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Sebring

Exxon Superflo

17/03/2001

Audi, New Challengers and Tragedy

Put Their Stamp On the 49th Running

Kissimmee, Florida--There has been a day--ok, much of it was spent sleeping--to reflect on the 49th 12 Hours at Sebring. Was it the best race ever? Certainly not. Was it an entertaining race? Absolutely. Was it an event fitting of the world's premier sports car series, and of North America's premier sports car race? Without a doubt.

It occurs to me that regardless of the sport, not every race, game or match is a great one. In fact few will really stand such a test, particularly over time. U.S. football Superbowls are often mundane affairs. So are World Cup matches. World Series are over in four game sweeps. The Bulls win over 70 games in an 82 game NBA schedule and dominate the sport for years. It is not the death of the league. In fact, just looking at history, one might conclude that nothing helps a sport more than dominance. Dominance is exactly what we have in the prototype class of sports car racing, at least in the major league, the American Le Mans Series.

Audi Sport North America took another step yesterday toward establishing its R8 among the greats. Is it eleven in a row? Twelve of 13? We are not counting the two outings by the R8R in 2000.

Plunk the two R8 customer cars into any sports car race in the world and they would win going away. But in the ALMS and at Sebring the presence of the Joest factory team stands in their way. And everybody knows it. Stefan Johansson must feel a little like Jim Busby did in 1987. Dave Maraj must feel a little like Rob Dyson. They ran, and run today, the best car in the world--except for a single most-favored team with the same car, or nearly so.

Four Audis ran alone up front from beginning to end of the 12 Hours at this famous track. They were not challenged in practice, in qualifying, or in the race. The single team with this car was only barely challenged last year, when they had to contend with a defending Le Mans and Sebring champion, the BMW V12 LMR, and a strong Panoz LMP.

The point here is that if you are the kind of sports car fan for whom the cars are the stars, you can find little wrong with this Sebring. In fact the two privateer Audis were in it as much as anyone ever is, both staying on or near the lead lap most of the way. We don't buy the "record close finish" however, contrived by an Audi Sport photo-op strategy on the last lap. Credit for that has to stay with the epic duel between Dyson's Riley & Scott and BMW's LMR in 1999.

There was plenty to enjoy behind the Audis, too, even amongst the prototypes. Panoz took its new LMP 07s up against the historic track and lost. The two new prototypes were shaken to pieces, not only by the famous Sebring bumps, but probably also by the vibration of the new Zytek V8. The team was nothing if not valiant. They did everything to keep the two unique roadsters on the track, to the delight of the huge crowd. The sound, ah, the sound. Jon Field kept his Intersport Lola Judd at it, coming steadily back from early troubles to finish fifth, behind the four Audis. If ever a team showed persistence and talent, Intersport has - with a package abandoned by no small number of competitors, including the highly regarded Rafanelli Team.

Rob Dyson came with his new Riley & Scott Mark IIIC with a minimum of preparation, the car having just rolled out of its Indianapolis shops less than two weeks before the race. Still, Pat Smith and company kept the single car team in the running for over half the race, until an overheating problem overcame their efforts. Henri Pescarolo brought his Courage C60 with Peugeot power, and struggled with set-up and with the engine all week, yet the evolution of the car that did so well at the 2000 running of Le Mans was still a treat to see, and will likely run more competitively as the season continues. There was, in the end, as much variety in the prototype field at Sebring as anyplace, even if only one variety counted for the win.

There was expected to be a similar dominance in GTS, where the Corvettes seemingly had inherited the mantle of the retiring Dodge Vipers. It has unfortunately usually happened this way in the history of sports car racing, the new winner taking over, not by beating the champion head-to-head (last year's prototypes being one of a few exceptions). So Corvette was supposed to reap the rewards of two years of development and intermittent racing. It seems it is not to be. The vaunted yellow cars were simply and thoroughly thrashed by the upstart Saleen S7R. As much as there has been a small uproar over homologation and other rules, this shouldn't really be a fair fight, should it? General Motors--"the General"? Versus Steve Saleen, erstwhile Mustang tuner and pick-up truck racer? The mini-pick-ups that ran as an undercard to Trans Am in the streets of Des Moines, Iowa. There is no doubt that the S7R is a beautiful machine, unless you thought the McLaren F1 homely (because that is what it is mindful of). But pretty faces have come and gone without winning anything, and the Saleen is now the season's only Grand Touring Sport car on a winning streak, not the Corvette. The speed was obvious from the beginning, but not the reliability. Perhaps we should have anticipated the latter, however, since the Saleen, new car or not, does not employ any real "out-there" technology, only intelligent use of tried and true structures and design. The stiffening of a tube frame chassis with aluminum honeycomb panels is a great idea, but not exactly revolutionary, and certainly not risky. Likewise, by building an engine up from a tried and true design, Saleen avoided the kind of risk taken by Panoz in the design and development of the Zytek. The strategy is actually quite similar to that of BMW with the LMR--take the basics of a solid and reliable drive train and give it a new and better chassis. Corvette would finish a car on the same lap with the winner, but from early in the race, it was clear than only a significant delay arising from a mechanical problem, or a retirement by the S7R, could give the race to one of the yellow cars.

