ALMS: Lime Rock

[dougiemeats]

Team Points Standings going into this race:

P1
1. Audi Sport North America 66
2. Dyson Racing -12
3. Autocon Motorsports -53

P2
1. Intersport Racing 59
2. Penske Motorsports -4
3. B-K Motorsports -19

GT1
1. Corvette Racing 66
2. Aston Martin Racing -18
3. Konrad Motorsports -52

GT2
1. Flying Lizard Motorsports 58
2. Multimatic Motorsports (Team Panoz) -10
3. Risi Competizione -20
4. Alex Job Racing -26
5. Petersen/White Lightning -34
6. BMW Team PTG -48

 

[DLRgian]

Yes, m.piedgros, it is mostly the fact that they show a 2:45 race in 2 hours. Because of some post-race coverage, that means we only see 1:45 of the actual race. It ruins the "flow" of the coverage, and as you said, it doesn't feel right. This is especially evident in the beginning of the coverage when they show the start and have to skip forward to catch up to real time.

DLRgian is also correct. Some of it is the commentating. Maybe it's not necessarily the commentators themselves, but the way they deliver it. It seems that the aimed audience is a "new viewer" to the American Le Mans Series. They tend to explain the obvious things too much (i.e. "4 classes racing at the same time!"). Speed's coverage seems aimed more at the "informed" audience and they get straight to the point.

Anyone else feel this way?

Ya I feel the same way, it's not their fault they just speak the obvious. Also I do not like the 2hr instead of 2hr 45min coverage. That sometimes turns me off of it.

 

[dougiemeats]

Qualifying: Both Porsches in the Front Row; #7 Shatters LMP2 Track Record

P1 - #16 Dyson Lola 46.306
P2 - #7 Penske Porsche 45.588 - Pole Position
GT1 - 007 Aston Martin 50.272
GT2 - #61 Risi Competizione Ferrari 53.322

As long as the Porsche RS Spyders do not encounter any mechanical problems or become involved in a racing incident, they will probably win this one. They are easily faster than the competition in their class, as well as the fastest car in the class above them. I don't think the two Audi R8 drivers, Capello and McNish, have ever raced at Lime Rock Park before.

In GT1, looks like the same story for Aston Martin and Corvette. Aston Martin is the fastest in qualifying, yet Corvette will win the race. However, with even more "adjustments" going against the C6.Rs, the Aston Martin might pull it off. The Corvettes are now about 200 pounds heavier and have 10 liters smaller fuel capacity than the Aston Martin.

What's it gonna take to finally win a race, Aston Martin?

On a side note, it seems like Aston Martin can't stay on-course during practice/qualifying. Last round at Mid-Ohio, one of the DBR9s "took flight" (see the Mid-Ohio thread for pic). This time, the 009 Aston Martin drove off-course to avoid a car and ended up in water. Damage was minor, the car was towed back, mud and water were removed, and the car was able to qualify.

*Since this race is tape-delayed here in the U.S., I won't be visiting this thread until after the race on Sunday.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The Corvettes are now about 200 pounds heavier and have 10 liters smaller fuel capacity than the Aston Martin.

What's it gonna take to finally win a race, Aston Martin?

Yeah, this is getting ridiculous. But I guess they have to do it, in order for there to be some competition in the GT1 class.

 

[RACECAR]

Now Pics of the pole sitters:
P1:No.16 Dyson Racing Lola B06/10

P2:No.7 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder

GT1:No.007 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9

GT2:No.61 Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT

 

[Brett]

Looking forward to watching the race. Don't really have any predictions. I just need to find out what time the race is on at.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Looking forward to watching the race. Don't really have any predictions. I just need to find out what time the race is on at.

Should be in 1 hour and 39 minutes

 

[Brett]

Found the TV Broadcast time on the first post of the thread. Just noticed it right before your post.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Oh crap, it's tomorrow. I overlooked that part, but I can wait.

 

[RACECAR]

my Predictions:
P1: The Dyson cars will run into trouble(electrical or terminal) allowing the R8 to sneak by.
P2: The Penske Porsches will start off good, but something will claim them.
GT1: The Astons will once again fall victim to the vettes, but it will be the #3 this time.
GT2: Porsche Won't stand a chance against Ferrari, BMW, or Panoz.

feel free to commit if you like.

and VashTheStampede, funny coincedence you show up here because I was just watching my Trigun DVDs today.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It would've been nice if the Corvette got one more lap.

