Audi Presents Petit Le Mans - 06/10/2001   Petit Preview   © Tom Kjos John Brooks images from 2000 Petit Le Mans The American Le Mans Series ends its third season at Road Atlanta, near Braselton, Georgia with the 10-hour or 1000 mile Audi Presents Petit Le Mans. The race itself is a bit of a latter day phenomenon, an instant classic. If that seems too much of an oxymoron, feel free to use "instant major" in the sense that the PGA Championship and the French Open are majors in their respective sports. The field, the crowd, and the race itself have been from the start among the best in the sport, and have improved year-to-year. The Petit Le Mans actually pre-dates the ALMS championship by one year, its first running having occurred in 1998. This race encapsulates the changes in the sport over these four years as well as any has. It has taken us from World Sports Car to LMP900, from Porsche 911 GT2 to Saleen S7R, from RSR to GT3-RS and M3 GTR. In each of these classes, there will be no examples of the cars that were the fixtures of the sport just three seasons ago. The following year (’99) the transition to a different kind of sports car racing was clear. BMW's LMR demonstrated that increased manufacturer interest would bring resources to the sport leading to advanced designs and a rate of change not seen in over a decade. Porsche's GT3-R made its appearance after dominating Le Mans in its first outing. Called the 'racer-in-a-box' in these pages, the car represented a new direction in GT, the much over-looked 'bottom category' for the first time getting the kind of focus, and a purpose-built racer, reserved in the past for only the top class. It would take a couple of years, but BMW, Corvette, Callaway, and Ferrari would follow. Last season, Audi Sport North America was in the midst of its historic string of victories, but barely survived a late Panoz challenge. Circumstances have conspired to make this not only the finale of the ALMS season, but of all the "LMS" races. Charlotte is gone from the schedule, and so is Sepang, at least for 2001. A field of nearly fifty sports cars in four classes will contest the fourth edition. They will probably not go ten hours; 1000 miles has come much sooner than that three times already. The LMP900s that have contested the entirety of the season are here and have to be vetted as the favorites, starting with the Joest-managed Audi Sport North America R8s. They may have lost two of the last four races, but they won the fourteen before that, and they have never been off the pace, even in defeat. Panoz Motorsport's LMP-1 Roadster S is the car that has won those other two of the last four, and has to be considered to be a co-favorite here. The well-sorted red Panoz has demonstrated its ability to match the Audi's pace, and the team has lately just plain run smarter races than the Joest crew--which takes some doing. But there are more possible winners than these. Both customer Audis, though 2000 models lacking the most of the latest 'tricks and bits' of the works cars, have had their shots in the second half of the season. Only a controversial penalty at Laguna Seca kept Champion Racing from winning there, and there was a realistic chance for the same car in a late-race challenge at Mosport that ended in a tire barrier. There was thus every chance that Audi Sport might have come into this race on an "oh-for-four" string. The second customer car, carrying the classic blue livery of the historic Gulf Le Mans cars (or at least most of it) has spent the bulk of the season contesting the ELMS in Europe. Two prior ventures into the ALMS, at Sebring and Laguna Seca, have been highly competitive, and the Johansson team certainly is capable of winning the PLM title. These are not the last of the threats for an overall win, however. Dyson Racing's Lincoln-powered Riley & Scott Mark IIIC is. Rob Dyson is the prototypical sports car racer, one of the last survivors of IMSA's golden years. A Porsche 962 was the weapon of choice then; in the last decade it has been Riley & Scott and Ford. Rob and Team Manager Pat Smith are the consummate privateer professionals. They seem more at home in here, with Alex Job, Reinhold Joest, Tom Milner, and Charly Lamm than anywhere else. When they came back, they certainly made themselves at home quickly, too. After a new car "test" at Sebring and extensive testing over the summer, they came to Mosport pretty much on the pace, and then grabbed a spot on the podium at Mid Ohio. Eliott Forbes-Robinson joins Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver in one of the few three-driver entries in the class. We have been told that this is one of the most uncomfortable cars to drive; so much so that double stinting is considered to be unlikely. Count Dyson racing among those with a real possibility of a podium finish, and at least an outside chance of a win. Three other entries complete the LMP900 field, two Cadillacs and the Intersport Lola / Judd. None of the three seem to have the driver, car and team combination needed to make the podium in this field, unless there are reliability issues elsewhere. The largest LMP675 field in ALMS history will be on the PLM grid, but the race comes down to a rematch between Dick Barbour's 01Q Reynard-Judd V8s and the Volkswagen turbo-powered 2KQ Reynards of Racing Organisation Course. The latter won Le Mans in their previous meeting, but have parked their cars since, while Barbour Racing has continued to sort out the Judd machines in ALMS competition. A suggestion from the team, back in May, that they could match the 900s hasn’t come true. Archangel Motorsport Services fields its Lola B2K / 40-Nissan Grand Am champion car, and ALMS regular Roock-KnightHawk Racing a similar car. For variety, Team Bucknum Racing will start a Pilbeam MP84-Nissan. The dark horse is none of these three, however. We like Team Spencer Motorsports' Lola B2K-Mazda in that role. In a class that has yet to demonstrate much reliability, it is hard to resist picking a Mazda rotary to get at least a place on the podium. If ever a race seemed to validate the attraction of multiple class racing, this one does. GTS will come to the start with a field comprised of two Corvettes, three Saleens, three Vipers and a Ferrari. The Corvette C5-R won Le Mans, the Saleen S7R won Sebring. Before these two, the Viper GTS-R won everything. The Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello was able to garner an FIA GT win in its maiden season. With the day-and-night work by American Viperacing to upgrade their two cars, and the Brookspeed entry, the Dodge sports cars will mount their most serious challenge of the current season. By the time night falls, though, this is likely to be Corvette-Saleen head-to-head once again. Beyond that, we don't have a clue. There are twelve Porsche 911 GT3s in a field of twenty GTs. Eight are RS models that realistically can run with the pack. Heading those eight are the two Alex Job Racing Porsches. As they have been all season, they are the one real threat to the four BMW GTRs for the class win. Two cars we saw earlier in the season join the grid, Aspen Knolls' Callaway C-12R, and the Atomic Kitten Corvette C5, the latter a Pratt and Miller purpose-built GT racer formerly fielded by Trinkler Motorsports. Although the Callaway took the class pole at Le Mans, neither are expected to be a factor in this race. MSB Motorsport's Ferrari 360 Modena gets the dark horse designation here, off FIA GT wins by a similar car this season. Dark horse in GT doesn't mean a spot on the podium, however, since the four BMW GTRs and three Porsche 911s (with Petersen Motorsports) that have played so nicely together throughout the ALMS season will certainly fill those three spots in some combination. Three previous Petit Le Mans have been not-to-miss races. This one will be the same. LMP900 Driver Points: 1 Emanuele Pirro 170 2 Frank Biela 166 3 Rinaldo Capello 162 4 Tom Kristensen 161 5 Andy Wallace 129 6 Jan Magnussen 140 7 David Brabham 125 GTS Driver Points: 1 Ron Fellows 171 2 Johnny O'Connell 170 3 Terry 160 4 Franz 158 5 Andy Pilgrim 123 Kelly Collins 123 7 Tom Weickardt 103 GT Driver Points: 1 Jörg Müller 165 2 J.J. Lehto 164 3 Sascha 153 4 Lucas Luhr 152 5 Boris Said 139 6 Hans Stuck 128 7 Randy Pobst 128 Christian Menzel 128 Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport