The Garage
 

Long Beach ALMS
Written by: David Phillips
Senior writer, RACER Magazine. Long Beach, Calif. 04/20/2008 - 12:11 AM


Audi's victory was the fruit of myriad improvements over last year's Long Beach showing. Photo: Marshal Pruett

TABLES TURNED Two weeks ago, with teammate Marco Werner looking on, Lucas Luhr got the jump on Romain Dumas’ Porsche Spyder on a late restart at St. Petersburg to make the pass that resulted in the overall race win for the Audi R10. Today it was Luhr’s turn to spectate in the closing laps as Werner again did battle for the lead, making a pass on Dumas that, ultimately, led to a second successive win for the #2 Audi R10.

“It was very exciting,” said Luhr. “I was standing in the pits watching Marco closing on the Spyder and I said ‘I can’t watch. I’m getting too old for this.”

For the record, Luhr will turn 30 years of age on July 22 of this year . . .

ONE BIG STEP FOR AUDI Last year the Audi R10s struggled here on the streets of Long Beach, nowhere more so than the fiendishly tight Turn 11 hairpin. Turn 11 is, of course, key to a fast lap at Long Beach as it leads onto the long Shoreline Drive straightaway and, as any student of racing can tell you, the most important corner on any racetrack is the one leading onto its longest straightaway.

As we noted yesterday, both Audi R10s were significantly quicker at Long Beach this year, with Lucas Luhr setting LMP1 pole at 1:11.765 and Frank Biela just a tick behind at 1:11.896 as compared to the 1:12.713 turned by Dindo Capello last year. Much of that improvement came in Turn 11.

“We changed the steering angle for the hairpin this year,” said Werner, “and it made a big improvement. It was a big step, worth more than half a second a lap.”

GETTING ANTSY? Dirk Muller’s spirited stint in the second half of the race cemented the GT2 class win for Tafel Racing’s Ferrari F430. But Mueller had a pretty good omen before taking over from teammate Dominic Farnbacher.

“About two minutes before I was getting ready for the driver change, I grabbed my helmetand my mechanic stopped me from putting it on,” he said. “It was full of ants. Together we got it solved right before I got in the car and then it was no problem. It was quite a funny thing and I think a sign that things were going to work OK for us. I can’t imagine having to radio in to (team technical director) Tony Dowe and say, ‘Tony, I’m coming in. My helmet is full of ants.’”

EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF Muller also attributed his ability to hold off the persistent efforts of Wolf Henzler’s Flying Lizards Porsche over the final laps to his touring car experience in Europe. “I had five years of hard fighting in European touring car racing before coming here to the American Le Mans Series,” he said. “That taught me how to drive and to know what to do to stay ahead of another fast car.

“I knew the possible places where Wolf could attempt to pass me, and it was a question of placing my car in a position where it would make passing very difficult. I have to say Wolf was a nice driver. There was no bumping but also no place for him to pass, and he accepted that and drove in a sporting manner.”

NUMBERS GAME

* Not only was the LMP2 win by David Brabham and Scott Sharp the first LMP2 victory for the Patron Highcroft Racing team, the win also gave Brabham the distinction of becoming the first driver to win a race in all four ALMS classes. Since 1999 he has earned seven LMP1/P900 victories (in a Panoz LMP), four wins in GT1/GTS (Ferrari and Aston Martin) and a single GT2 win in a Panoz Esperante.


#28 LG Motorsports / 3 Dimensional.com / Riley C6 Corvette

* The GT1 victory by the Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen Corvette C6.R represented Corvette’s 15th straight GT1 class win and the 60th class win for Corvette in ALMS competition.

* Today’s LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 class wins represented the 247th, 248th 249th and 250th class wins for Michelin in ALMS competition.



Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach
Long Beach / 1.968 miles
April 17-19 / Long Beach, CA

Results -
http://www.americanlemans.com/Competition/SessionDetail.aspx?ID=50LongBeachSaturday-RaceResults
Posted on 25 Apr 2008 by garysweb1
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ALMS: Audi Wins St. Pete
Written by: SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com 04/05/2008 - 05:48 PM St. Petersburg, Fla.


