ALMS Wrap: Audi, Corvette, Intersport, Risi win in Portland
LMP1: Audi R10 TDI (Capello/McNish)
Yesterday's ALMS Portland Grand Prix saw the Audi R10 pair finish 1-2 for the first time this season. The diesel sports cars started the race from rows two and three after IMSA enacted a late rules-change that allowed Dyson Racing to reduce the weight of its two Lola-AERs. The Dysons secured the pole and second grid positions and were running first and third when an incident involving one of the Penske Spyders and the Highcroft Racing LMP1 car brought out the yellow. On the restart the Audis took the lead and kept it. Dindo Capello and Alan McNish took the overall win in the #2 R10 TDI.
Follow the jump for more action-packed racing pics and to find out how the Corvettes fared in the GT1 Class, and whether or not the Porsche Spyders could pull out another victory in the LMP2 class.
[Various Sources via Motorsport.com and AmericanLeMans.com]
Corvette Racing scored its 50th win as Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta steered the #4 C6.R to victory over the #007 Aston Martin DB9R. The Ron Fellows/Johhny O'Connell-driven #3 car joined its stablemate up front for a time after the aforementioned restart but was eventually passed by the Aston later on. It was no picnic being behind the wheel of either car as both experienced air conditioning problems on a very hot and humid day at the track. The milestone win keeps Corvette ahead of Aston Martin in the championship standings.
The LMP2 class had a surprise victor when Liz Halliday took the checkered flag in the #37 Intersport Lola after the #6 Penske Porsche RS Spyder -- which had built a 5-lap lead -- died on pit lane with 15 minutes left in the race. The win for Intersport ensured that Halliday and co-driver Clint Field maintained their lead in the P2 Drivers Championship points race. The other Penske Porsche spent a lengthy amount of time in the garage after being hit by the Highcroft car and finished 18 laps behind class winner.
Finally, the Risi Competitzione Ferrari 430GT orchestrated a dramatic come-from-behind win. In the opening minutes of the race, the Ferrari pitted for tires after being hit from behind and found itself in last place. Over the course of the afternoon, the driver team of Mika Salo and Jaime Melo slowly and steadily clawed their way back up the ranks. The drama came to a peak when Mika Salo passed the #31 Petersen/White Lightning Porsche in the Festival Turns almost two-and-a-half hours into the race. The Ferrari never looked back and eventually beat the Porsche by over 20 seconds.
GT1: Corvette Racing C6.R (Gavin/Beretta)
LMP2: Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 AER (Field/Halliday)
GT2: Risi Competitzione Ferrar1 430 GT (Melo/Salo)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
chuck goolsbee 11:45AM (7/24/2006)
Gotta love how those oil-burners are blowing everything else off the track!
I love the smell of Diesel in the morning.... it smells like... Victory.
--chuck
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Conor 12:18PM (7/24/2006)
Were the Corvettes this good last year? I just started following the circut this year, so answers would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Grant 12:22PM (7/24/2006)
hooray direct injection!
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chewy 1:32PM (7/24/2006)
Grant
Yes, Corvette has been the dominationg team in GT1 for a while now. What makes this TDI diesel win even more significant is that Audi's closest competitro ran at a weight of 99 pounds less than the Audi in order to make the racing more competitive.
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beken 1:44PM (7/24/2006)
I lost interest when they started restricting the consistant winners. Allowing your competitors to have an unfair advantage just to even out the racing kind of takes the intrique out of true racing.
It is impressive to see the Audis win even with a weight penalty (but then, diesel engines are so high in torque, it doesn't matter that much), and then to see the Corvettes win with restrictor plates and weight penalties.
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Shoeman 2:43PM (7/24/2006)
Is it just me, or does that Ferrari look as impressive as the described performance?
And McNish? Salo? So this is where all the best drivers just past their F-1 primes go! Excellent ... I'll have to start following these series now.
Good write-up. Although the title gives away the results, even though your summary asks "Will the Porsche win?" :)
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dolph 4:03PM (7/24/2006)
I was at the race... what the heck happened with the start line flag and the flag going into the festival curves at the end of the long full course caution? The start flag was waving green, but the festival flag was still showing full course caution... so the Porsche (forgot which one it was) that was coming out of the pits was going very slowly, with a bunch of cars in race mode flying down the front straight. Nearly caused a huge wreck in the festival curves.
All in all it was a great race. Freakishly hot and humid, but great fun.
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