Saturday, 6:00pm
What a finish! The pair of Audis used incredible overtaking and heavy traffic to fend off competition from David Brabham in the #9 Acura to win the American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach.
Racing against no one else in their class, the Corvette C6-Rs easily took the GT1 class, while a fierce battle came down to the final turn and straightaway in GT2, as Dirk Mueller and Tafel Racing brought the #71 Ferrari F430GT to victory, just inches in front of Wolf Henzler’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for Flying Lizard. Henzler’s teammate, Patrick Pilet, brought his #46 GT3 to third place.
Henzler sounded optimistic before the race, as his car began in 2nd place with Tafel behind him in 3rd.
“Second place looks good,” he said, “Because the car is very fast, our other car is in first, and the Ferraris are behind us.” In the end though, they weren’t able to fend off Tafel’s prancing horse, despite a thrilling attempt to overtake it in the final hairpin.
We’ll be back tonight with quotes and photos from today’s exciting race through Long Beach’s streets.
Saturday, 5:45pm
Audi’s done it!
With just ten minutes to go, Emanuele Pirro has made a fantastic move down the Shoreline straightaway to edge out Romain Dumas, and has taken the 2nd place slot to join fellow Audi driver Marco Werner at the top of the field.
The Audis complete an amazing comeback after starting from fourth and sixth positions, and now must hold on to the 1-2 lead with only a few minutes left to go, and two Porsches and an Acura breathing hard down their necks…
The Tafel Ferrari still holds a miniscule lead over both Flying Lizard Porsches, which are pushing extremely hard to overtake and capture the GT2 victory.
Saturday, 5:30pm
All of a sudden, there’s pandemonium in the GT2 class! Under yellow flag, the two Flying Lizard Porsches headed into the pits with both the Tafel Racing and Risi Cimpetizione Ferraris hot on their tails.
All four switched drivers and headed out in the original order, except that the Risi Ferrari had trouble getting started, and the crew removed the engine cover (which has the rear wing attached to it) to tend to the motor. Without yet fixing the problem, Risi’s driver got the car started and took off – without an engine cover or rear wing! The part was reattached and the car sent back out. It’s been a difficult weekend for Risi and it just got a lot harder.
To make things more interesting, the GT2 cars entered the track perfectly timed to coincide with the rest of the field as they went into Turn 1. The turn was extremely bunched up, and the Tafel Racing Ferrari took the opportunity to leapfrog over the Flying Lizard Porsches and now leads the GT2 class.
At the lead, the DHL Porsches were somehow overtaken by Marco Werner in the Audi R10 TDi – after beginning the race in 6th – but Romain Dumas regained the lead in his Porsche while teammate Sascha Maassen has fallen to fourth. 25 minutes to go in this thrilling ALMS contest.
Current Standings – Prototype
1. (P1) #2 Audi R10 TDi
2. (P2) #7 DHL Porsche Spyder RS
3. (P1) #1 Audi R10 TDi
4. (P2) #9 Patron Acura ARX-01b
5. (P2) #6 DHL Porsche Spyder RS
Current Standings – GT1 & GT2
1. (GT1) #3 Corvette C6-R
2. (GT1) #4 Corvette C6-R
3. (GT2) #71Tafel Racing Ferrari F430GT
4. (GT2) #45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
5. (GT2) #46 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
Saturday, 4:45pm
American Le Mans does not disappoint. Timo Bernhard has pushed his Audi all the way to the front to challenge the two leading Porsche RS Spyders, who are weaving feverishly through traffic to stay ahead of Bernhard and his Audi R10 TDi.
Meanwhile, another exciting battle in the GT2 class is being fought between the two leading Flying Lizard Porsches, and closely following Ferraris of Risi Competizione and Tafel Racing.
Get out and see what is building up to be a fantastic finish!
Saturday, 4:15pm
That’s what I call racing! The American Le Mans Series is underway after a thrilling four-wide green flag start down the high speed straightaway on Shoreline Drive, with two Porsche RS Spyders (P2 class) fending off a pair of Acuras (P2) to take a 1-2 lead heading into Turn 1.
