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Mosport International Raceway

Gran Turismo 3 Grand Prix

19/08/2001

Full

Race Report

© Tom Kjos

Mosport, Ontario, Canada--The fans turned out. The cars turned out. The weather...well it came and went. The weather was part of this race. Early, it made our predictions on TMS look good. Dyson Racing started not with rainmeister Weaver, but with another 'duck', Butch Leitzinger, who had shown plenty of 'wet speed' in the morning warm up. Though they would start from the pit lane because the Lincoln V8 in the Riley & Scott Mark IIIC wouldn't (start that is), Butch charged into third place in the first hour, and after a strong stint by James Weaver, would have another shot at the podium late in the race. All this in a race when the engine wouldn't start, again, on a late pit stop, necessitating a very slow roll down pit lane and use of the downhill exit to just past turn one to get fire in the Lincoln. At Sebring or Portland, that would have been curtains. Here, it left them with a charge past one Cadillac, a shot with a few minutes left at the other one, and potentially a place on the bottom step of the podium. Only then to slide off the track, close, but no cigar, as they say.

“I admit it was my fault for the damage to the car, I over-drove into turn 5, so I went to the marbles, then into the grass, which lead into the tire wall," commented Leitzinger. "I thought it was over once I ate the wall, but, I got I fired up, surprisingly, by popping the clutch going downhill, then once I got on the track, the alignment wasn’t too bad, and I thought I could finish this thing. But things were too good to be true, because going down the back stretch I couldn’t get over 130 because the front bodywork was flapping too much and the car was vibrating like a washing machine that is out of balance.” Not bad for the second shot at the ALMS, first since Sebring, when the car was barely shaken down. Through the weekend, the 'C' was still a struggle, leaving a team member to comment, "Luck? We need A LOT more." Not really, not for that third place. A lost practice session to work on gremlins, a lost grid place to technical disqualification, a balky day for the usually reliable Lincoln V8 and drivetrain; with that, they can't feel too bad, can they? And they don't. The team was a self described 'optimistic'. And Leitzinger added, “We plan to run at Mid-Ohio and the Petit, but won’t be able to make Laguna due to issues with our schedule.” (about next year) “If things go as well as this race, except for my little mistake at the end, we expect to go after next year’s schedule full stride. We are very optimistic about it.”

Panoz took their best shot, and validated their Portland win. They too had troubles in practice and qualifying. David Brabham had a rare incident. That cost a practice, but they came storming back to post a creditable qualifying time. Jan Magnussen showed again that he is one whale of a driver. He split the Audi Sport R8s into the first turn, then took advantage of Rinaldo Capello's trip into the barriers at turn five to lead the first lap, and after that stretched the lead until pitstops and strategies cost them. Brabham hung in there after Jan turned over a race-leading car, but it wasn't enough, “My stint was exciting. The stop under green killed us, and the car wasn’t perfect, but as the fuel level decreased it got better. The Viper spun in front of me and I couldn’t stop. I bent a track rod on the left front, and we changed the tire. The steering was skewed, we’re lucky we finished second.” The last incident occurred in the last half hour of the race, with the Panoz in third, and admittedly a long shot to overhaul either Johnny Herbert's Champion Racing Audi R8, or Emanuele Pirro's race leading Joest Audi. But it should never have happened. An-out-of-contention (as usual, of course) AVR Viper, driven by Kevin Allen, partnering team owner Tom Weickhardt, slid wide to take the Panoz finally and irrevocably out of contention. A racing incident? Probably, but then that was an amateur mistake by little more than a rolling road block. When is ALMS going to enforce percent of pole, overall and in class, rules? Sure, big fields are nice, but is this professional racing, or a car show?

Champion Racing finally showed that they are a force to be reckoned with. You won't find two better drivers than Andy Wallace and Johnny Herbert, and race after race, hard work has pulled the white and 'color splashes' 2000 model R8 closer and closer to the updated factory team cars. This time they could have gotten them. Herbert seemed to have been on his way, pulling from seven seconds in arrears to just four within fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, Johnny was only on his way to the turn two tire wall. Andy Wallace had a spin of his own earlier, but turned over the R8 to Herbert right in contention after driving through the whole field to first place, and more than a little hopeful. "I knew when I gave Johnny the car he was going to give it some, and he was flying!” he said. Team owner Dave Maraj put the team's approach this way: "You don't race for second! We'll fix it and try again at Mid-Ohio." Herbert seems to be his kind of guy. Lesser equipment or not, Champion is a team that can win in this series.

For Biela and Pirro, it turned out to be a very welcome ALMS win after a long drought - since last October. Biela: "It was hard to wait so long for a victory in the ALMS. And the race today was tough as well, but in the end we did it. It was decisive to keep the car on the track in the first laps. It made no sense to push too hard and risk going off. You have to find a compromise - obviously we found it today." Pirro didn't change tyres at the last stop, but although he couldn't match Herbert's pace, "it was decisive to keep the car on the track" at the end too. "I was sympathetic on the tyres trying to make it through and it worked."