We could have had a three marque race in GTS, and may yet this year, since the Vipers are still with us in the hands of a privateer, American Viperacing. It is not yet the case, for whatever reason. The team points to the need of time and money to get the cars competitive, and it is true that one of them, the #44 car here, came from ORECA less than race ready. All that is likely true, but it is not money that will improve team coordination and the attention to detail still lacking. From Texas to Sebring, two solid new drivers, Stu Hayner and Jeff Altenberg, were added--with Erik Messley, they drove the #45 Viper GTS-R to fourth in GTS, and 17th overall, thirteen laps behind the troubled #3 Corvette. We aren't sure what will finally make this team a factor in the class, but suspect that bringing the lead car in for a right front tire change at 9:53, then back for a refueling at 10:08, with race-end anticipated at 10:40 (actually 10:39) won't help a lot. The team has announced it may contest some Grand Am races between now and the North American resumption of the ALMS at Sears Point in July. Perhaps that will help. Perhaps it will even bring them a win or two. Hopefully it will include "crew drill" and "standard operating procedures." Between the cars and the experience and talent of he crew, the team certainly has a foundation for success. If we didn't think the class and sports car racing needed a successful effort from whatever team would carry on with the Viper, we wouldn't bother to mention any of this.

When BMW introduced its new M3 GTR racer on Wednesday, they said they believed that GT was about to become the most interesting and competitive class in the American and European Le Mans Series. The class has often been that, until the introduction and proliferation of the Porsche 911 GT3-R. PTG did its best with their E36, then E46 BMW M3s, winning one race, and being disqualified from a win in another for a too-large fuel cell that did not have a bearing on the race outcome. But the rest of the season was Dick Barbour Racing, or toward the end, Alex Job Racing. AJR starts this season as the most-favored-team for Porsche, as Barbour clearly was in 2000. Yes, everybody can buy the "racer-in-a-box", but not everybody can run it up front. There is clearly a "pecking order" in the Porsche barnyard, and this year Alex Job is the head rooster. Over the winter, BMW, faced with a maxed-out 3.2 liter in-line six cylinder engine, decided it was more cubic inches or "the highway." Thankfully, they opted for the former, in the form of an all-new 4.0 liter V8, and a nearly all new M3 GTR. Only one car was ready for Sebring, and on Wednesday that seemed not to be ready either, as drivers Jorg Muller and JJ Lehto spent more time sitting than driving. On Thursday, however, the cat was out of the bag, as Jorg easily put the blue and white M3 into third place on the GT grid. Still, given the troubles of the first practice and qualifying sessions, there were few if any who thought the car would finish. It would not only finish, but lead much of the race, and in so doing set the fastest lap, a GT record of 2:06.643. Hans Stuck, Boris Said, and Peter Cunningham drove the #6 PTG M3 GT to fourth place behind the third place finally garnered by the new GTR.

Up front of course, were the two Alex Job cars, the winning #23 piloted by Lucas Luhr, Sacha Maassen, and Emanuel Collard, and the second place #22, driven by Randy Pobst, Christian Menzel, and Timo Bernhard. AJR, after a two race wins, has now only to look forward to four, not just one, BMW GTRs on the grid with them when all are back together again at Sears Point. In fact, we suspect that is exactly what they want--a renewal of the wonderful head-to-head competition that occurred with PTG in prior years. Drivers, owners, managers and crews, these teams relish the competition.

Elsewhere in GT, the other Porsche teams did not challenge the new BMW or the Job cars, and only Larbre Competition (#00) and the #6 PTG car were still on hand for a creditable finish at the end, having run a great race against each other for "old car" "non-factory team" honors. Kelly-Moss Racing had half-shaft trouble to end the hopes of an excellent group of drivers. Other Porsches were struck by the same malady. Providing even more hope for the class, the Pratt & Miller-built GT version of the Corvette, run by Trinkler Racing qualified in the class top ten, only to succumb in the race, as was the case with the Callaway C12. Either or both could become major factors in GT, but not yet.

The weather was nearly flawless and a truly huge crowd contributed to the kind of atmosphere to which only a few sporting events in the world can aspire. Unfortunately, it was finally and indelibly marred by the tragic death of famed racer Bob Wollek.