the Porsches get the better of the Audis again at Mosport

[harvick#1]

wow, Audi dominated but Porsche took the win.

Great job by B-K Motorsports to take 6th Overall and 4th in class


top 15
#7 P2 Porsche
#1 P1 Audi
#6 P2 Porsche
#2 P1 Audi
#26 P2 Acura
#8 P2 BK Lola
#20 P2 Porsche
#15 P2 Acura
#16 P2 Porsche
#3 GT1 Corvette
#4 GT1 Corvette
#33 GT1 Corvette
#62 GT2 Ferrari
#61 GT2 Ferrari
#12 P1Creation

[Mark in Oshawa]

Harvick, the truly amazing part of this one was just how fast things can change in Sportscar racing (or any racing) I was assigned to the GT2 pits and I had to keep track of the comings and goings and who was in the car. I spent most of the day looking on the monitor when I could to watch the big battle and it never seemed like the Porsches were really close. Not 2 minutes after my fellow pit reporter who was watching that zone called in to say he was heading up to victory lane, that is when the tranny issues started happening to McNish. It was just wild to be in the pits and see the Porsche/Penske crew looking around with smirks as they saw the R10 getting hauled in and the looks of "oh no, not again" to the R10 guys. Whatever one might think of the outright speed of this car, it aint no R8.

[Subaru WRX]

bad luck for McNish :eek:

Ferrari again master of the GT2 class

as for the BK Mazda-Lola, yes it done an outstanding performance, beating the 2 spyder of Duson and the Acura of Fernandez ! finally the creations....DISASTER !!

[Mark in Oshawa]

For a race that didn't have a huge amount of passing for position in the early going, it got interesting in the end.

I finally watched the tape today, and got caught up on all the good stuff on the track that you cant see from where I was.

I was a volunteer for ALMS in their Pit reporting crew for the media room and internet feed, and I highly recommend the experience.

That said, if you do it, tape the race, because seeing the car coming into the pits with the body work all dinged up is neat, but you do want to see HOW it happens.

Congrats to the Mazda P2 team, they drove one hell of a race, and I wasn't aware of it from my post in the GT2 section of Pitroad.

[wmcot]

Audi seems to be having one of "those" years. All the luck is against them. Leading comfortably, McNish gets stuck in gear? How many times has that happened?

At Road America, Audi would have built up a substantial lead if McNish's tire hadn't fallen apart. Another one of those rare things.

It's bad enough that the diesel Audis are penalized with fuel flow and fuel capacity and tracks that are suited for the P2 cars, but when they look like they are finally going to dominate, something goes wrong!

It's a year to forget about for Audi. Maybe they should bring back a modified R8 as a P2 car?

(Oh, well, at least Corvette won! - yawn...)

[Mark in Oshawa]

wmcot, the fact is Penske with the Porsches has developed the car fully and is getting the most out of it. For pure speed, it is just a fraction of a second slower than the Audi. At Mosport, the Porsches didn't give up much to the Audi, and that was on a track that was perfect for the power of the Audi. Heck, it is remarkable McNish was able to turn the laps he did in the end, with only 4th through 6th gear, because only an engine with that massive torque would allow that kind of speed with Moss Corner and the relatively slow corner 10 at Mosport.

I think the R8 was a far better race car than even Audi can believe, for it was far more bulletproof and resilent than the R10.

Next year, you watch, it wont get any better, for Penske I think will get even more speed out of the Porsche....

[trumperZ06]

;) If Don Panoz wants the Audi's to return next year... ALMS will have to adjust the rules for the LMP-1 cars.

:D Penske's Porsche's should win easily this weekend @ Detroit... Road Atlanta will be a bit more interesting.

[sebmour]

It was an interesting race. It is awesome to see the real speed these cars go through in turn #4 going downhill...WOW

I was a photographer over there this week-end.

http://www.sebmour.smugmug.com/gallery/3090472#188630988

[Mark in Oshawa]

;) If Don Panoz wants the Audi's to return next year... ALMS will have to adjust the rules for the LMP-1 cars.

:D Penske's Porsche's should win easily this weekend @ Detroit... Road Atlanta will be a bit more interesting.