Capitalizing on the final restart gave Luhr and Audi the win. (John Dunagan/Fastline photo)

Audi’s Lucas Luhr passed Romain Dumas on a restart with three minutes left Saturday to give the manufacturer a victory in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio, its first overall victory of 2008. Luhr teamed with Marco Werner in Audi Sport North America’s No. 2 Audi R10 TDI as the German marque won on the streets of St. Petersburg for the second straight season.

Butch Leitzinger’s spin and crash in one of the Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyders with 12 minutes left brought out the yellow flag with Penske Racing’s Dumas in the lead. The crash also collected the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister. Dumas, who claimed LMP2 honors with Timo Bernhard in a Penske Porsche RS Spyder, took the lead from Luhr with 19 minutes to go under green.

But the torque of the Audi proved to be the difference on the long frontstretch when the green flag flew. Luhr moved to Dumas left and made a clean pass going into the opening turn.

Dumas and Bernhard did salvage their weekend with their eighth straight LMP2 victory dating back to Mid-Ohio in July of last year. The duo were five seconds clear of David Brabham and Scott Sharp in the Patrón Highcroft Racing entry, the highest finisher among the three Acura ARX-01bs.

The sister Audi of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro were second in LMP1, followed by Intersport Racing’s cellulosic E85-powered Lola-AER of Jon Field.

Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta led flag-to-flag for their second consecutive St. Petersburg victory in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R. Beretta qualified on the class pole position and never gave up his advantage as Gavin beat Jan Magnussen to the line by 4.754 seconds. It marked the first victory for cellulosic E85 in the American Le Mans Series as both Corvette factory cars are powered by the alternative fuel.

Tafel Racing posted its first Series victory as Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher won in GT2. The duo stayed clean as electrical problems and contact sidelined the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 and the Sebring-winning Porsche from Flying Lizard Motorsports.

It was Mueller’s first victory in the Series since 2000 and the first ever for Farnbacher. Mueller crossed the line by more than 13 seconds ahead of Flying Lizard’s No. 46 Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet.

Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg
presented by XM Satellite Radio results:

1. (1) Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (1, P1), 81.
2. (2) Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (1, P2), 81.
3. (3) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (2, P2), 81.
4. (4) Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 81.
5. (7) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (4, P2), 81.
6. (6) Christian Fittipaldi, Miami, FL; Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Acura ARX-01B (5, P2), 80.
7. (11) Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (6, P2), 80.
8. (12) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (1, GT1), 79.
9. (14) Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (2, GT1), 79.
10. (8) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (7, P2), 78.
11. (19) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (1, GT2), 77.
12. (20) Patrick Pilet, France; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2, GT2), 77.
13. (18) Marc Basseng, Germany; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3, GT2), 76.
14. (23) Johnny Mowlem, England; Gunnar Jeannette, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Ferrari F430 GT (4, GT2), 76.
15. (22) Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (5, GT2), 75.
16. (24) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (6, GT2), 75.
17. (21) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT2), 74.
18. (26) Doug Peterson, Bonita Springs, FL; Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (8, GT2), 74.
19. (13) Robbie Pecorari, Aston, PA; Gunnar Van der Steur, Chesapeake City, MD; Radical SR9 AER (8, P2), 74.
20. (5) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Porsche RS Spyder (9, P2), 71, Accident.
21. (16) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (9, GT2), 71.
22. (17) Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Ferrari F430 GT (10, GT2), 69.
23. (25) David Murry, Cumming, GA; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (11, GT2), 64.
24. (9) Frank Biela, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (2, P1), 63.
25. (15) Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Aston Martin DBR 9 (3, GT1), 48.
26. (10) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Lola B06/10 AER (3, P1), 33, Accident.
27. (27) Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Dodge Viper Competiton Coupe (12, GT2), 20, Accident.
28. (28) Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin DBRS 9 (13, GT2), 0, Mechanical.

Posted on 08 Apr 2008 by garysweb1
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F1: Bahrain GP
Written by: Adam Cooper
04/07/2008 - 07:40 AM Manama, Bahrain


Massa: just looking ahead. (LAT photo)

The Bahrain GP was not the most exciting race we have seen lately, but it did throw up some interesting elements, not the least of which was the confirmation that BMW Sauber has made a real leap in form and must now be considered a threat for race victories. It’s also very close in the midfield, with seemingly one driver from each of Toyota, Red Bull, Williams, Honda and Toyota now able to fight at the front of the chasing group, while their respective teammates can be several places behind in the bunch.

