ALMS, Wheels Down Winter Test - Wednesday Afternoon
Extreme Speed Speeds Up

Much to our Deputy Editor’s chagrin, the afternoon session was atypical south Florida weather; blue skies, sunshine and warm temperatures.  Throw some sportscars on the track and you have a pretty good day in Sebring.

Our lone LMP1 is still a no-show.  There is still some serious work going on with that car, and hopefully we will get a chance to see it run tomorrow.  Right now it’s still in many pieces.

Level 5’s new HPD ARX-03b, the #055, still holds serve in the P2 class.  The #95 is the older HPD chassis and is getting plenty of laps, in but they don’t plan to race the older car this season.  Level 5 is expecting their second new HPD chassis in the next week and that will make a pair of the brand new ARX-03b that they will race full season.

Christophe Bouchut: “For the first time we’ve ever really run this car, it’s doing very good. It’s also the first time we’ve run the Dunlop tires and they are doing very well also. We recognized the progress and commitment Dunlop has made over the last season and decided to make the change. The new HPD tub is definitely an improvement. Really the whole package is better, and I think it shows already in our times.  We have not been even pushing for best lap times, so it is very encouraging. The new chassis is similar to the old one so we were able to start with the same spring rates and setups we have used before.

“We plan to race the full ALMS with both cars.  I hope they can attract some more competition into the P2 class; if not, maybe they would consider combining P1 with P2 like they did a few years ago, which made for some very good racing.”

LMPC was led by the PRI Mathiasen pair of Rudy Junco and Butch Leitzinger.  I believe Leitzinger set the fast lap time, but timing and scoring has not always been accurate on who’s in the car at any certain time.  Regardless, this driver pairing looks to be a potent combination in what has become the ultra-competitive LMPC class. 

Next up in LMPC was the #25 Dempsey FLM09.  Duncan Ende had a moment when he lost control and spun the car.  Red flag came out, but no one else was involved in what ended up being a harmless spin. Aside from the spin the car has no other troubles and has been lapping quickly.

Core Autosport’s Jon Bennett reports that the #06 car is being tested today by the Downses (Anthony, Lucas & Matt) to see if it’s something they want to do for Sebring and possibly the rest of the season.   Bennett and Colin Braun are set in the #05 car for the full season. 

Jon Bennett: “We’re continuing to work hard and try to repeat our success from last year.  We just opened a brand new 40,000 sqft facility for our race operations. Last year we were building our race team and the logistics for that; this season we can concentrate more on the racing itself, the performance of the team, and improving our pit work and strategy. We want to focus on the whole event, not just a few tenths of a second on a quick lap.  Winning a race depends on some much more; we need to anticipate and exploit opportunities when they present themselves.  It’s pit lane work, keeping the car out of the grass and on the pavement, and not hitting other cars.  Precise execution of the whole event is what wins races.  We as a team are preparing ourselves for a move up in class.  We’d like to be in P2 next year if the situation is right.”

As usual, the GT class provided some of the best competition.  The factory Ferrari group, with Bruni doing the early work then followed by Vilander, held P1 for most of the session; but with just about ten minutes left to go, Johannes van Overbeek vaulted to the head of the line with a 2:01.4.  That was somewhat of a surprise, as the #01 ESM Ferrari was missing for most of the session, only taking to the track in the last hour.  And to add to the moment, Guy Cosmo in the #02 ESM Ferrari turned his best time on the last lap of the session.  It was good enough for P2, which knocked the #29 Michelotto car down to P3.  Krohn Racing rounded out the Ferrari contingent, with Nic Jonsson posting the eighth fastest lap in class.

Corvette was solid all session - both cars staying in the top five for most of the afternoon, finishing P4 and P5.

Off their early pace by just a bit were the RLL BMWs.  The team has done extensive testing here privately in December and January, and they are using today to test some new compounds from Dunlop that probably won’t be used until later in the season; the January test was used to select compounds for the 12-hour race and those tires will be on the car for tomorrow’s sessions.  

Joey Hand, “There is really not much new with the car. Setting up the car to maximize the new Dunlops is really what we are working on. A lot of the other guys got new stuff here, so it will be interesting to see how we compare. I think we should be good for the race though as we will be ahead of the curve on all the setup stuff. The car and the team have just gotten progressively better over the last three seasons, and the Dunlop tires have really become the tire of choice.

“My first priority this year is to the DTM program, but BMW asked me if I wanted to continue and drive as many ALMS races as I could.  Of course I said yes as I love racing in this series and I think this program will help me stay sharp.  Unfortunately the conflicts are Road America, VIR and Petit; three of my very favorite tracks.  But I will still get to do seven events over here and the DTM drive is a huge opportunity for me and I can’t wait for the first race.”

In other RLL news, BMW has confirmed five of the six drivers for Sebring to be Joey Hand, Bill Auberlen, Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller, and Uwe Alzen.  All five are here at the test.  Also testing the BMW M3, at the request of Bobby Rahal, is Jonathan Summerton of open-wheel background.

Optimism abounds at preseason tests like this one, and another team expecting bigger results this year is Paul Miller Racing.  They were the epitome of ‘David vs Goliath’ last year as they took on the best GT teams in the world in their first year with a 3-year old Porsche 911 and customer Yokohama tires. Now they have a year under their belt, a brand new 2012 Porsche and a tire deal with Dunlop.

Bryce Miller: “It’s going well.  We’re really just shaking the car down right now as we just got it. Our plate is full right now learning the new car and new tires, but we are getting great support from Dunlop and knew that was the right choice for us after watching their performance last year and their commitment to sportscar racing. We now have a better car with better tires; we will be looking for better times to follow.

“We learned a lot last year. We had the chance this off season to address quite a few things that you can’t during the race season.”

The Porsche camp was led by Patrick Long in his familiar #45.  The Lizards were able to cut 0.5 seconds from their morning time as they come to grips with the new 911.

Martin Ragginger improved the Falken Porsche’s time by a full two seconds from this morning.

We will roundup the afternoon report with a couple notes on teams not present at the test.

PTG Racing will be lending crew and technical assistance to Tim Pappas and Black Swan as they get their team and car ready for the big jump into the LMP2 class.  PTG and Tom Milner Sr. are also working on a new program of their own; Milner would only confirm that they are working on something for later in the year and that he was not ready to retire just yet.  Could we be getting yet another new manufacturer in GT?

With Risi Competizione conspicuously absent from the test and ESM entering the Factory test car, one could assume the worst; but some Risi team members attending today confirmed that Risi would enter one car for the 12-hours of Sebring.  After that, though, their ALMS program is very much undecided.

Russell Wittenberg