About ten laps in, the GT2 Viper has found problems and retired, causing a yellow flag, which will bunch up the track – much to the delight of two Audi R10-TDi’s (P1), looking to fight back into the top spots. Starting from 6th and 7th position, the Audis have crept up to 4th and 6th in just ten short laps. Yellow flags will certainly work to their advanage as the 100-minute race continues.
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Saturday, 3:30pm
The starting grid for is all set for the final race in Champ Car Series history, the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, with Justin Wilson continuing his hot weekend and putting the McDonald’s car on pole position for the 2nd straight year with an incredible 1:06.902 lap in the session’s final seconds. Last year, Sebastien Bourdais collected the pole and the win in the exact car and chassis before leaving Champ Car for Formula One.
Rounding out the Top 3 are LBGP regular Alex Tagliani – who looked to be in great position to win the pole with a seeminlgy unbeatable lap of 1:07.084 before Wilson squeezed in his time – and Frank Perrera (1:07.180), a rookie racing in his first ever Champ Car Series race.
“I think we have the package to fight all of these guys,” Perrera said.
It would seem to many that Perrera came out of nowhere to snatch the spot, but it was certainly no surprise to him.
Frank Perrera
“I knew that I could get the pole,” he said, “But I had a small puncture on the front right tire, so I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted for first.” The rookie is no stranger to success – a graduate of the Atlantic Racing Series, he finished every single race in the top 5 last season. Now he’s ready to show that he can find the same success in his first Champ Car race.
“We had some fuel pump problems yesterday,” he said, “But from this practice this morning we showed we were ready.”
Will Power (1:07.205) and Paul Tracy (1:07.392) rounded out the Top 5, much to Power’s dismay.
“It was not very good,” Power said of his qualifying session. “We’ve had a downshifting problem all weekend. But the 2nd run was ok, and we’ll see what happens. We’ll need a good start and fuel strategy. If there aren’t many yellows tomorrow we’ll have a good shot.
Coming off of a thrilling IRL win, Graham Rahal had trouble keeping that momentum going and will start ninth tomorrow with a 1:07.703.
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In today’s 4:00pm American Le Mans Series race, there is plenty of drama to follow at the front of the pack.
But many eyes will be on a car starting near the back of the grid; the Aston Martin Vantage GT.
The brand new car from the famous British marque will make its world debut here in Long Beach today, after much speculation. The Drayson-Barwell team had raced a heavier DBRS-9 car earlier in the season without much success, and was not sure whether or not they would field a car this weekend.
Photo by Russell Conroy
But the decision was made to go ahead and debut the Vantage GT with the hope of putting points on the leaderboard for the first time this season. If points were given for aesthetic value, Drayson-Barwell would be sitting pretty. That’s not how it works, however. It’ll be a struggle to earn points after the car posted the third slowest time in yesterday’s qualifying session.
Keep your eyes open for the classic British green blur racing down the track, with the appropriate #007 on its side.
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Ask yourself this question: How long is it taking me to read this sentence right now?
Here’s your answer: In the time it took you to read that, eight Champ cars just blew by. After the first round of qualifying today, Justin Wilson stands on top in the battle for the Long Beach Grand Prix pole position, with a blistering time of 1:07.356. But several contenders are breathing down his neck, with times mere fractions of a second behind. Last year’s surprise sensation Oriol Servia posted a 1:07.858 for second, while Alex Tagliani took third with a 1:07.887.
Wilson’s Newman Haas Lanigan teammate Graham Rahal – who qualified fifth with a 1:08.172 today – is one of the drivers hoping to snag a spot on the front starting line on Sunday.
“We made some changes on the car and made a lot of improvements since the first practice this morning,” said the 19-year-old phenom, who many have picked as a race favorite. “I think we’re still in Top 3 or Top 5 contention. Who’s to say we can’t be on pole tomorrow?”
“After you win you’re always on Cloud 9 and you want to keep it going,” said Graham Rahal, after his IRL win in St. Petersburg. “But it’s not going to be easy this week.”