Ferrari

Ferrari was one of only two teams to have tested in Bahrain in February, and that extra knowledge clearly paid off come the race weekend. Felipe Massa was quickest on Friday, and looked set to get pole, only to be beaten by Robert Kubica. Kimi Raikkonen lined up fourth, and the assumption was that he was heavier. Massa made amends at the start, charging into the lead and staying far enough clear of Kimi to ensure that he was safe at the first pit stops. Indeed the Finn actually came in first. After that they traded fastest laps, but Raikkonen was never close enough to challenge for the lead. Towards the end they were still doing good times, but no doubt without stressing the engines too much.

BMW Sauber

Australia and Malaysia had provided more than a hint, but Bahrain really showed that BMW will be a force to be reckoned with this year. Robert Kubica was fifth while running a heavy fuel load on Friday, and showed his real pace by qualifying on pole. Unfortunately, he got off the line badly and lost out to Massa, and was later passed by Raikkonen. However he stayed in touch with the Ferraris and was only five seconds down on the leader at the end. Heidfeld had a good race and led for a few laps thanks to a late second stop. He finished fourth.

Renault

Once again Renault struggled to compete in the midfield battle, and the team came away from Bahrain without any points. Alonso just made it into Q3, and started 10th. Nelson Piquet had tested at the track last year, and that experience gave him a boost, but he could only manage 14th. On the first lap Alonso was hit from behind by Hamilton, which left him with wing damage that compromised his speed. He eventually finished 10th, which was where he started from. Piquet had a spin on the second lap, but had a good run – a pass on Bourdais went down well – until gearbox problems caused him to stop.


The Pole's on pole: Kubica took his and BMW Sauber's maiden F1 pole position. (LAT Photo)

Williams

Williams endured a terrible weekend in Malaysia, but appeared to make a big step forward in Bahrain. Nico Rosberg made it into Q3 and lined up eighth, with only Trulli’s Toyota joining the “big three” teams in front of him. In the race he struggled with the car, and despite Hamilton’s problems he actually dropped a place, as Webber got past him and left him still in eighth. Nakajima again couldn’t match his teammate’s pace, and started 14th. He spun on Vettel’s oil on the second lap, and then had a hard slog to an eventual 14th.

Red Bull

For the second race in a row Red Bull and Mark Webber managed to get into the points. Even the Aussie’s famous qualifying pace couldn’t get him into Q3, and he had to settle for 11th. He got ahead of the delayed Button at the start, and then benefited from the Hamilton/Alonso collision to move up to eighth. Stopping a full five laps later than Rosberg allowed him to jump the German and claim seventh. David Coulthard started 17th and had to pit after being hit by Sutil. That left him at the back of the field, where he ended up dicing with Button. He survived an assault from the Honda, over which the two begged to differ, and finished 18th.


Toyota

Jarno Trulli followed up his fourth place in Malaysia with a sixth in Bahrain, clearly claiming the honor of being “best of the rest” behind the three main title contenders. The fact that the team had joined Ferrari at February’s test probably didn’t hurt. As usual Trulli did a good job in qualifying to claim seventh, while Timo Glock was 13th. A bad start from Hamilton promoted Trulli to sixth, and he stayed there for the duration. After getting involved in incidents in the first races Glock managed to stay out of trouble, and his run to ninth provided him with useful experience.

Toro Rosso

STR wasn’t able to show the pace that it demonstrated at the start of the season, and indeed Sebastian Vettel found himself stuck in Q3, and had to settle for 19th. Sebastien Bourdais showed signs of progress as he qualified 15th. Unfortunately, Vettel’s race was not a long one, as he was hit from behind on the first lap. The impact created an oil leak that forced him out, and made life difficult for the other drivers on the second lap. Bourdais had some brake problems but otherwise had a quiet run to 15th, which is where he started from.

