After four hours of intense racing around Laguna Seca, the 2009 American LeMans season is in the books.
I'm once again exhausted from a day of shooting and lugging my gear up and down the mountainous terrain, but I wanted to quickly post some of the day's results before I pass out here…
The GT2 class winner was the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. It was fitting that the Lizards would finish their second straight team championship season with a win in Monterey.
And then there's the big story. Finishing off his driving career on a high note, Gil de Ferran (with the help of Simon Pagenaud) was able to hold off the LMP2 Acura of Fernandez and Diaz for the overall victory, and the P1 win.
De Ferran had the look of a tired, but satisfied man as he pulled off his gear for the last time this evening. Lots of emotion here…
This just covers a bit of what went down at Laguna Seca this weekend. Much more on the way!
-Mike Garrett
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What an incredible collection. The Acura colors are brilliant.
The de Ferran/Pagenaud's Acura was, for sure, the most beautiful race car I've ever seen.
I watched like two hours of the race on TV, and hoped for the de Ferran's win, he deserved that, and then in the second hour the Highcroft car had anykind of problems with the engine, and I thought that would be a brazilian championship win @ Laguna Seca, but infortunately, let's leave that for another one.
Great racing yesterday, was worth the time I've wasted in front of my TV...
man i like the flying lizard porsche
such a cool looking race car
incredible i like thjis xdxd its a fantastic competition
that falken porsche would be a nice desktop
Desktop of last one please!!!!
o(^.^)o
Can someone tell me the reason WHY de Ferran ran a Chapparel livery? Whats the link, or was it just to grab attention?
The last lap move by the Flying Dildoe Porsche was so tacky as to be a great reason to take the victory from them. The Corvette was the faster car all day!
TheJoker- It was to honor Jim Hall, who discovered his talent.
Crossofiron- Don't be such a pansy. He wouldn't let the corvette get away after bumping him at the last corner.
Crossofiron, I agree with HuskyWrench. The Corvette rammed the Porsche in the last corner, so why should the Porsche driver just let him drive past him after that? He pushed him over toward the wall, and when the Corvette passed him, the Corvette started to pull back to the right, and Jorg (Porsche driver) wasn't about to get pushed back, so he held his line. Beyond that, I think Jorg deserves this one, considering he got pushed out of the way at Sebring last year, in similarly questionable circumstances.
I think the Acura in Chapparal livery is the best looking LMP car since ALMS began, only in the Chapparal livery, though. I like the simple design and monochromatic colour scheme; I wish we could go back to the days before corporate sponsoring, with cars devoid of decals of every company who supplies a bolt to the car. BTW, is there anywhere I could find full specs for all the ALMS cars? I'm curious as to what engine the Acura uses, since it's obviously not production based.
Malcolm,
Sorry, you're all wet on your analysis of the last corner. Jorg should be arrested for manslaughter. He was holding up the Corvette all race with dirty blocking moves. That last tap by the Corvette in Turn 11 was a reasonable move as he was faster. The Porsche running the Corvette into the wall as he tried to pass was criminal. Especially when you see what the consequences were to the Corvette when it ran straight into the wall on the opposite side and was destroyed. Jorg had an inferior car and there should be consequences to his criminal dirty actions.
Alan
Criminal? Probably not. Shabby and classless? Definately. Jorg and the Porsche team have to live the reputation they create by this kind of conduct. If that's how they have to win, what's the point?