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Texas Motor Speedway

Leather Center

04/03/2001

Saturday

Practice 2 Report

© Tom Kjos
Fort Worth, Texas--The second practice session went off on schedule at 12:30 PM on a still-wet track. With a low and heavy overcast, the track showed little sign of drying throughout the session, so teams will go to qualifying with no real dry-course set-up work, except that done for the race yesterday. In fact, a number of Porsche teams will do just that if the track remains wet for qualifying--make no special effort for a qualifying set-up.

Times just set in second practice illustrate the point. Yesterday's dry, cold track saw the AudiSport R8s set a fast mark of 1:14.9, today's best was 1:24 flat. GTS and GT were similarly slower.

All twenty-two cars set times in this second session. Yes, twenty-two. It took us a while to catch up with the fact that the Schubot Lola Ford has withdrawn. Just heard here: " (He's) selling the car and getting out of racing." No idea, of course, whether that is true, idle speculation, or rank rumor.

The prototypes settle in to form, with AudiSport 1-2, the new Panoz close, and Wallace's Champion R8 not far behind that. Wallace, with his driving instructor, gives us a big smile to pass on to the editor. I didn't ask him if his copy will be in on time. The two 2000 Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S machines are significantly off the pace of these first four.

Five minutes into the session we have a black flag to "repair the chicane." Shades of Charlotte 2000? Not really, this is much better designed, and less susceptible to damage than that one.

That starts a parade of "spin and continue" routines, five of them by Panoz LMP-1s, and four of those by the #51 car of Gualter Salles. The last of these occurs soon before 1:00 PM and brings out a black flag.

Standing in the pits near Pit Lane Supervisor Dick Martin, I ask him the reason. "Car stuck in the mud," he says with a wry smile. Now there is an incident description that might not have been used in sports car racing since the Targa Florio last ran. Asked later about this turn three incident, Salles says, "It was my first time in the wet. I'm just lucky I didn't hit anything." No kidding.

Fabian Roock gave us a big smile, but it belies the reality. "Not so good." He told us. The Roock KnightHawk Lola Nissan P675 has struggled mightily.

Standing watching the cars coming off turn eight, NASCAR turn four, my ears are assaulted for the first time by a distinctive howl of such intensity, it is heard before the car comes into sight - and covers the sound of nearby cars on the track. It is the new Panoz LMP07, its new high-RPM near F1-design V8 demonstrating in yet another way that win races or not, this is a team with a sense of style, both visual and auditory, second to none in the sport.

We only know a few things with qualifying an hour away. Audi still rules the roost, but the new Panoz is stunning, loads of fun, and closer than it had any expectation of being this early in the season. These Vipers aren't last year's Vipers--not yet anyway. The official "factory team" of the moment, Alex Job Racing this time, run the GT show. Last year's BMW M3s, in the hands of absolutely top-flight drivers, can mix it up with the Porsches. And the Callaway C12 and Corvette C5-R are as yet no real challenge to the Germans.