 

[dougiemeats]

How exciting was it to see the Autocon Motorsports Lola in the overall lead for a little while? That was great. Congrats to Audi, that's how you go out on top.

An exciting finish for the GT1 class as well. Despite carrying less fuel and being 200 pounds heavier, the #3 Corvette really took it to the Aston Martins. If the 007 didn't hold up O'Connell for so long, it would have taken the GT1 win from the 009. It was a good race between the #3 Corvette and the 007 and 009 Aston Martins throughout the whole race. I'm still against all of the competition adjustments, but it was entertaining.

Oh and did they say that the Corvettes are facing more "adjustments" for the next round!? 👎

As for John's "Fact or Fiction," I got numbers 1-3 right. BMW was particularly impressive. I did not expect a podium from them. Congrats to Petersen/White Lightning and their new car, what a rebound from Le Mans.

Next: Full results and Team Points Standings

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I'm still against all of the competition adjustments, but it was entertaining.

Oh and did they say that the Corvettes are facing more "adjustments" for the next round!? 👎

I think they just meant they are making adjustments to make the car faster, because of all the restrictions. This race proved that there are already enough restrictions.

Did the Viper get restricted when it set its 12 round winning streak?

 

[scoobyonline200]

I think they just meant they are making adjustments to make the car faster, because of all the restrictions. This race proved that there are already enough restrictions.

Did the Viper get restricted when it set its 12 round winning streak?

why would they do more adjustments when they came 2nd to the Aston Martin???? very tight finish by the way....

 

[Brett]

I missed the first hour of the race, I forgot it was on.

It really shows how well Pratt and Miller have done with the C6R and its ability to still maintain pace even with all of the restrictions placed on the car. Having said that, hopefully the Aston Martins will stick around for the rest of the ALMS season. Having them in the series will make for great racing.

 

[dougiemeats]

Results:

P1
1. McNish/Capello - Audi Sport North America - Overall Winner
2. McMurry/Lewis - Autocon Motorsports Roll on, Autocon! 👍
3. Weaver/Leitzinger - Dyson Racing
4. Dayton/Wallace - Highcroft Racing
5. Dyson/Smith - Dyson Racing

P2
1. Bernhard/Dumas - Penske Racing
2. Maassen/Luhr - Penske Racing
3. C.Field/Halliday/J.Field - Intersport Racing
4. van der Steur/Devlin - van der Steur Racing
5. Bach/Cosmo - B-K Motorsports

GT1
1. Lamy/Sarrazin - Aston Martin Racing
2. Fellows/O'Connell - Corvette Racing
3. Enge/Turner - Aston Martin Racing
4. Gavin/Beretta - Corvette Racing

GT2
1. Bergmeister/Petersen/Long - Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing
2. van Overbeek/Henzler - Flying Lizard Motorsports
3. Auberlen/Hand - BMW Team PTG
4. Marks/Sellers - BMW Team PTG
5. Gene/Dominguez - Risi Competizione
6. Maxwell/Brabham - Multimatic Motorsports/Team Panoz
7. Jeannette/Milner - Multimatic Motorsports/Team Panoz
8. Pechnik/Neiman - Flying Lizard Motorsports
9. Rockenfeller/Graf - Alex Job Racing
10. Kelleners/Vilander - Risi Competizione

ROAD_DOGG33J, thanks for clearing that up. I assumed that IMSA was going to add more weight or whatever else they can think of to slow the C6.Rs down. I can't really remember if the Vipers were rewarded with some weight or some restrictions during their streak.

Pirelli and Aston Martin really need to address the issue with their tires. Even with their weight advantage, they almost gave the GT1 win to the Corvettes because it seemed like the Pirellis were once again going away in the end. I'm not against the wide diversity of tire makes in the series, but I think Aston Martin needs to make a "competition adjustment" of their own and switch back to Michelin tires.

Like I said before, the race was quite entertaining. I know this was considered a sprint race, but the ALMS is still endurance-type racing. Seeing the Aston Martin win by 0.033s was very exciting.

As for GT2, Risi Competizione, even with two cars, still has no luck. They're always fast (usually the fastest) going into the race, but there are always problems during the race. Panoz didn't perform as well as I was expecting, but with a very competitive class like GT2, they'll have some bad races. Also, what's going on with Alex Job Racing?