Honda

After a shaky start in testing Honda’s form continues to improve. In Bahrain Jenson Button did a good job to make it into Q3 and claim ninth place, while Rubens Barrichello was less than 0.2s behind in Q2, but had to settle for 12th. On the first lap Jenson was tapped by Fernando Alonso, which punctured a tire and forced him to slow and come into the pits. After that he found himself racing only the other drivers who had been delayed. He retired after a move on David Coulthard failed to work. Barrichello had a quiet run to 11th, gaining a single place after getting stuck behind Fisichella for the first stint.

Super Aguri

Lack of development means that the Super Aguri is the least-competitive car in the field, so thus it was no great surprise when Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato lined up on the back row. Taku’s chances were not helped by a spectacular spin into the barrier at the last corner. Both men gained from the first lap accidents going on around them, and were soon up to 15th and 16th, with the Japanese driver in front. They stayed close together for much of the race, and Davidson eventually got ahead as they finished 16th and 17th, having been demoted by the recovering Hamilton.

Force India

Force India has been knocking on the door of Q2 all season, and once again Giancarlo Fisichella missed out by the smallest margin, and had to settle for 18th. Adrian Sutil was 0.3s behind in 20th. Fisi made a good start and gained hugely from the chaos on the first lap. He was soon in 11th place, with Barrichello on his tail. The Brazilian remained behind until they pitted together on lap 22, and the positions reversed. Later Fisi had fun holding off the recovering Hamilton on his way to 12th. Sutil lost his nose on Coulthard on the first lap, and after a stop he finished 19th.

McLaren

McLaren struggled to match the pace of Ferrari from the start of the weekend, but the race would turn out to be even worse than anticipated. Lewis Hamilton qualified third, while Heikki Kovalainen was two places back. Lewis made a mistake with settings at the start and bogged down badly, and was only ninth at the end of the first lap. He then struck Fernando Alonso and had to pit for a new nose. That left him at the back, and from there it was a struggle to get back to 13th. Heikki flat-spotted a tire on the first lap, and thereafter had a relatively lonely run to fifth.
Posted on 08 Apr 2008 by garysweb1
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INDYCAR: St. Petersburg Notebook
Written by: David Phillips
04/07/2008 - 12:02 AMSt. Petersburg, Fla.


Graham Rahal surged to the front and stayed there in his first IndyCar Series start.

FOUR MORE YEARS The IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series will be racing in the streets of St. Petersburg for at least the next four years as the result of a multi-year extension of the existing agreement between the city and Andretti Green Promotions, promoters of the event since 2005. As well, AGP announced tentative agreements for multi-year extensions of its partnership with American Honda Motor Company on behalf of its Honda and Acura brands, title sponsors of the IndyCar and ALMS races, respectively.

“Since the inception of this event, our success has been largely due to the cooperative partnership AGP enjoys with the City of St. Petersburg, American Honda, the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series,” said AGP managing director Kevin Savoree. “We had a very big vision for this event when we first presented it to the city in 2004, and to be able to announce this agreement today is not only a milestone for our organization but a great day for racing fans in the St. Petersburg area.”

In recent months there had been speculation that the event’s days were numbered given plans for a new baseball stadium in the area where the race is held. Today’s announcement put paid to that speculation.

“I can’t express how excited I am to have this piece of our model nailed down for the next few years,” said Savoree. “It really speaks to the stability of racing here in St. Petersburg. We’re here to stay. Who knows what may or may not be here in five years? We hope the race site and the paddock area are intact. We have a great partnership with the city.”

“The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg has been a terrific thing for the city of St. Petersburg the past few years,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. “It’s had a tremendous economic impact, generated a lot of media exposure and it has rapidly become a tradition that’s part of the fabric of our city. Having two premier events in two days is an incredible asset for a city to have.”

