the American Le Mans Series.

Werner’s best lap was a 1:02.825 (103.144 mph) around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit on the bayfront of St. Petersburg. His time also beat Dumas’ overall pole-winning time from 2007 by 0.214 seconds in the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI he will share with Lucas Luhr.

And it could have been even better. Werner was on pace to improve his time on the next lap before running too hard into Turn 8 and spinning the car. The R10 did stop before impacting the tire barrier so there was no damage.

[read more…]

The American Le Mans Series returns to the streets of St. Petersburg this weekend for the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio with new teams, new drivers, new cars and even new fuel throughout its GT classes. For one, there is Corvette Racing’s debut race with cellulosic E85 to think about. Then there are a score of new entries in GT2 to consider: an Aston Martin DBRS9, Ford GT, Corvette C6, Dodge Viper Competition Coupe and even a new version of Porsche’s 911 GT3 RSR. It should add up to a fantastic weekend, judging by commentary from Series drivers.

[read more…]

The raw numbers from Sebring don’t paint a pretty picture for Bell Motorsports: their GT1 Aston Martin DBR9 piloted by Terry Borcheller, Chapman Ducote and Antonio Garcia finished 29 laps down on the class-winning Corvette of Johnny O’Connell, Ron Fellows and Jan Magnussen … and 21 laps in arrears of the sister Corvette of Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Max Papis even though the latter car lost time replacing a broken halfshaft.

Speed? Well the two Corvettes posted fastest laps of 1:57.087 and 1:57.802, respectively while the best Borcheller could manage in the DBR9 was a 1:59.802 - a two-second differential that more or less echoed the times set in practice.

[read more…]

Audi Takes LMP1 Class Win; O’Connell,Corvette Easily Win GT1
Flying Lizards Break Through with 1-2 GT2 Finish

If the grueling Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is an indicator, the 2008 ALMS campaign will be another record book season for Penske Racing Porsce RS Spyders. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard drove to an historic overall win at the 56th running of the American endurance classic.

Proving the computer simulations that show the LMP2 class to have a distinct advantage over their LMP1 counterparts, the lighter prototypes stole the thunder from the higher horsepower , heavier machines — the first overall win at Sebring by an LMP2 car that was further punctuated by four P2 lead-lap finishers, a race record. Dumas took the checkered flag by 12.979 seconds over Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b he shared with Luis Diaz. The P2 class swept the overall podium with Dyson Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder of Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Andy Lally placing third.

[read more…]

Allan McNish (above) gave Audi pole position for Saturday’s 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida after the grid for the season-opening race for the American Le Mans Series was set by practice times. Because the prototype field had less than 10 minutes of green-flag qualifying time, the results from the session were disallowed.

As a result, McNish’s Audi R10 TDI will start on the inside front row based on his time of 1:43.195 (129.076 mph) in Thursday morning’s official practice session. He will start alongside the Peugeot 908 of Pedro Lamy, Nic Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin, which posted the second quickest time of the week at 1:44.27 (127.744 mph). Like the Audi, the Peugeot set its best time Thursday morning.

[read more…]