Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours – Preview
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It’s about time.  For once we can concentrate on racing, not waiting to find out what the next hit of bad news will be.  For now, it’s on-track action that we can concentrate on.

Last year, Petit Le Mans was labeled as a don’t-miss event.  It was one of those races that had everything going for it.  While Sebring 2009 as an entity might not hit that mark, the LMP1 class has the opportunity to meet and even surpass what we saw late in 2008; on paper anyway.

So what do we have?  How about the debut of brand spanking new cars from both Acura and Audi?  How about the return of Peugeot with revised cars?  That’s pretty heady competition at the head of the field and arguably the best that has ever been seen in the ALMS.

Just because they’ve stated they’ll be around for the full season, we’ll start with Acura.

It’s been a steep learning curve for Acura since they joined the series in 2007, but they have responded quite well to the challenge, giving the Penske Porsche combination everything they could handle last year.  But that was in the LMP2 class – now it’s welcome to the big time.

Knowing that they’d have a tough time beating the diesels at the power game, they opted for a radical change, incorporating increased downforce across the board on their new car, going as far as running equal tire sizes front and back.  Quite a technically interesting concept, but it’s also a huge gamble, one that HPD accepts and is willing to go with.

The Acura teams are strong, no doubt.  De Ferran and especially Highcroft proved their worthiness last season.  This year shouldn’t be any different, team wise, as most of the pieces are in place.  Highcroft continues with David Brabham and Scott Sharp in the car, joined at Sebring by Dario Franchitti, while Gil is again driving all season long with Simon Pagenaud, and with Scott Dixon at Sebring.

While the teams are strong and the Acura ARX-02a very well may be also, you get the feeling that things are not quite where the teams would like to be.  In fact the general attitude appears among the teams to be one of not optimism, but one of downplaying their chances.  Pagenaud - "We may not be the favorites but we do have a chance of winning. If the Acura ARX-02a is quick enough over a single lap to compete against the Peugeots and Audis, we are still going to need to be reliable for the full 12 hours. That, of course, at this stage of our program is still a bit of an unknown."

For Acura, it’s a sort of a double hit here – they don’t yet know the pace of their competition and they don’t know if they’re truly ready for a full 12 hours of racing conditions at this torturous track.  It’s like they’ve designed their car to be a moving target, but really have no idea how fast the target is moving.

Audi is somewhat in the same boat here, but having been down this road a few times, their confidence has to be higher.  Reports about testing the R15 have basically been non-existent, but one comment received is that this new car could be very special indeed.  With the 2008 Le Mans winners (McNish/Capello/Kristensen) in the No. 2, and the young guns of Rockenfeller/Luhr joining Marco Werner in the No. 1, the driving line up is very strong as usual.

There have been lots of rumors flying about, concerning the Audi program for 2009.  The original announcement was for Sebring and Le Mans only, but now word has filtered out that possibly Petit and Laguna are to be added to the list.  Now, if the car is truly as strong as it appears it could be, wouldn’t it be a waste to just leave the cars idle for most of the season.  My guess is that a few races could be added on to that list if things go well.  IMSA has been making vague comments along that line, as have some Acura people.  We’ll see…

Peugeot comes into Sebring in probably its strongest position yet for a race on US soil.  The car is not a complete carry-over from last year, as the new aero regulations required some changes; but for the most part, the car that was fastest last year is mainly what we will see this year.  Will the changes made be significant enough to stay faster than both Acura and Audi?  That’s why they race, isn’t it?

Last season was quite a learning experience for Peugeot, as all of the expected rewards were snatched away by Audi.  If they have learned the racing lessons, they could be very formidable - if not, at the least expect fireworks from the drivers.  Minassian/Lamy/Klein and Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais are chargers and will not lie back at all.  This will be interesting – expect the Lion to come out roaring.

Also in the P1 class will be long-time competitors Autocon and Intersport.  Autocon was just getting used to their Lola when it was announced that the new aero package would be applicable to them.  Their development time has been reduced in the wait for the new components.  It was the same for Intersport, as they too have been awaiting the proper components.  Due to changes in the team, it wasn’t certain that Intersport would be at Sebring; but, sure enough, both Jon and Clint are signed up and ready to go, with the late addition of Chapman Ducote.  It’s nice that some things don’t change – factories may come and go, but the Autocons and the Intersports of the series just keep at it.

LMP2, while not so strong number wise, has the promise to be quite interesting as the lonely Fernandez Acura attempts to hold off the two Mazda/Lola entries of the rejuvenated Dyson team.  Added weight to the P2 class cars might keep them back, pace wise, but with reliability (wasn’t it just a few years ago that the only way reliability and P2 were together was with the word bad…) they very well could be there at the end.

This should be a very interesting battle all year long, as the Lola/Mazda combination is improved by the efforts of Dyson Racing as well as the addition of Michelin rubber.  After working through a difficult season which saw them playing the role of an obvious understudy to the Penske team, the “new” Dyson team appeared raring to go, ready to race.  It’s a new day at Dyson and a new day for Mazda.  Expectations are high in both camps.

 While a season championship is made more difficult by running only a single Acura against the Dyson pair, the Fernandez team had a strong run at Sebring last year, and had strong races all season long, only to be let down in the end.  They’ll be looking at getting the last pieces of the puzzle to come together, and taking care of some interrupted business at Sebring.

