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Adelaide

ALMS

31/12/2000

Raceday 3

Survival

Track images from the www.americanlemans.com sitelink

With Pirro out after hitting the wall (or not, see below), Greg Murphy then went off at the same point that Norman Simon had a moment. But whereas the German just avoided the wall, ‘Murph’ didn’t, and the second placed #12 appears to be out. Jason Bright suggested that Murphy just understeered off. But he’s trying to get the car back to the pits. ‘Brighty’ might have a go after all.

Does Simon’s survival suggest that Lady Luck is restarting her affair with Gabriele Rafanelli? Practice and Qualifying didn’t go well for the green and yellow Lola, but in this race, if you can hang on until the flag, you’ll be there or thereabouts. Two hours 15 to go, and only the Crocodile Audi leads the ‘Pasta Special.’ But the gap is eight laps. Lady Luck, do you love him enough to do something about that?

'Murph' couldn't understand what happened. "I had no control over it. I don't know what happened. The car had a bit of understeer in it. If someone tells me I made a mistake, I'll be quite happy to believe it."

Factory troubles means that the other Lola climbs up to third place. What a recovery for Konrad after Slater's practice accident. Lolas 2 - 3 at three and a half hours. Jones will be next in the #77 car. Much less pressure on the experienced Aussie now.

Skea's #70 has had a new starter motor, but now the team discover that a driveshaft is damaged. Not a happy meeting for the Australian Porsche team.

Oreca are fourth and fifth, split by 40 seconds. Factory misfortunes don't strike this lot.

Muller and Luhr are all the way up to sixth, followed by the Pobst #30 Porsche and the Auberlen PTG BMW.

Chamberlain are 11th. Watson is knackered, but Ray Lintott is worse than that after his 40 minutes. Milka Duno is in the car, but the South African will finish the race. "The glue on my race boots is starting to melt, but the car is handling well, and we're right on Oreca pace." He'll haul it back up, for sure.

Auberlen’s #10 has apparently broken a half shaft. Kerbs?

Pirro seems to have worked on the Audi and is dragging it back to the pits. It has broken front and rear suspension. A rear end change seems likely, but have they created a front end change system too? Or is it the middle bit that needs attention?

'Brighty' sets off in #12. And breaks the speed limit in pit lane. McNish doesn't want Jones to get in the leading car. The Scot is going to take responsibility for this one.

Other people's problems see Milka Duno in the top ten in #61 Viper. Watson will take over soon and double stint to the finish.

Capello: "I tried to maintain the gap, then I saw the 78 car broken down. Then it was harder to maintain concentration." McNish looks as though he'll be in to the finish.

Four hours, and the Scot leads by 8 laps from Schiattarella, who is 8 more ahead of Alan Heath and then the two Oreca Vipers. Muller is sixth in #5, Pobst is seventh one lap down, ahead of Menzel by 5 laps. Then come the two recovering Panoz Roadsters, 25 laps down on McNish, just ahead of Milka Duno in the third Viper.

Maassen is ninth in class after the gearbox change in #51, chasing Dean in #70. Muller is heading towards the GT Drivers Championship.

Watson starts his 100 minute run to the flag in the hot Chamberlain car. Heading for a class podium?

Biela is nearly ready to go in #78. It looks brand new. It is brand new.

McNish leads by nine laps, still going away. Rafanelli probably doesn't care. He's carrying on his pit-lane affair.

Pricey: "#1 had an alternator drive fail almost when the race started. We couldn't fix it. We've had a brake problem on #2 since the first hour. The brake pedal goes really long. Greg Murphy thought it was a bad one in #12 and walked away, but we persuaded him to get back in. The guys did a great job repairing it."