FEELING RIGHT AT HOME There are undoubtedly plenty of practical and/or technical reasons for the fact that Oriol Servia enjoyed a strong weekend at St. Petersburg. Servia, of course, was no stranger to the St. Petersburg circuit, having driven to a 12th-place finish for Patrick Racing in 2003 in the one (and only) CART race here. Of course, the fact that Servia and his KVRT team have been racing on a steady diet of road and street circuits the past few years helped, as did their technical partnership with perennial IndyCar Series front-runners Target/Chip Ganassi Racing . . . not to mention the fact that Servia was sharing information with teammate Will Power, who set the fastest lap of qualifying yesterday. But there was also an, er, surreal element to Servia’s success, given the fact that St. Petersburg is home to the Salvador Dali Museum . . . and that Catalonian driver is a big fan of the Catalonian painter; so much so that he has sported various Dali-esque paint schemes on his crash helmet over the years.
“I’ve always liked his work for many reasons and I’ve always had something of his typical drawings on my helmets for the past 15 years,” said Servia, who made a point of visiting the Dali Museum this week. “I’ve had the melting watches. For the last year and a half, I’ve had his face on the side. I think it’s cool because it’s his typical crazy face and also the way he looks from the car it’s like he’s almost peeking out of the cockpit. It gives the helmet a different look.

“I’m not a big art person in general, but I love his work because there’s so much detail in it. He was so creative and he’s one of the few painters that got to see his success. It was always an inspiration to see somebody so creative and being successful doing his own thing. We only see his craziness, but he was a really hard worker.”

The hard work put in by Servia (and the KP Racing Technology team) at St. Petersburg resulted in seventh on the grid and a seventh-place finish.

NO JUSTICE (Part 1) One of the best drives of the day netted little in the way of results for Jay Howard. The ’06 Firestone Indy Lights Champion started 20th as the sole representative of Roth Racing after the team’s eponymous driver/owner withdrew from the race after a crash in the morning warm-up. Howard took full advantage of the wet-weather prowess he developed racing in his native England to advance through the field in the rainy opening segment of the race to run as high as fifth by mid-race and looked like staying there despite fierce pressure from Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.

“I’ve done a lot of wet weather driving in the U.K.,” said Howard. “I felt things out early on, found where the grip was at different parts of the circuit and then went pretty quickly. I was able to make my way through the field pretty well. My car was slightly better in the wet, but even when the track dried and we went to slicks we were doing well.”

Indeed, it was Briscoe who “cracked” under the pressure rather than Howard, as the Aussie clipped the inside wall at the apex of Turn 10 on Lap 56, launching his Penske Dallara-Honda into the outside wall with predictable results.

But Briscoe’s crash, ultimately proved the undoing of Howard’s effort as virtually the entire field pitted during the ensuing full course yellow and, in the process, the #24 Cirrus Dallara-Honda dropped all the way to 15th. Although Howard subsequently regained some of the lost ground, his race was to destined end in cruel fashion when he tried to follow Will Power past Dan Wheldon in Turn One on the final lap in a bid for ninth place. Although Power made it through, Howard did not. He and Wheldon banged wheels with Wheldon slithering off and back on track and Howard retiring with damaged suspension.


“I tried to follow Will past Dan,” said Howard. “Dan probably wasn’t expecting a second car to come through behind Will. He came across, we hit and that was it.

“It’s too bad we didn’t get the finish we might have wanted, especially for the crew who have worked so hard all through the nights this weekend. But I think people saw the sort of performance we’re all capable of.”

NO JUSTICE (Part 2) Darren Manning was another driver who deserved better than the unlucky 13th spot that was his final lot at St. Petersburg. Manning started 13th in A.J. Foyt’s entry and ran as high as fourth at mid-race.

Although he slipped down the order on his final pit stop, he was following eventual third place finished Tony Kanaan back through the field when the gearbox on his ABC Supply Dallara-Honda played up just before the Meira/Perera crash on Lap 76.

“Our car was pretty good,” he said, “and we had a pretty good race going right until the very end. I was following Tony (Kanaan) back through the field and I was just lining up to pass (Enrique) Bernoldi when I got stuck in fourth gear. I think I was faster than Tony and I really think we could have given him a run for third. But it was all for naught as it turned out. Disappointing for everyone.”

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS FOR CONQUEST Today was a case of good news/bad news for Conquest Racing. Franck Perera and Enrique Bernoldi both ran up front at various stages of the race, with Bernoldi even taking a turn in the lead on Lap 45-47.

Perera, too, was quite competitive and looking at a top-10 spot before crashing out of the race after as the result of an, er, optimistic bid to pass Vitor Meira in Turn 10 on Lap 76.