Not me, but then, who’s to say that anyone in the 20-car-field can’t be on pole tomorrow? Wilson set the pace early and often in Q1, but was continuously pushed and challenged until he was able to post his outstanding 1:07.356.
While Wilson sits pretty for now – the top time on Friday’s qualifying session guarantees him a spot in the race’s front line on Sunday – but you can bet that his competition will be ready to capitalize on any mistake. Even those towards the middle and back of the pack are following closely behind.
Alex Figge, one of only three Americans in the Champ Car race, posted a 1:08.549, relegated to twelfth in the field. But Figge is still confident about his chances, partly due to teammate Mario Dominguez’s success.
“We had some problems with the car this morning,” Figge said. “[Dominguez’s success today] shows us that the car can do well here if we can figure out the problems we’ve been having. They’re definitely fixable.”
The final fight for the pole will take place during the second qualifying session on Saturday, at 2:00pm.
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In ALMS news on Saturday morning, the big story was that both Audi R10-TDi’s posted relatively slow times and were bettered by a pair of Acuras. But surely they would step it up in qualifying.
Well, the starting grid is now set and Audi will start behind not two, but three (!) Acuras and a pair of Porsche RS Spyders, one of which – the #7 team of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas – set the quickest time of the day and will start the race from pole position.
A Porsche RS Spyder will look to win the American Le Mans Series race in Long Beach for the second straight year.
Bernhard and Dumas will be followed by two Acuras, then another RS Spyder, another Acura, and the two Audis, who will now have to fight and claw their way through a very fast field to snatch the victory.
The likely pair of Corvette C6-Rs posted blistering qualifying times and will lead the GT1 class, while the #46 and #45 Porsches will lead the #62 and #71 Ferrari F430GTs in the GT2 class.
Saturday’s American Le Mans Series race begins at 4:00pm.
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On just the first day of practice and qualifying, it’s already been full of thrills and surprises at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Some of the usual suspects – Paul Tracy, Graham Rahal, Alex Tagliani, Justin Wilson – put up very impressive times under 1:09.00 on the two-mile course, but the morning’s surprise of the early practice has been Mario Dominguez, getting out onto the track early to post some very quick times, then hanging tough with the big guns once they started catching up. He set the day’s fastest lap at 1:08.5, which by the end of practice was good enough for an impressive fourth.
Mario Dominguez made noise early in the day before setting the fourth-best time in the qualifying session.
Dominguez has four top-5 LBGP finishes to his credit, but last year finished 17th. Perhaps we’re getting an early glimpse of someone to keep our eyes on over the weekend.
UPDATE: Justin Wilson used a late surge to set the morning practice’s fastest lap at 1:08.2, followed by Alex Tagliani’s 1:08.3.
“I’m very happy with how [the car] feels,” Wilson said after the practice. “Hopefully we can do it when it counts tomorrow and Sunday.”
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Long Beach is just plain unkind to the ever-dominant ALMS Audi team. Last year’s American Le Mans Series race saw the first-ever dethroning of the team’s behemoth Audi R10-Tdi, which was previously undefeated for nearly two years.
The legendary Audi R10 TDi was outpaced by a pair of Acura ARX’s this morning.
In this morning’s practice, Audi – racing in the series’ top class, P1 – was topped again by two Acuras, competing in the lower P2 class. Both Audis finished mere ticks of a second from the morning’s top lap time, but this team is certainly not used to seeing their names in 3rd and 6th.
Corvette Racing’s twin C6-Rs took the top spots in the GT1 class, edging out the prettiest car on the track, the 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT. Sure, looks count for something, but sound counts for more – stay away from tunnels and cover your ears when the C6-Rs are approaching. Trust me.
In GT2, the Ferrari F430GT of Tafel Racing topped a field of Porsches, Ferraris, a Panoz, a Viper and a Ford GT. The Tafel car looked very impressive, but smart money is still on last year’s GT2 champ, the bright-red Risi Competizione F430GT.
The Tafel Racing Ferrari F430GT will look to win its second straight race on Saturday.