Trumper, the thing is, Audi should have won at Road America and they should have won Mosport. Champion Racing screwed up both races or had mechanical problems. The bar is higher now. They have to work harder. Panoz will keep using the LeMans rules with a little more libreal intrepretation at times. The thing is, ALMS races on too many tight and twisty tracks where the Diesel puts out too MUCH power. Maybe they shouldn't have been so quick to dump the R8 eh?

AS for seeing them go through 4 at Mosport Seb, The telemetry on the Porsches had them tickling 165 through there before hammering on the brakes for Moss in the gully. For anyone to witness the sheer speed of these cars through the corners is breathtaking.....

[sebmour]

Not only the speed but the sound. The TDI'S are suprinsgly silent. I had a hard time earing them coming to a corner with my plugs in...The Panoz and corvettes are sweet but defening.

[Bob Riebe]

;) If Don Panoz wants the Audi's to return next year... ALMS will have to adjust the rules for the LMP-1 cars.

:D Penske's Porsche's should win easily this weekend @ Detroit... Road Atlanta will be a bit more interesting.
If the IMSA throws away the ONLY thing that has made this year not be a boring parade, at best, they will be fools.

The setting of the rules so the Audis actually had to push the car to win,has brought back racing, and it has made the Audis fall prey the thing that shadowed any Big Block Corvette or Camaro, more torque than the drive train, or tires, can easily handle.

Watching drivers try to force their cars do what they do not really want to do, is what made racing exciting.

Now the IMSA must decide, whether they keep the ACO happy, or people comng through the gate with races that actually are.
Bob

[wmcot]

It was an interesting race. It is awesome to see the real speed these cars go through in turn #4 going downhill...WOW

I was a photographer over there this week-end.

http://www.sebmour.smugmug.com/gallery/3090472#188630988

NICE PHOTOS!!!! (Any idea who was driving the Gilles Villeneuve F1 Ferrari?)

[wmcot]

If the IMSA throws away the ONLY thing that has made this year not be a boring parade, at best, they will be fools.

The setting of the rules so the Audis actually had to push the car to win,has brought back racing, and it has made the Audis fall prey the thing that shadowed any Big Block Corvette or Camaro, more torque than the drive train, or tires, can easily handle.

Watching drivers try to force their cars do what they do not really want to do, is what made racing exciting.

Now the IMSA must decide, whether they keep the ACO happy, or people comng through the gate with races that actually are.
Bob

The pathetic thing is that it's not just the Audis that are suffering, but when all the other LMP1 cars end up behind the P2's, GT1's and some GT2's then something is wrong with the class structure. I'm not sure how to fix it so that each class is competitive within that class, but also has a distinct performance advantage over lower classes in most cases. I fear that Audi will tire of losing to P2's and pack up for Europe where they can compete with the Peugeots on an even basis. You never see P2's beating the Peugeots!

[Easy Drifter]

Awsome speeds. The average is now what my top speed used to be in my 1100cc sports racer when I held the class lap record in the late 60's.
For me the fastest point was the bottom of 4 (the chute) at 135 and that was flat out with no lift at all. Going into 8 was about 132. Times change. :D

[trumperZ06]

The pathetic thing is that it's not just the Audis that are suffering, but when all the other LMP1 cars end up behind the P2's, GT1's and some GT2's then something is wrong with the class structure. I'm not sure how to fix it so that each class is competitive within that class, but also has a distinct performance advantage over lower classes in most cases. I fear that Audi will tire of losing to P2's and pack up for Europe where they can compete with the Peugeots on an even basis. You never see P2's beating the Peugeots!

;) The Audi's almost didn't return to the ALMS series this year. These cars are designed for the LeMans 24 hour race, a long high speed track. They were being pushed on the short tracks, before Porsche came in with their LMP2's. Now they are forced to run with the fuel cell size reduction, that takes away one of the advantages in running Diesel engines.

[harvick#1]

funny how when the R8 P900 was losing to the Dyson Lolas P675 no one really complained.

it happens, the Porsche team has created an extremely good car and they are taking full advantage

[sebmour]

NICE PHOTOS!!!! (Any idea who was driving the Gilles Villeneuve F1 Ferrari?)


Thanx WMCOT
It was the owner of the car; Bud Moeller. He bought this car some 12 years ago. He races this car in legends racing from time to time. Always nice to see such a legendary car still roar through the twist and turns of a raceway.