“With the slicks we were running fifth or sixth behind (Tony) Kanaan, and I was faster than him and catching him,” said Perera. “Then the yellow came out and, after the pit stop, I was stuck behind some drivers that were slower than me. (Vitor) Meira was blocking me when I was trying to get by. I don’t like being stuck behind someone slower than me, so I tried something. It’s a shame I crashed.”

Meira thought it more than a shame.

“What an absolutely stupid rookie mistake,” he said. “(Franck) Perera was totally wrong. It was a dumb rookie mistake and something you’d expect out of somebody that doesn’t know what they’re doing on a street course. To pass here you have to be side-by-side, at least, and you can’t pass where he crashed me with just your nose inside. He didn’t have one fifth of his car in position to pass me.”

Fortunately, Bernoldi’s run had a happier conclusion as the Brazilian brought the Sangari Dallara-Honda home in fifth place.

“My car was very nice to drive, especially in the wet,” he said. “When we stopped to change to slick tires the pit stop wasn’t great and I lost some positions. But I was able to overtake a lot of people on the racetrack. It was a lot of fun outbraking and passing people. These cars are not like Formula 1 cars. You can follow another car close enough to be able to overtake them on the brakes.

“I’m really happy with the result, especially after a not so good weekend at Homestead (where Bernoldi finished 18th). I think it’s a big week for the whole team to be leading the race and to finish fifth. I’ve been out of open-wheel racing for more than two years, so it takes a while for me to get back. But I think this is good practice. Two hours in these conditions . . . that’s a big lift for us.”

KUDOS TO NEWMAN/HAAS/LANIGAN RACING Needless to say, Graham Rahal’s win—coupled with an equally competitive showing by Justin Wilson that saw the McDonald’s entry lead laps 16-33, was a welcome boost to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. Like all the teams “transitioning” from the Champ Car Worlds Series, NHLR had roughly a month to prepare for the IndyCar Series, starting virtually from scratch. Their first planned road course test was scrubbed owing to a paucity of equipment, their second test was all but totally rained out and then Rahal crashed his car in testing at Homestead and missed the race.

Needless to say, rebounding by qualifying two cars in the top 10, have both of them lead the race and one of them win, was a big boost for the team. Asked if this was the most memorable win in his distinguished career, Carl Haas said “well, that’s going a long way. But it’s a real credit to our guys who have been working 80 hours a day for the past six weeks. And to Graham. He did a great job today.”

“For the guys . . .I think the biggest thing is this team, we don’t have a backup car,” said Rahal. “We barely had enough parts to put it together this weekend. And we knew that if anything . . . if I had hit the wall or anything had gone wrong this weekend, there was a chance we weren’t going to be racing here, too. So overall I think that the guys just feel so good, especially after Homestead, to be here sitting in
this position.

“I think that (the win) feels even sweeter for me to know that the guys can celebrate tonight and know that we won a race together and put what happened last weekend out of their mind.”

Posted on 08 Apr 2008 by garysweb1
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F1: Malaysian GP Stat Wrap
Written by: Sean Kelly 03/24/2008 - 12:50 PM. Sepang, Malaysia

A dream weekend for Raikkonen, a bewildering one for Massa.

Having been out to lunch throughout the Melbourne weekend, Kimi Raikkonen reminded everyone why he is the reigning world champion with a dominant display to win in Kuala Lumpur.

On the occasion of the 10th running of the Malaysian Grand Prix, and five years to the day since taking his maiden F1 victory, Raikkonen clocked up his 75th career points finish in style, overcoming the challenge of first teammate Felipe Massa, then Robert Kubica to take his 16th career win, moving him level with Sir Stirling Moss in 13th place on the all-time list.

Kubica drove a strong race to finish second, netting BMW’s 75th podium as an engine supplier, and on a weekend where Peter Sauber was much in evidence in the paddock, he saw his BMW-owned team chalk up two significant milestones. In 251 previous grands prix stretching back over 15 years, the team had never scored back-to-back podium finishes, nor had it ever taken a fastest lap.

Nick Heidfeld’s 1:35.366 on the penultimate lap was the quickest of the whole race, although only 0.096sec separated the best race laps of Heidfeld, Raikkonen and Hamilton. Although only finishing sixth on Sunday, Heidfeld is tied on points for second place in the championship right now with Raikkonen, and may even have an outside title shot, proving a thorn in the side of the bigger teams in much the same way as Jordan’s Heinz-Harald Frentzen was in 1999.

