ALMS Lime Rock - Friday Report Lime Rock, remember that term. Tony Dowe describes this like trying to build a race circuit by using the surfaces of a string of Normandy Beach landing craft. Lime brings to mind a very pervious mineral and indeed it underlies these beautiful green hills. This makes any reconstruction a fraught affair. Hoping that the new surface will cure properly and hold together is rather optimistic under these circumstances. At least the weather cooperated through mid-afternoon with a perfect New England summer day.
But out with the negative--several drivers commented that they expected to find the new surface to be far more slippery than it has turned out to be. Panoz team manager Tom Milner noted that grip is quite good, even with their new-to-the-team Dunlops. Dirk Müller, altogether new to the circuit, was not too concerned about a slight slipperiness. But perhaps it was the new track that came to bite as we had a red flag soon after the start of the first practice session. David Murry was on about his sixth lap in the Robertson Ford. He noticed Romain Dumas coming up quick and moved toward the left at the new kinky section of the No Name Straight. The Porsche Spyder clipped the Ford’s right rear and sent Murry careening into the left rail, across the track and into the rail on the other side of the track. The Doran built car is done for the weekend. Kevin Doran has parts galore back at his shops, but there is a question as to whether there is enough time to rebuild the bent frame and replace most every suspension piece.
Murry noted, “The new sections just aren’t wide enough. Skip [Barber] has his heart in the right place but more work needs to be done.” While the new “optional” bend looks to be the spot for most concern, many have commented that the kink in the downhill stretch is a bit too Mickey Mouse for a track of this stature. Then after some green flag practice we had our first stoppage due entirely to the changes. A bolt in the pavement had torn loose and stood above the surface at the “optional” section. After it was hammered back down it was the Acura team’s turn to hammer away and Frank Montagny turned in a stellar 48.504, besting the similar car of the Highcroft team. But then Montagny punted Chapman Ducote’s Aston Martin into the weeds and we had yet another red flag. The second session began no better. Scott Sharp stalled at the exit of the pits. His No. 9 Highcroft Acura blocked the track and action stopped before the field completed a single lap. Then the No. 87 Farnbacher-Loles Porsche had its hood pop open. A slow lap back to the pits kept the others in check as they weaved around. More troubles as the No. 73 Tafel Ferrari (Alex Figge) went off on its own, hard into the tire barrier at Diving Turn—green and then red as the other Aston Martin (#007) stops on course. Then yet another when a piece of wing is deposited on the front straight. It’s beginning to look like a Grand-Am session. The Audis managed to weave around the reds, with Marco Werner slightly quicker than “Dingo”—the first time that the Audis have featured today. Third fastest is a nice surprise as the de Ferran Acura with Simon Pagenaud aboard, is a few tenths back. There is a good Ferrari-Porsche battle in GT2 with Dirk Müller’s F430 0:56.164, followed by Wolf Henzler at 56.190. The #45 is one of three Porsches here testing a new experimental 4.0-liter engine that has thus far only run at Weissach. The others are Lizard #46 and Farnbacher-Loles #87. The ACO is allowing them to run with the same restrictors as the normal 3.8. The last 20 minutes of the session passes without further incident—the longest such pleasure thus far. Pagenaud improved slightly but Brabaham made it an Acura 1-2, ahead the #6 Spyder. Then came three more LMP2 cars—definitely not an Audi track! There was no change in GT2 as many of the cars peeled off to the garage, anticipating their qualifying session. Several cars went wide at the two new sections, canceling those particular times. The #73 Tafel never took part, repairing some body damage. The same problem has kept the #008 Aston in the garage, while the Intersport Lola will skip qualifying as they are changing the engine. Clouds had begun to roll in late during practice and a very light spit of rain fell during the 10-minute interval between practice and qualifying—not enough to be of much concern. Dirk Werner (#87 Farnbacher-Loles Porsche) took the lead in GT almost from the start. His 54.465 nearly a second quicker than Patrick Pilet in the #46 Lizard 4.0. Dirk Müller was third and then jumped to second, his #71 Tafel Ferrari recording a 54.824. There seemed to be a bit of a Ferrari surge as Mika Salo (#62 Risi F430) slipped into second with 54.702. This encouraged Werner to respond with a 54.154. Müller had a moment on the last lap, and his attempt to move back among the leaders was stymied. Werner’s time stood for GT2. The two Corvettes traded top spot in GT1 a few times while the Aston Martin in that class has not been seen since its morning shunt.
The crews took a little extra time between sessions repairing a chunk of curbing on a new section. This delayed the start of the Prototype portion of qualifying, but then Chris Dyson launched into a 51.013 to put the honored Dyson team on pole—for the briefest of moments. Next time around it was an Audi on top with Lucas Luhr’s 50.842. One lap later we had our third pole sitter in three laps when Capello posts a 50.817. Then we had yet another red flag—albeit very brief to pick up a scrap of debris. David Brabham’s 47.974 upped the ante considerably on the first post-red flyer while Patrick Long had a 50.385 on the same go around in the #6 Porsche. Then Adrian Fernandez moved into second place with a 48.276 in the #15 Acura. Dumas took third in the other Penske Porsche with a 49.062. Montagny set a 47.901 and then whoops there goes another red flag—the curbs breaking up again. This was the ninth red flag of the day.
The crews have this down pat and after 2-3 minutes the track was reopened. Marino Franchitti’s 47.884 set a standard for the other Dyson Porsche, only to be pipped seconds later by Fernandez at 47.547. Franchitti responded immediately with a 47.325. Patrick Long nailed them all with a 47.177. He later improved this slightly, but that lap of 47.140 was disallowed following a shortcut. Dumas tagged in behind at 47.240. With 100 seconds remaining in the session Pagenaud took top spot with a 47.082. I’ve lost track of how many pole sitters we’ve had as now David Brabham takes his turn in front with 47.062, then improves the next time around (his penultimate turn) with 46.696. Pagenaud tries to nip him at the checker but the #66 Acura could only muster 47.609.
Dirk Werner commented that there are more braking zones than before, which helps allow passing, but that this offset by the narrowness of the areas after the braking zones. He expects lots of yellows, rendering perhaps two-thirds of the race unimportant, apart from still being in the running and that there will be a 30-minute sprint to the finish. He did not feel that the 4.0-engine contributed as much as had the continuous development that Porsche has put into the RSR. Oliver Gavin noted that the new surface is very smooth and has gotten rid of some nasty bumps, but the GT1 pole winner called the new layout “a disaster.” He said that before it was very clear that slower cars should move left while now there is a lot of switching back and forth.
From way down in 8th place overall the LM P1 pole sitter, Emanuele Pirro, echoed others comments about the track’s smoothness. But as with most, he is quite concerned about the curbs. Reflecting on Le Mans he said it was nice to share a drive with Dindo Capello. “It was the first time that we drove together—other than in rental cars.” This could be a long 2.75 hours tomorrow. Janos Wimpffen | 
