Category Archives: Professional Racing

ESPN3 Broadcast of ALMS Northeast Grand Prix (Lime Rock Park)

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After a week long trip to Eastern Europe and a self imposed media blackout so I could watch it fresh on ESPN3 rebroadcast, I really enjoyed the ALMS Northeast Grand Prix upon my return to sunny SoCal.  Especially enjoyable is the enthusiast oriented broadcast by the Radio Le Mans team of John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw.  These guys are real pros, and their broadcast is fabulous, and a clear step up from the ESPN2 highlight show.  If you are an ALMS fan, you MUST watch ESPN3 and the Radio Le Mans team.  If you are a race fan, you really owe it to yourself to check out the Radio Le Mans podcast.

Le Mans – Final

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With about 2:45 to go in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi #2 and #3 both crashed in separate incidents.  The #2, driven by Allan McNish was in the lead at the time, and it crashed into the barriers when McNish attempted a pretty aggressive maneuver in the Porsche Curves.  McNish’s crash promoted Audi #1 into the lead.  Astonishingly, the Audi team was able to get the #2 back on the track so fast, they only went  down one lap, so they were still in second place and still in the race – albeit with a long shot at this point.  The Audi team was able to get the #3 back on track in short order as well.  Simply amazing that the Audi teams could repair both of those cars simultaneously so quickly.

Final Le Mans Results:

LMP1:

  1. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #1 – Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer
  2. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #2 – McNish/Capello/Kristensen
  3. Audi Sport North America, Audi #4 – Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller

LMP2:

  1. Starworks Motorsport, HPD #44 – Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith
  2. Thiriet By TDS Racing, Oreca #46 – Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau
  3. Pecom Racing, Oreca #49 – Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari

GTE-Pro:

  1. AF Corse, Ferrari #51 – Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander
  2. Luxury Racing, Ferrari #59 – Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher
  3. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin #97 – Mucke/Fernandez/Turner

GTE-Am:

  1. Larbre Competition, Corvette #50 – Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy
  2. IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche #67 – Pons/Armindo/Narac
  3. Krohn Racing, Ferrari #57 – Krohn/Johnsson/Rugolo
For those who have a Speed2 subscription, you can view race highlights here.

Le Mans at 15 Hours

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Well, unfortunately, the battle between Audi and Toyota was short lived: the #8 Toyota was taken out by a Ferrari GTE-Am car – bringing out an extended safety car period for barrier repairs – and on the first lap of the ensuing green, the #7 Toyota tangled with the Delta Wing car.  The #7 sustained damage that seemed to bring on an endlessly cascading series of troubles until the team threw in the towel.  Audis are currently running 1-2-3 overall and in LMP1: the #1 and #2 R18 e-trons first and second and the #4 R18 ultra third.

In LMP2, the #44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX 03b has a one lap lead over the #49 Oreca 03 Nissan of Pecom Racing.

In GTE-Pro, the Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin, Porsche battle has become Ferrari v. Aston Martin, as both Flying Lizard and Team Felbermayr-Proton are gone and the Corvettes are down to a single car that’s seven laps back.  The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is currently in the lead, the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari is second, and the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 is third.

In GTE-Am, there is a tight battle ongoing between the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette and the #67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.

Le Mans: Pre-Race

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Several interesting stories will be played out in the 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning 5:30 AM PT tomorrow:

LMP1 – Audi v. Toyota.  The top three qualifying places are three different cars – two from Audi and one from Toyota.  First of all, Toyota managed to qualify their brand new LMP1 TS030 Hybrid third on the grid at Le Mans within a year of launching the program.  That alone is a fabulous achievement.  The Toyota TS030 is a 3.4L V8 normally-aspirated petrol-powered hybrid prototype.  The electric energy is stored in a massive capacitor which powers electric motors.  Audi put its new R-18 e-tron quattro on pole with a lap time of 3:23.787 (driven by the same team that won last year’s race: Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer.)  The R-18 e-tron quattro is a 3.7L V6 turbo diesel hybrid prototype.  The Audi stores its energy in an electric flywheel accumulator.  So it’s Toyota v. Audi, petrol v. diesel, capacitor v. flywheel, massive underdog v. overwhelming favorite.  A surprisingly nice story to replace the expected Audi v. Peugeot rematch that was dashed when Peugeot pulled out of the sport. Second on the grid is the Audi R-18 ultra, a car that is outwardly very similar to the 2011 Le Mans winner.  The R-18 ultra is the latest version of the Audi turbo diesel LMP1 car.  Spots four thru six on the grid are another Toyota TS030 Hybrid splitting another Audi R-18 e-tron and an R-18 ultra.  I really hope the Toyotas demonstrate some remarkable reliability in their very first 24 hour race to make it interesting to the end.

Delta Wing Nissan – The experimental Delta Wing Nissan qualified about 19 seconds slower than the pole sitting Audi at 3:42.612, putting it about 2/3 of the way thru the LMP2 cars.  The Delta Wing is being run by the experienced and successful Highcroft Racing outfit, and it will be very interesting to see how it fares.  Although I cannot say that I am excited by its looks in the least, opinions on the Delta Wing have been favorable for the most part.  I can understand how the Delta Wing could set a fast qualifying time, but I am eager to see how it does in real racing conditions.

GTE – once again, the GTE classes look to be outstanding, competitive battles.  In GTE-Pro, the top three qualifiers are the Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia, the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8, and the Corvette Racing Corvette C6 ZR1.  SoCal’s Patrick Long’s Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 RSR is seventh on the GTE-Pro grid.  The Flying Lizard’s other Porsche 911 RSR car was the fastest GTE-Am qualifier.  The Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 RSR is second, and the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 is third on the GTE-Am grid.  So it’s Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette, and Porsche set to battle it out in the GTE classes.

