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Laguna Seca

09/09/2001

Full Race

Report

© Tom Kjos

Monterey, California, USA—It was a cool 63 degrees F under overcast skies at the start of the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca. The Johansson Motorsports Audi R8 was one that should have benefited, the only prototype in the field that qualified and started on full soft tires. It was not to be, just the first of a series of mishaps in this race that had more than its share. As the field headed toward the front straight starting line, the pace car handed 'control' to Rinaldo Capello, whose Audi Sport North America R8 held the pole position. As much control as a parent over an unruly child, that is.

As soon as the green flag flew, the field scattered, as much as four abreast, with Jan Magnussen, starting the #50 Panoz Roadster S pulling a classic 'hole shot' from his second row position. As Magnussen charged up the apron of the track through turn one and into a tight turn two left-hander, behind him Patrick Lemarié got three abreast with the pole Audi (Magnussen was already past and into the lead) and Frank Lagorce’s Panoz. Lemarié spun the Gulf Audi, and further into the turn, Capello spun the #1 car. Both recovered and continued, the silver Audi Sport R8 in 17th and the Gulf car in 26th, but Magnussen was in control of the race barely a quarter mile in. Frank Biela had the #2 Audi in second place with Johnny Herbert’s Champion Audi in close pursuit, followed a bit further back by Frank Lagorce’s #51 Panoz. Meanwhile, Capello and Lemarié had begun their charge back up through the field. Neither car was damaged. Jon Field, driving the Intersport Lola Judd was shown a closed black flag, a warning (we don’t know for what), and thinking it a penalty drove through the pits, continuing when his team waved him on. Not a good start for the Ohio team, and it wouldn't get much better.

Twelve minutes into the race, leader Magnussen had already lapped up to the GT BMWs, meaning at least eight cars are a lap down. And shades of the 2000 race here, he tapped the Niclas Jönsson-driven M3 into the sand trap at turn three. Jönsson recovered and continued.

Magnussen seemed to be able to stretch his lead in the early going, but the following Audis soon closed up on him and Frank Biela was able to take the lead in the #2 Audi at 12:21, while Capello had caught up to and passed the Cadillacs into fifth.

Barely thirty minutes into the race, Claudia Heurtgen (yes, she is here, contrary to our reports and the official entry sheets) parked the #11 KnightHawk Lola B2K / 40 Nissan at turn 9. According to the team, the engine had expired. Given the Nissan’s performance in this series, that seems merciful.

Jan Magnussen took the lead back from Biela on a pass into the Corkscrew at 12:40. This is looking like a real donnybrook in prototypes, at least those weighing 900 Kg. In the lighter weight protos, Dick Barbour’s 'second' car had now lapped his 'first', Scott Maxwell (#57) blowing past Milka Duno (#5). Quick is not a word we can use to describe Ms. Duno today. Max Angelelli, driving the #8 Cadillac LMP punted the GTS class leader, Terry Borcheller, in turn nine. Max paid the price of a spin himself; Terry continued in the GTS lead, Angelelli continued in eighth place. The Seikel Porsche GT3-RS was the first car to pit for service, 44 minutes into the race. This is an interesting strategy, since the Porsches can go the race on a single stop. Andrew Bugnall replaces Tony Burgess. Minutes later, the #5 Barbour Reynard 01Q Judd pitted for tires and fuel. Didier de Radigues replaced Milka Duno; this is a strategy that we do understand.

Jon Field brought in the #37 Intersport Lola on a normal schedule, and handed over to Rick Sutherland. A pit lane violation gets a 20 second penalty. Strike two.

The leaders pitted, first Magnussen’s Panoz, no tires, and Jan continued in the car. The remaining prototypes cycle through routine stops until Biela brings in the #2 Audi 11 minutes after the Panoz, but retains the lead. Similarly, it is a fuel only stop.

An hour in, the second of the three LMP675 cars, the class-leading #57 Barbour Reynard, spun and hit the wall at turn nine, but was able to limp back to the pits. Two down, one to go.

While all this was going on up front, the 'big seven' (2 PTG M3s, 2 BMW Motorsport M3s, 2 AJR Porsches, and one Petersen Motorsport Porsche) were having their own fun, except that it is not much to watch, at least yet. The gang of seven were running fast and smooth, even orderly. The order was the way they qualified, except that the spun PTG M3 of Jönsson and Stuck had replaced the Petersen #30 Porsche at the back of this pack. JJ Lehto had pulled out to a twenty-second plus lead, as he has done each of the past three races. Teammate Fredrik Ekblom followed him, then Sascha Maassen’s #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche and Boris Said’s #10 BMW.

Terry Borcheller pitted the Saleen S7R, and remains for another stint as Ron Fellows took the GTS lead in the #3 Corvette, but by just a few seconds. The Saleen had pulled out to more than a 30 second lead in just an hour, so if the usual tragedy doesn’t strike the Konrad supercar, this race will be well in hand.

Boris Said had put the PTG M3 GTR into third behind the two BMW Motorsport cars, when he is punted by a prototype, as was teammate Nic Jönsson, this time a Cadillac. Tom Milner cannot be particularly happy. After handing over the M3 to co-driver Bill Auberlen, Boris described the Caddy as a “backmarker getting in the way of cars racing for position.”