One last thing; Did anyone else feel like they missed out on a lot of things during the race? I mean, with all of the off-track interviews, condensed coverage, and never-ending promoting of CBS shows during the race, it seems like I didn't see much of the race at all. It's probably just me. I can't wait until the series coverage returns to Speed.

 

[Sage]

Boy, that was a fun race to watch – during the last few corners for the battle for GT1, I stood right in front of the TV and had my fists clenched.

Amazing driving in all categories today. 👍 And a toast to Audi – I may hate what they’re doing to their production cars, but they really know what they’re doing with their racecars.

 

[Jake]

I spent the day at lime rock and took some decent photos. What a great race. Here is a photo with Roger Penske.

 

[dougiemeats]

Just for fun...

Battle of the ex-Dyson Lolas; tied after this race

Highcroft - 1 (Sebring 29th place finish vs. Autocon's 31st place)
Autocon - 1 (Lime Rock 14th place finish vs. Highcroft's 20th place)

 

[JohnBM01]

=
Rusty Wallace spoiled the race winner for me as I was watching the Kansas Lottery Indy 300. He talked about Penske domination... which sadly featured the ALMS win at Lime Rock. So uh... THANKS FOR SPOILING THE RACE, PLAYER! I missed the race because I was out with my parents. I was watching the England/Portugal World Cup game at Wal-Mart. So I wasn't near a TV to see the race (granted it was on Saturday with coverage).


Now let's see the results of my FACT OR FICTION deal for Lime Rock.


1. The aging Audi R8 will win its final race and have a storybook ending to its life at Lime Rock.
RESULT: FACT - This car is just too damn good whether you like it or not. Great victory for them. No NASCAR-style drama (what they consider drama anyways), not a lot of b:censored:, they were Play Hard or Go Home. They were also money in Connecticut.

2. Mazda will be on the podium (3rd or better) in LMP2.
RESULT: FICTION - The Mazda boys didn't have a good run since they suffered a bad accident. They finished dead last- 24th out of 24. Hmm... dead last... reminds me of my senior rankings in high school graduation.

3. At least one Penske Porsche RS Spyder will win in LMP2.
RESULT: FACT - It was a 1-2 sweep and a well done job by the Penske boys.

4. The Chevy Corvette C6-R's may have won Le Mans, but they have another thing coming because Aston Martin will win at Lime Rock over the 'Vettes!
RESULT: FACT - Aston Martin can win races, just that they haven't been as lucky at Le Mans. Good for Aston Martin to get it done at Lime Rock. Prodrive is a solid bunch in almost any motorsport they participate in (just talk about it in my "Prodrive" thread in this forum). Aston Martin has to be able to lead races and dominate races if they want to surpass the Corvettes as being a wonderful GT1 race car.

5. Panoz won in LMP2 even though it wasn't the ALMS Panoz team. But the ALMS Panoz team will win at Lime Rock in GT2 and carry the good fortunes of the Le Mans 2006 efforts.
RESULT: FICTION They didn't win. Both Panoz finished, but not on top.

6. BMW will have a successful return to the ALMS. In fact, expect to see them on the podium in GT2.
RESULT: FACT - The Auberlen/Hand tandem placed 3rd in GT2. I believe Auberlen has been racing BMWs for some time. I think he even piloted the last successful German prototype race car, the BMW V12 LMR which won Le Mans in 1999 over the Toyota GT-One. Good job by Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, though I think they would have liked to go two positions better.

7. After a dismal Le Mans effort, Petersen White Lightning will win this race just to simply wipe away the woes of Le Mans 2006.
RESULT: FACT - If this race was revenge from Le Mans, you damn right they got revenge! Bergmeister/Petersen/Long were clutch in getting it done in GT2. I'd likely say that this was a victory they wished they had at Le Mans against the world's best.

8. Both Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GTs (regardless of their final classification) will finish.
RESULT: FICTION - One finished, but not both of them. Ferrari of Houston will have to keep working hard to knock off the reliable Porsches. The F430GT is a beautiful machine replacing the also beautiful 360 Modena. What the 360 Modena lacked the F430 doesn't, which is power. They should be able to keep the pressute going. This is unless the team just has some shortcomings and late-race drama.


I hope to see the next race soon. The next race will be the Utah Grand Prix. I hear Speed World Challenge will race on the same weekend with the ALMS in Toole, UT, USA. Larry Miller, the track owner and maker(?) built a world-class track just outside of the Bonneville Salt Flats. I said it was an FIA-style race course with the garages close-by in the pits (much to the disapproval of one Layla's Keeper when I said it was like a FIA-style course). I've seen AMA Superbikes race the external course, but I have yet to see the full course. Now keep in mind, this is the new longest road course in America surpassing Road America. This track is going to be a real torture test for all the cars on course. The race will likely be in two weeks time.