Weather – Rain is forecast for Saturday, which adds another dimension to this grueling event.  Man v. Nature.

Le Mans!

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Just two days until one of my top ‘bucket list’ events – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  It’s right up there with Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, and the Indy 500.  Unfortunately Peugeot pulled out of sports car racing months ago, so the awaited re-re-match of Audi v Peugeot won’t happen, but it will be interesting to see how Toyota fares.

The GTE battles should be awesome once again.  Corvette, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Porsche all have competitive cars and teams.

For those looking to get up to speed on the pre-race situation – including class and team previews – head on over to Radio Le Mans  and listen to some of their excellent podcasts.  Also, the differences in driver classifications and how this relates to the GTE-Am and GTE-Pre classes can be a bit confusing.  The folks at Radio Le Mans have posted a very clear and concise driver classification table here.

Congratulations to Dario Franchitti

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In one of the most exciting Indy 500 races, Dario Franchitti took his place on the Borg Warner Trophy for the third time.  He withstood an aggressive challenge on the final lap from Takuma Sato, who spun after trying to pass Franchitti on the inside into Turn 1.  Franchitti traded first place with Target Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon multiple times over the last several laps.  Dixon ultimately finished a close second.  Tony Kanaan also mounted a challenge, leading the race as late as lap 193 of 200, and finished third.

The win was a significant vindication for both Target Ganassi and Honda after both had a disappointing qualifying session.  Only one Honda engine was in the top ten grid places at the start, but Honda engines were in the top two cars – Franchitti and Dixon – as well as five of the top ten.  The result was a major disappointment for the Chevrolet powered teams of Andretti Autosport and Team Penske, both of whom did well in qualification.

Dario Franchitti has now joined a very select group of three time Indy500 winners – including some of his heroes.

Ryan Briscoe Takes Pole at Indy

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Ryan Briscoe put in a fantastic four lap qualifying run on a warm afternoon at

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Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach

Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take the pole in next Sunday’s Indy 500.  James Hinchcliffe had been fast all day, and he he had Briscoe beat until the final two corners of his last qualifying lap, but he fell short by 0.0023 seconds – the closest margin in the history of the Indy 500.  That’s the equivalent of 9.168 inches over the four laps.

Hinchcliffe said that he went out too hot and was not able to maintain the pace throughout

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James Hinchcliffe at Long Beach

four laps.  He went out again later trying to beat Briscoe by starting slightly slower and trying to hold his pace throughout; however his first lap was slower than Briscoe’s pole taking average and his speed fell off from there.  Nobody else was able to mount a serious challenge to Briscoe’s pole time, although Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, and Will Power all tried.

The first three rows for running of the 96th Indy 500:

  1. Ryan Briscoe
  2. James Hinchcliffe
  3. Ryan Hurnter-Reay
  4. Marco Andretti
  5. Will Power
  6. Helio Castroneves
  7. Josef Newgarden
  8. Tony Kanaan
  9. EJ Viso

Notably, all three Team Penske drivers made the 90 minute, top nine shootout for pole while none of four Target Ganassi drivers did, and Andretti Autosport has three of the fastest four qualifiers.  IZOD IndyCar points leader, Will Power, will start from 5th.  Rookie Josef Newgarden of the underdog Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team qualified 7th.  Newgarden is also the highest placed Honda powered car on the grid – the other eight of the top nine being Chevrolet powered.  In the rest of the field, Dario Franchitti, reigning IndyCar champion will start 16th, and his teammate Scott Dixon will be 15th on the grid.  IndyCar rookie and 19-year Formula 1 veteran, Rubens Barrichello will start 10th.  SoCal’s Charlie Kimball will start 15th, while his teammate Graham Rahal will be 12th. Last year’s phenom and near winner, JR Hildebrand will start 18th.

Fast Friday Results – Marco Sets Fastest Lap of May at IMS

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Marco Andretti turned the fastest time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the final practice day before Pole Day.  His speed of 227.540 mph (39.5535 lap time) put his Chevrolet powered Andretti Autosport #26 on the top of the sheet ahead of the Ryan Briscoe’s Team Penske#2 by a scant 0.1229 seconds.  Four of Marco’s Andretti Autosport teammates are also in the top ten.

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Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport

The top ten:

  1. Marco Andretti, 227.540
  2. Ryan Briscoe, 226.835
  3. Helio Castroneves, 226.716
  4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 226.400
  5. Scott Dixon, 226.224
  6. James Hinchcliffe, 225.874
  7. Ana Beatriz, 225.653
  8. JR Hildebrand, 225.571
  9. Dario Franchitti, 225.370
  10. Tony Kanaan, 225.322

Current IZOD IndyCar points leader Will Power was in 11th, rookie Josef Newgarden was 13th, and SoCal’s Charlie Kimball was 14th.

The last time someone named Andretti was on pole at the Indy 500 was in 1987, and his name was Mario.  Incidentally, that was also the year Marco was born.

Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

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I’ll be paying extra attention to IZOD IndyCar action throughout the summer because IndyCar is the only major professional racing series to have multiple races in SoCal.  First was the Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, also thought of by many as the ‘Monaco of the US’.  And we are also fortunate in SoCal to have the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in September.

Today is Fast Friday at IMS, the last day of practice before Pole Day.  You can watch and listen to the action live at IZOD IndyCar Series Race Control.  So far Ryan Hunter-Reay is topping the time sheets, and SoCal’s own Charlie Kimball is 25th.  Come on Charlie!

More later…