Pit stops by the two Corvettes put the Saleen S7R back in the lead shortly after the turn of the first hour. Not long after that, Barbour’s #5 Reynard LMP675 was out with a broken right rear suspension. Three down, class no longer exists. Like Dr. Frankenstein, however, Dick has his crew working to repair at least one of his cars. Why not? Anyone running wins the class.

Meanwhile, it continued to be serious up front. With the order 2-50-38, Herbert went for it, but it went all wrong. The Champion Racing Audi made contact with Magnussen’s Panoz in turn 11, sending the Roadster S spinning into the tire wall, and ending the latter’s day. Herbert was assessed a 20 second penalty after stewards review the tape; serving the penalty was delayed for a Champion requested review. Herbert was never in complete agreement with the ruling, saying after the race, "So we made a couple of mistakes out in the back, sort of a bit unfortunate, but he (Magnussen) made a couple of mistakes (also). He decided to go to the right.... and then he decided that he’d try and block...but I was already going that way, so if they look at the data they’ll see a left turn. I believe that is what the stop and go penalty is all about, which is silly when it’s not your fault — that’s what’s annoying."

Barely a minute later, the #7 Cadillac spun and hung up on the kerbs at turn 8, causing the race’s first full course caution. The #1 Audi rolled to a stop at turn 7. A clutch failure ends the pole-sitter’s day. During the caution, the #7 Cadillac collected a one lap penalty for working on the car in a closed pit.

After the caution, Hans Stuck had a wonderful time leading the gang of seven, even though he is a lap down; Jörg, Dirk, and Lucas are not particularly amused. Jörg Müller gives him a friendly tap, in case the left lane bandit has not seen the flashing lights, but the courtesy backfires as Dirk Müller grabs the class lead in the #43 BMW Motorsport GTR.

Rick Sutherland retired the #37 Lola Judd with a broken axle. Strike three.

The stewards assessed a stop and go penalty to the #8 Cadillac for an avoidable contact with the #10 BMW M3 (we already have Boris’ opinion). Shortly before the two hour mark, we lost the second Panoz, as the #51 car pitted, smoking and dragging what appears to be a spectator under the bodywork. No spectators appear to be missing, but the car is retired after another smoking lap. Don Panoz, who missed the Portland and Mid Ohio rounds, has decided to stay for this one. The team is not happy.

Jörg Müller was warned for contact with the #22 Alex Job Porsche in turn two. But the kids continue to have fun in GT. Our yodeling friend Hans was still merrily tearing around the circuit, now with only a presumably fuming Lucas Luhr behind him, while the two Motorsport BMWs steadily increased their lead on the Porsche. Having had enough of this, Lucas gently shoulders past the Austrian, the latter not-so-gently slamming into the tire barrier coming out of the Corkscrew. Luhr receives the now-routine closed black flag warning. From Hans, Luhr receives a gesture of a different kind. The M3 will stay in the tires while Stuck walks to the paddock.

Dr. Frankenstein has finished his sewing and thrown the switch. Dick Barbour’s #5 Reynard is back on the track after replacement of the entire rear end. Kind of like Audi at Le Mans? Yes, except this operation took 54 minutes, not six.

The skies had cleared and the track temperature was ninety degrees F. That fact now has some bearing. Emanuele Pirro in the #2 Joest Audi leads Andy Wallace’s penalized Champion Racing Audi by 38 seconds with a half hour yet to run. Certainly this race is over. Saleen is cruising. There is one LMP675 running. The two BMW Motorsport M3s are running out front. Dirk Müller gets the expected team orders inside five minutes. “Let Jörg’s #42 BMW through for the win.” Anything else makes little sense. The Jörg Müller win here will preserve an almost insurmountable lead in the driver’s title chase over Porsche’s Sascha Maassen. Anything else will open the door at next month’s Petit Le Mans.

But now the leader’s lap times have soared to 1:23, and Andy is turning 1:18s and 1:19s. The gap is coming down every lap. Soon it is at twenty seconds, then at fifteen with six minutes to run. Just about enough time at the rate of six minutes per lap. Is Pirro just scrubbing speed to save the car? That becomes questionable as the gap drops to eight seconds, then five, then under five at the while flag. The charging Wallace keeps cutting down the distance between himself and the silver Audi. At turn eleven they head up the straight to the flag. There is little doubt that Pirro will hang on, but the margin at the flag is just 1.602 seconds. Pirro confirms a problem in the closing laps, “I was very concerned (about the closing Andy Wallace). My tires were worn; it was not easy.”

Corvette has lost for the first time since Sebring. Changing conditions and set up gave the team fits. “We had a difficult time with the car. Once the sun came out it made it difficult and we couldn’t brake when we wanted. We tried using a softer tire but they weren’t working when the sun came out either.”

Franz Konrad summed up the Saleen victory. “We’ve had problems, but it was great to win without errors. The tires were absolutely wonderful, we need to give credit to Dunlop.” This is well and truly the last we have seen of Goodyear tires on the Saleen, it seems.

Complaints about NBC coverage are seemingly unanimous for this race. We think a good crowd here at Laguna Seca enjoyed themselves, though.

BMW, with its fifth win in a row, has secured its first American Le Mans Series GT class Manufacturers championship, while Audi has already clinched their Manufacturers title, while only the four Audi works drivers can win the Drivers title.