VIDEO: The GT2 finish at Sebring
At last! The final lap of the 12 Hours of Sebring has been posted on YouTube (thanks to commenter Devin Sylvester for sending the link). If you read our recap over the weekend, you already have an idea of how it went down. Now you can follow the jump to watch the unbelievably exciting last-lap GT2 showdown between Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister, driving one of the team's new Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, and Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo in his team's Ferrari 430GT. The video starts as the final lap begins, with Bergmeister trailing Melo byjust half a second after twelve full hours of racing. Both cars were equipped with on-board cameras, so the coverage is simply fantastic. We can watch this all day and never get bored.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ermanno 12:36PM (3/19/2007)
Grande Ferrari!
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Roc 12:42PM (3/19/2007)
damn that was actually exciting, and normally i think racing is boring
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Phillip 12:42PM (3/19/2007)
Is it just me or is the ALMS becoming as boring as Euro NASCAR/F1. Audi dominating the prototype class, likewise the C6R's in GT1 and Porsche with the exception of this race has been ruling the GT class for years.
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CJ 12:42PM (3/19/2007)
Whoa! Holy NASCAR!
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John P. 12:54PM (3/19/2007)
WOW, that was fantastic! reminded me of old BTCC racing or like #2 said - Nascar racing. What a finish! Amazing after 12 hours two cars would be going at it like this. Just wonderful!
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Aaron 1:03PM (3/19/2007)
Wow, that some of the most exciting racing I have seen... mind you, I don't watch a lot of racing. But that was awesome!
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displacementreplacement 1:08PM (3/19/2007)
ALMS is far from boring.
The LMP1 class has been dominated by the R10 diesels, but IMSA has worked to rectify this. They lowered the maximum fuel capacity for diesel entries to "ensure" that the R10's pitting schedules more closely matched those of the "petrol" entries. It's a first step. The next step will probably be adding ballast to the R10's, like they did with the R8's when they became too dominant.
GT1 was a closely contested class last year between Aston and Chevy during the beginning of the season, with race leads changing constantly. The Vette domination is really a recent thing. It could definitely use a few more marques to keep the action more exciting.
You're right about Porsche's GT2 class domination. But with Peterson/White Lightning switching its entries this year to Ferrari 360/430, you can expect some pretty tight competition with the 911s. As far as I know, the Ferraris previous to this year had been run by much smaller privateers.
LMP2 will be much more exciting than last year, with the Dyson-run Porsche RS Spyders and Andretti Green "Acuras" challenging the Factory backed Porsches. The brand new Acuras were at the front of the LMP2 pack on only their first race outing, despite Porsche having an entire year of experience with their own car.
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jay 1:12PM (3/19/2007)
@ 4
It's just you. Sure LMP1 and GT1 are basically one-make classes, but LMP2 and GT2 have some great competition. In fact the GT2 champ last year wasn't a Porsche, it was a Ferrari. Plus LMP2 now has 3 Acura prototypes competing against 4 Porsches. Don't count out the underdog Mazda team either. So at least half of the series is very exciting right now.
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Namir 2:27PM (3/19/2007)
I dont know about you guys, but instead of putting limitations to try and hold back the R10's.. shouldn't the rest of the P1 field try to catch up or develop better technology? It seems kind of dumb to say 'oh well they are TOO good so we are just going to make new rules to hold them back'
Your thoughts??
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why not the LS2/LS7? 1:36PM (3/19/2007)
Yes, P1 and GT1 are not at all competitive right now.
Both are suffering from one team dominating too much/too long.
However, they did make the gas tank smaller in the R10s this year. Its a start. Unlike displacementreplacement, I would say the next step will be to reduce the restrictor and/or reduce the boost, like happened to the R8.
The total power produced by a car is determined by the amount of air it can gulp, and the R10 restrictor has a >50% larger cross-section than the R8 one (even before the new A/C rules). They're just going to have to make the restrictor smaller and then, because that will reduce fuel consumption, reduce the size of the fuel tank again (it still has over 10% more energy than a gasoline tank in a P1 car).
Alternately, they could mess with the boost, but I think that would be pretty hard on the R10, Diesels rely on a lot of boost to make power.
P2 looks great this year (for the first time in years), and the fact that a Porsche and Ferrari could be within a car length after 12 hours says to me that GT2 holds some good competition for us this year too.