 

[TheCracker]

I watched the 'Speed' coverage of Lime Rock ALMS on Motors TV yesterday. They did a good job of keeping you abreast of the positions, even on such a short track with so many different classes of cars, so 👍 to Speed.

It was good to see the R8 bow out in style, even though i was wanting the Porsche LMP2's to win. I guess the R10 will be just as dominent as the R8 has been.

Lime Rock seems to be a crazy, fast rollercoaster of a track - it looks great fun!

 

[RACECAR]

How exciting was it to see the Autocon Motorsports Lola in the overall lead for a little while? That was great. Congrats to Audi, that's how you go out on top.

An exciting finish for the GT1 class as well. Despite carrying less fuel and being 200 pounds heavier, the #3 Corvette really took it to the Aston Martins. If the 007 didn't hold up O'Connell for so long, it would have taken the GT1 win from the 009. It was a good race between the #3 Corvette and the 007 and 009 Aston Martins throughout the whole race. I'm still against all of the competition adjustments, but it was entertaining.

Oh and did they say that the Corvettes are facing more "adjustments" for the next round!? 👎

As for John's "Fact or Fiction," I got numbers 1-3 right. BMW was particularly impressive. I did not expect a podium from them. Congrats to Petersen/White Lightning and their new car, what a rebound from Le Mans.

Next: Full results and Team Points Standings

How exciting was it to see the Autocon Motorsports in the overall lead for a Little while?thats was some great driving by Mcmurray there. for that moment when it was blocking the R8, it was like Dyson Vs. Champion all over again.
Congrats to Petersen/White Lightning and their new car, what a rebound from Le Mans.funny thing about this is Jorg Bergmeister won for both teams in both series that did bad at Le Mans. imagine that paycheck he'll be getting sometime soon.

 

[CardcaptorYoshi]

re:dougiemeats and CBS nitpick: Don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but we also miss a lot of the race due to the fact that CBS simply doesn't show it! The race length was something like 2 hours, 45 minutes timed, I think. Yet the timeslot for the race on TV was only 2 hours long! So obviously we're looking at some really cheesy time compressing here. It happens between commerical breaks - once I think they cut from 20 minutes left to 5. Come on! ><

 

[dougiemeats]

...it was like Dyson Vs. Champion all over again.

I know what you mean. The two old friends (or foes?) are wearing different colors, but they're still fighting each other.

CardcaptorYoshi, good thing they "fast-forwarded" in small increments. I can remember some broadcasts where they would just skip a whole 20 mins. or so.

 

[PitwrkzZ1]

I also attended the race. I was down in Big Bend during the last few laps of the GT1 battle
The Vette would have gotten him if the other aston wasn't blocking for 20 laps Damn team orders...
Before the race, me and my friend were walking past the Dyson garage and one of the guys asked us if we wanted to see the car I took some good close up pics. The guy was really nice too. We also got out on the grid before the race. I was a few feet away from Oliver Gavin, Ron Fellows and Dindo Capello, along with a few others. They had an R8 on display in the padock and I hopped in when noone was looking Good times and a great race.

 

[dougiemeats]

PitwrkzZ1, is there any chance you could post the pics? I'm a Dyson fan myself, and I would love to see the shots of the Dyson car/garage.

jake73, good pics 👍 I especially like the shot of the 2 BMWs.

 

[scoobyonline200]

I think the battle between the Aston Martin and the Corvette was awesome!!! they battled all the way to the finish, and for sure I thought the Corvette was going to take the Aston Martin! I was like the whole time.

 

[m.piedgros]

~~ Drama's just fine until you're behind the wheel. ~~

m.piedgros

 

[red7]

Yeah also attended. A great race especially in gt1. Spen the last 15 - 20 minutes at the end of the front straight on the outside of the track over looking big bend. great scrap between aston and vette. could just barely start to see the rotors on the #3 vette glowing at that point.
My lord do those v12 astons scream though

 

[dougiemeats]

While everyone was talking about the R8s last race, van der Steur will also not race their current car again (except in Historics). The good news is, that they are preparing a Radical SR9 for competition later on this season, which will be much more competitive than the Lola.