That was something Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen couldn't manage, the former off on lap one and losing seven laps, the latter off for good an into the wall. "After the laps behind the pace car I did not expect to have so much aquaplaning at this particular point of the track," said the pole sitter. "But it was so slippery that I completely lost the car. I could not do anything. I feel very sorry for the team."

TK: "I was on slicks and came up to a Viper. I thought he would see me, so I decided to pass him on the outside. Obviously he did not see me and caught me out. I got a little bit on the wet part of the track and lost the car there."

Franck Lagorce lost his Panoz on lap one too. "I had to brake hard to avoid another car after Capello's Audi went off and it was so wet my car just went straight off."

Cadillac was back, and mostly welcome. Tom Milner was not among the welcoming committee after a tap from one of the grey and black prototypes put driver Bill Auberlen on the sidelines for this race and the next one, at least. Both cars showed willingness to race with their betters, a commendable attitude, but one that too often looked more like blocking than real racing. Their persistence earned them a podium spot even if their speed didn't. Tinseau got the better of Taylor near the end.

The Barbour LMP 675s continue to improve, much of that due to the return of the #5 car of Didier de Radigues and Bruno Lambert. Claudia Hurtgen lent her considerable talents to the KnightHawk Racing Lola Nissan, also making a credible run before engine problems (again). But given the rain effect, there was still little to indicate that anything currently running in this class will yet frighten their LMP 900 big brothers.

The GTS race started and with a bang, and continued in the head-to-head dogfight that we expect and hope for. Again, it ended in a whimper. At Sears Point, the Saleen S7R suffered the woes of tires that let it down, and subsequently (semi) parted with supplier Goodyear. At Portland, a mistake by a sub-contract engine building shop led to an oil leak and a black flag out of the race lead. Here, with fifteen minutes remaining, the S7R followed the GTS-leading Corvette of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell by a scant ten seconds, close enough to give Terry Borcheller a shot at the top step of the podium. That's when it all ended for the Saleen team as Johnny Herbert's crash brought out the pace car. Note: try not to be behind the overall race leader with the car you are chasing ahead of it when a pace car comes on the track. By procedure, the pace car picked up Emanuele Pirro's race leading Audi R8, just behind the O'Connell Corvette. Of course the latter tore around the track to the rear of the pack, leaving Borcheller helplessly playing follow-the-leader. Poof, ten seconds turns into a minute. Race over.

BMW completed a 1,2,3 sweep of GT. Does that add up to no racing? Not here. Even if no one else can, the Alex Job Racing GT3-RS Porsches push the new M3s. Even though troubles hit the #22 Porsche of Randy Pobst and Christian Menzel early on, the Lucas Luhr / Sascha Maassen #23 GT3-RS gave all but one of the BMWs all they could handle. They stayed right with the PTG car of Hans Stuck and Boris Said and the BMW Motorsport M3 of Fredrik Ekblom and Dirk Müller all the way, and heading each at times. The JJ Lehto / Jörg Muller GTR was an entirely different story. Starting from the back after a technical infraction disqualified their GT pole, Lehto drove like a man possessed to reach the front of the class in little more than thirty minutes. He then pitted for tires, fuel, and to hand over to Müller, who just stretched the lead until there was soon no doubt at all of the outcome. BMW is winning a lot of races. But one Porsche team has been close all along. Would racing be better without the new GTRs? Probably not. What would help is a second Porsche team to complement the AJR effort, just as PTG and Schnitzer complement each other.

Interestingly, it is the Stuck / Said PTG GTR that has set fast lap in each of the past three races, not either of the BMW Motorsports M3s. And the 'privateer' has captured one of the three races in which they have had the new GTR. Porsche is in its second year of a single dominant team. That is not the way to win when you are no longer the town bully.

JJ Lehto didn't think it was as easy as it looked. "It was very, very close. We have a good car, but it was very difficult to get the set-up right. Pit stops, tactics, and teamwork were the key." At post race pressroom interviews, the question is asked, "If there are no other questions from the floor, do you (the drivers) have anything you want to add." JJ was not at a loss for words. As at Sears Point, he had a rhetorical question, "How are Jörg and I supposed to divide just one trophy?" If Don can't afford a second trophy for these by-rule two-driver teams, perhaps the fans should take up a collection.

Mosport had rain on race day. Mosport also had a great crowd, the largest we have seen since Sebring, even though both Sears Point and Portland were also good turnouts. Ron Fellows was pleased with his home crowd. " I’ve never seen so many people here. Sports car is on the upswing here and we’re a part of it. The last time I saw so many people here I was a spectator.” Mosport followed on Sears Point and Portland as a thoroughly enjoyable race. There is no reason to think that it won't just get better.