As odd as it sounds, we’ve only got 2 races left to mention GT1.  The class that brought some intense battles will only be mentioned two more times this year, as Corvette Racing starts the steps towards “graduating” to the GT2 ranks, General permitting, later this season.  While the intra-team rivalry will be as intense as always, the main interest will be the new guys, Antonio Garcia and Marcel Fassler, and whatever Doug Fehan and his crew have up their sleeves for their last Sebring in GT1.

GT2, admittedly, is a series of questions beyond the obvious one; which is ‘who will win?’.  Right now, 15 of the 28 cars entered are GT2 cars, but the two VICI entries are due to be driven by Malcolm’s favorite driver, TBA.  The on again, off again Falken entry has not surfaced yet, so I guess we’ll have to wait to see who is actually at the track.

This may not be fair, but it’s a constant question whenever BMW joins in, but here goes – are they showing their true pace so far?  This question has its origins many years ago - the last time they had a V8 powered M3 - but this year the questions were already popping up at the Winter Test.  Is BMW showing everything?  Are they sandbagging?  We’ll know soon enough, but between some concessions in the regulations and past history, there are more than a few concerned competitors.  So far, the cars have been reliable, if not exceptionally fast.

If the BMW entries do not have the pace, up front in the class figures to be Porsches and a Ferrari.  Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marc Lieb are a formidable group in the No. 45 caffeinated Lizard.  Thomas Blam, looking forward to the race commented, "the outcome at Sebring is determined by three main factors: the speed of the cars, their reliability, and the team's performance in preparation and the pits. We're heading into the first race of the season with two new Porsches. We've had the opportunity to run them here earlier in the year and are very pleased with their performance. Reliability has historically been a strong point for Porsche - so far, the new cars are continuing in that tradition. In terms of speed, it's always hard to tell how things will stack up against the competition until you are actually at the race. Next week will be the first time we'll run against the Ferraris this year, and the first time we'll really see what the BMWs can do. We are cautiously optimistic that we'll have two competitive cars in what will certainly be a tough, and large, GT2 field. One of the main areas we'll focus on next week is making sure we are back at race pace for our pit stops and pit work."

Will the No. 45 win here again?  Not if Farnbacher-Loles has anything to say about it.  Wolf Henzler was moved from the Lizards to F-L for the season, and he joins a team that was on the verge of something special last year.  Dirk Werner returns and Richard Lietz adds to the mix for Sebring, making another formidable Porsche competitor.

Risi retains Jaime Melo, and adds Pierre Kaffer to the mix, with Mika Salo returning for the long races, like here at Sebring.  Being the lone full season Ferrari, there is a lot of pressure, points wise, for the team, which hopes to rebound from a very sub-par 2008 season.  Any of the three above mentioned have the pace to win, but they have to keep it clean and be there at the end, unlike last year.  The Bergmeister/Long pairing have done it before, as have Melo/Salo – who will it be in 2009?

Ready to leap in if the top three falter will be the No. 44 Lizards (Law/Neiman/van Overbeek) Porsche, as well as the Krohn green, Risi entered Ferrari.  The No. 61 Ferrari has been hot and cold at Sebring, but steady drives by Nic Jonsson and Eric van de Poele have brought the Ferrari back in good placings before – this year could be more of the same.  Showing promise of getting there also is the PTG Panoz.  This car just keeps coming back for more – if the tires are good, so could be the result.

Sebring sees the debut of Drayson Racing.  Critical elements of the team ran here last season as Drayson-Barwell, but the Dale White led team enters this race much better prepared than last.  They’ve tested their proper race car already, have Michelin tires and have further established their ties with Aston Martin Racing.  Paul Drayson - "Everything was new last year: new car, new series, new tracks and in the most competitive sports car series in the world. So I've learned a huge amount about racing at this level; in particular coping with the high speed prototype traffic. My main lesson is to remember these are long races; it's all about consistency and bringing the car home in one piece. But also, as the year has gone on, I've felt more at home in the car and had fun, which in itself, is a big factor in delivering a good performance. The car felt fast at Paul Ricard and a lot easier to drive. The understeer we had struggled with last year has improved and the car is working well on the Michelin tires."

Returning this year are Robertson Racing with its improved Doran-built Ford GT and also Primetime with its Viper.  The improvements on the Ford were quite noticeable at the winter test, where it was turning vastly improved times over the previous year. 

Despite considering a move to LMP2, Joel Feinberg brings his Viper back for another go, at a track where they had a very strong run last year, finishing fifth in class.

Lou Gigliotti and his latest problems are well documented elsewhere, but it is now confirmed – Lou will enter the race, with Eric Curran and Brazilian Lucas Molo as co-drivers in his Riley-built Corvette.  Joining in as one of the rare European entries this year is Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Team, entering a Ferrari for Luis Companc/Mattias Russo/Gianmaria Bruni.

Testing kicks off Saturday, in between IMSA Lites sessions and will continue throughout the week.  The long range forecast calls for warm conditions to deteriorate through the week, with the lead up to race day being wet, as showers are predicted through race day.

DSC coverage will kick off in earnest on Thursday, but the photos will be coming in throughout the week as the usual cast of photographers will be there in earnest, taking shots of anything that moves.

Gary Horrocks