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Carlos R 9:42AM (3/20/2007)
Heart-Pounding & Dramatic as I saw it live on Speed.
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felonious monk 2:12PM (3/19/2007)
As a long time follower of the series, I have to admit it's gotten pretty boring. Audi has not really been challenged in the past few years. They've pretty much been racing against themselves. Any challengers that has come close in terms of speed are forced to play catch-up in terms of development and reliability. Giving credit to the sanctioning body and challengers, things are starting to get harder and harder for the boys from Ingolstadt.
GT1 is extremely boring since the exit of the Oreca Vipers. It got exciting again from time to time but the challengers just don't have the staying power to match the GM backed team. It's a shame Ford doesn't have the balls to enter their GT in this category. They set a pretty low mark for their halo car (beating the already outdated F360 on the street) and called it good. So much for "Bold moves". Another usesless corporate management slogan... appearing to do something while doing nothing (and get paid a lot for it). Classic american management style.
GT2 used to be really exciting with the M3 GTR, but due to the whining and crying of Porschephiles, that car was banned from competition. True, BMW cheated the rules a bit, but Porsche could've stepped up to the challenge and built a car to match instead of being a cry-baby about it.
Glad to see the F430 take the win, a dirty one at that... still good action that's been long missing nontheless.
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BKadalur 2:30PM (3/19/2007)
bumpedy bump bump
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BKadalur 2:33PM (3/19/2007)
#11, i totally agree with you. audi built the best out there, and simply because other's can't keep up, they're limiting them?
this isn't nascar, this is to enhance the trickle down effect of advancements in cars. how is that going to happen if the best are limited and the others simply try to match a limited champion?
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villainy 3:50PM (3/19/2007)
11, 13
*cough* rotary *cough*
Man, racing used to be all about technical achievement and performance prowess.. Like 30+ years ago, those were the days.
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Manolo 3:04PM (3/19/2007)
Many races look boring on TV, if that is the case, just go the the race tracks and watch them live, close by.
There is absolutely nothing boring about watching the Audis and Corvettes regardless of domination.
I was at Sebring this year and the race was fantastic.
The Audis have incredible handling and it is a pleasure to see them handle the curves like no other car. And they are also incredibly quiet!
The Corvettes on the other hand are quite noisy, but a much nicer sound than the Spyker and the Panoz (also V8 cars) and both Corvettes were racing each other all race long.
Of course no comments on the fantastic races in P2 and GT2 in which both "non-favorites" won.
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Bob-o 3:29PM (3/19/2007)
"11. I dont know about you guys, but instead of putting limitations to try and hold back the R10's.. shouldn't the rest of the P1 field try to catch up or develop better technology? It seems kind of dumb to say 'oh well they are TOO good so we are just going to make new rules to hold them back'
Your thoughts??"
No one is willing to throw as much money into it as Audi, so there really isn't an easy way to increase competition.
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Mr. Oak 3:41PM (3/19/2007)
Audi is building R10s because they want to sell more diesel cars, their competition are building cars so that they can race them. Adui and GM's pockets are way too deep for privateers to compete with. I wish Toyota woulds spend some of that money that they are pissing away in F1 on ALMS and LeMans.
I'd like to go on record saying that the only Ferraris that I ever rooted against, were the ones that Michael Schumacher drove. Great win for them.
Yes, Ford was chicken-shit to build the GTs in honor of the legendary GT-40 race cars, and never let them turn a lap in anger. CLUCK! CLUCK!!
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felonious monk 4:08PM (3/19/2007)
"Of course no comments on the fantastic races in P2 and GT2 in which both "non-favorites" won." --- Manolo
What do you think this article which you are commenting to is about? Could it be.... wait for it.... GT2??
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felonious monk 4:15PM (3/19/2007)
"this isn't nascar, this is to enhance the trickle down effect of advancements in cars. how is that going to happen if the best are limited and the others simply try to match a limited champion?" -- BKadlur
Trickle down does happen (Audi FSI, direct injection), but it is not the purpose of the series. The propaganda machine might want you to think so but it's all about creating entertainment to make money.
Limiting the top performers levels the playing field and promotes competition and action... more viewership = more tickets sold, more tv coverage, and more advertiser dollars.
It's all about money. If it was truely about technical advancement, then you'd end up with a couple of well financed teams with the best money can buy running laps while the rest of the field is just warming up... and that, is essentially what happened in F1... summed up in one word: BORING.
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