The presence of Heikki Kovalainen on the bottom step of the podium made it just the second time two Finns have stood on the podium at the same time (following on from the same two drivers at Fuji last year). It extends McLaren’s run of podium finishes to 19 on the bounce, the best in team history.

A resurgent Toyota performance netted Jarno Trulli fourth place, his and the team’s best finish since he was fourth at the 2006 United States GP, 26 races ago. He was in with a serious sniff at a podium finish at one stage, which would end a run of exactly 50 starts since he was last there, at Barcelona in 2005. Combined with the victory of test driver of Kamui Kobayashi in the GP2 support race on Sunday morning, it was a good weekend for the until-now underachieving Japanese squad.


Hamilton's qualifying penalty forced him to mix it up with the midfielders.

Fifth-placed Lewis Hamilton was left to rue his penalty in qualifying, although clearly he didn’t cope with it as effectively as Kovalainen. McLaren has had a car in the top three on the grid at every race since Suzuka 2006, and Hamilton himself had only ever started one F1 race from outside the top four (after crashing in Q3 at the Nurburgring last year).

Red Bull Renault suffered a turbulent weekend, summoned before the stewards to confirm the structural integrity of its RB4 chassis, the team raced on as normal, with Mark Webber netting his first ever points at Sepang, despite five consecutive top 10 starts on this circuit.

The Adrian Newey-designed car may be fragile, but it was good enough to beat the works team, as Webber took the flag two seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, who may well be driving a sub-standard car right now, but has still scored points in 21 of the last 22 races, a very consistent record.

Red Bull’s ability to build a car that can last a race distance was confirmed by David Coulthard’s ninth place, although this was the first time that the Scotsman had finished a Sepang race without actually scoring points in it. Tenth-placed Jenson Button once again appears to have a reliable machine, and he set the fourth-fastest lap of the race on the final tour, proving that the chassis has potential.

However, Honda must be troubled by the fact that it is the only engine supplier yet to score, despite all of the other manufacturers being in the points in both Melbourne and Sepang. Button’s teammate Rubens Barrichello fell foul of the pitlane regulations for the second successive weekend. After last week’s debacle, when he pitted while the pits were closed, took off with the fuel hose still attached and ran the red light, this week Barrichello was given a drive-through for speeding!


Williams had a rough race, starting with Rosberg's nose-job.

The Williams team came down to Earth with an unpleasant bump this weekend. Having began Friday in second place in the constructors’ championship, Nico Rosberg then missed Q3 for just the second time in the last nine races, while Kazuki Nakajima missed the cut in Q1.

Rosberg encountered more trouble on the opening lap when the 2005 GP2 champion managed to run into his compatriot Timo Glock, the 2007 GP2 champion, breaking the third Williams nose inside a week. A lapped 14th was the best that Nico could do for the rest of his day’s work, although he had more to cheer about than Glock, who dropped out after the collision. He and Adrian Sutil are two of the four men without a finish yet in the 2008 season. Force India’s Sutil has only managed 13 racing laps in two races so far, while being outqualified by Giancarlo Fisichella both times, so the only way is up.

Another of the drivers without a finish so far is another of the brigade of German drivers, Sebastian Vettel. However, the most futile weekend by far was suffered by Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais.

Not only did he suffer an engine failure on his first out lap of Friday afternoon, he then failed to get out of Q1 and was pitched into retirement at the sixth corner of the race. If that were not bad enough, the stewards had already fined him more than $6,000 for breaking the speed limit twice within the first 12 minutes of Friday morning practice!

Ferrari would most likely have scored a 1-2 finish here—the sixth 1-2 for a team in the 10 runnings of the Malaysian race—had it not been for Felipe Massa inexplicably dropping the car into the gravel at mid-distance. It marked the first time that the polesitter for this race failed to score points on raceday, although on lap 11 Massa unknowingly led Ferrari’s 12,500th lap in championship history.

The next race can’t come soon enough for Massa, especially given that it is in Bahrain, the track on which he scored a crushing victory from the pole in 2007.
Posted on 01 Apr 2008 by garysweb1
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