We'd like to congratulate the four class winners from the 2009 12 hours of Sebring, no doubt one of the most grueling motorsports challenges on the planet.
First in the P1-class went to the number 2 Audi driven by the all-star cast of McNish, Kristensen and Capello, in what must be a dream debut for the R15.
The lone surviving P2 finisher was the Acura from the two man crew of Diaz and Fernadez.
I do wonder how interesting the ALMS races will be for the rest of the racing season given the lack of entries even at Sebring… It doesn't bode well does it?
The winner of the Corvette class was the yellow car piloted by Magussen, O'Connell and Garcia… I'm sure the Vette fans were excited to see these fantastic race cars thundering aroud the circuit, but I'm more looking forward to the debut of the new GT2 car.
Remember all the discussion about a certain driver named Melo earlier last week? Well, he and his team mates, Salo and Kaffer took top honours in the GT2 category for Risi Competizione.
Three sports car legends celebrate their victory with a nice bottle of orange juice!…. hmmm…..
So….. round 1 of the Audi – Peugoet 2009 battles went to the Germans… who do you think will take Le Mans? My vote has to go to Audi… they are such a well-honed endurance racing machine at this point in time, I don't see this changing any time soon.
:R
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Really? Maybe that's why I eluded to the economy in my post...
T ex-Toyota drivers who were blamed for the team's poor 1st year (didn't get much better after did it) triumph again. Well done McNish and Salo
thanks to you, John and Andy for the Sebring coverage. Such a great variety on Speedhunters. you also introduced me to online version of Radio
le Mans, thanks again
I am REALLY worried about the lack of entries, I'm hoping it's just a Sebring thing and that many more teams will join through the season. Last year at Road America we had a huge field, tons of different battles in each class. If the rest of the season consists of 4 P2 cars (two Acura's and two horribly slow Lola's) 3 or so P2 cars, nothing in GT1, and a relatively small turnout of GT2 cars compared to what we usually see, it's going to be a horribly slow season until the economy turns around and hopefully resulting in an increased amount of entries. Not really sure what the reasons were for the small turnout but I REALLY hope it was just teams not interested in a 12 hour enduro....fingers crossed till St Pete.
SoloTwo - open your eyes, the reason for the small field is the financial economy. In some ways they did well to get so many cars out. When Audi and Peugeot decide not to race the whole season in Europe or the States, you know there is a problem.
Corsa and Falken should be at Long Beach
Nice, the awesome comment system strikes again...
well you did, sort of asked,,,
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" Not really sure what the reasons were for the small turnout but I REALLY hope it was just teams not interested in a 12 hour enduro."
Fantastic win by McNish (thats 3 Sebrings), Capello (4) and TK (5). McNish, yet again did an amazing job at the end of the race. I thought Bourdais was impressive actually considering the limited experience.
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It was good to see some of the small non works teams doing well. PTG Panoz getting a podium was big for them. Same with Primetime (Viper) and Robertson (Ford GT). The new found speed of these cars should give results on the much shorter ALMS races.
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Onto comments, i doubt there are (m)any teams who wouldnt do Sebring because its 12hrs. Extra points, lots of new cars, which could (and in the case of P2) give class wins to older cars. As Derek says and SoloTwo eluded to, the big issue is the financial crisis. We were lucky that Corvette Racing has previously proved to be cost effective, and has its own sponsorship. Same they won't be at St.Pete.
Prototypes are going to be weak. P1 sees two Acura's and 2 ex-Dyson Lolas. P2 is currently one Acura and two under-devloped Lola Mazdas. Long term, Dyson will get those Lola Mazda's sorted, but Acura might be in the distance by them, remember Fernandez got 10 extra points for enduro win.
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As for the rest of the season. Well 8-9 cars wont be back from Sebring for Sebring. Its unclear if the 2nd Risi car will appear and who knows with VICI after that farce.
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Rumours on the www about Rocketsports entering Jags in GT2 later in the season. Who knows?
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Looking for the good. Zytek (with Corsa and maybe even Forsyth if that rumour/story is still live), Creation, Falken Porsche...and maybe a Porsche RS Spyder could appear at some point if all those rumours could come off.
I think the GT's will still be interesting
Going to be a tough year filling grids, but the ALMS wont be unique to this.
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Audi probably takes LeMans unless they have technical problems.
I'm still rooting for Peugeot though, GO LAMY!!!
We have some soda... purple stuff... Sunny-D...
SUNNY-D!!!
Hey Andy, any idea of what happened to VICI Motorsports? I didn't hear one mention about them during the broadcast.