ALMS Generac 500, Road America – Thursday Report
Audi Sets The Pace

Last season, Road America saw a monumental fight to the finish, with Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard beating the two Audis home by less than two seconds in the #7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder. A huge thunderstorm mid-race resulted in 90 minutes of safety car activity and effectively turned the endurance event into a sprint to the line.

Audi arguably lost that one after the two R10s fought each other in the closing stages, instead of concentrating on chasing down the Porsche, so is it time to make amends in 2008? The team’s one-two at Mid-Ohio suggested that its recovery is building momentum.

Times had generally improved by around a second in Thursday testing for Saturday’s 500 mile race in Wisconsin, compared to the corresponding session in 2007, but the results were generally similar. The #1 Audi R10 TDI of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner led the way with a 1:48.016, with Dumas and Bernhard second on 1:48.654 in the LMP2; while in GT1 the two Olivers headed their Corvette Racing team mates, with a 2:03.147 in the #4. GT2 was the only class that did not see the same make of car as 2007 at the head of the times, with Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler setting a 2:07.610 in the #45 Flying Lizards Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Marcel Fässler was still getting settled in to the #2 Audi, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the car in eighth overall (second in class); but we can reasonably expect it to make headway during Friday practice and qualifying - the Swiss driver was a star of the Spa 24 Hours last week, with some excellent stints in the #5 Phoenix Racing Corvette.

The three other LMP1s were bunched together some five seconds further back, with the Ryan Lewis/John Faulkner/Gregor Fisken Intersport Lola heading the sister car of Jon Field/Clint Field/Richard Berry and the Autocon Creation of Michael Lewis/Chris McMurry and Bryan Willman.

But it was a lot closer in LMP2, with just half a second separating the second-fastest (#15 Adrian Fernandez/Luis Diaz Lowe’s Fernandez Acura) and sixth-fastest (#26 Franck Montagny/James Rossiter AGR Acura) cars. “I always enjoy coming to Road America and, after having competed here for over a decade, never more so than this year,” said Fernandez. “We really struggled a lot here last year, losing grip with the low downforce levels you need on the straights. As for the circuit, I love this track. I have some great memories from here and also a few heartbreaks. One of the best was my race here in 2001 in Champ Car, our first year as Fernandez Racing. We started 26th after I crashed in qualifying and finished third. We are still looking for our first win in the ALMS, and I couldn’t think of a better place to reach that goal than here. I have finished second and third here but have never won and that has always been at the top of my list. Hopefully, it can happen this weekend. I feel we have a lot of momentum heading into the final stretch of the season.”

Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long were just three thousandths off of the #15’s time in the #6 Penske Porsche, with Butch Leitzinger and Marina Franchitti a further three hundredths further back in the #20 Dyson racing Porsche.

Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud were fifth in the De Ferran Motorsports #66 Acura, the team no doubt buoyed by the encouraging news concerning Keith Jones’ recovery. “ Road America is one of my favorite circuits around the world,” said the team owner. “It is very much like tracks in Europe and is a great driver’s course. 

"Mid Ohio was a very traumatic time for our team and we will be looking to bounce back here – not just for us, but for 'Jonesie' as well.”

In GT2, the Dominick Farnbacher/Dirk Muller #71 Tafel Racing Ferrari 430 set the second fastest time, 2:08.065, with the Panoz Esperante of Tommy Milner, Tom Sutherland and Joey Hand (the last of this trio also racing in the Grand-Am race at Watkins Glen this weekend) an encouraging third fastest on 2:08.640.

Friday will see two more one-hour practice sessions, followed by the two qualifying sessions. After that there is one more race – the Tour De Road America charity bike ride at 6.40pm, that will see several ALMS drivers taking part. 

Thursday times:

1 2 P1 1 Lucas Luhr 1:48.016 Audi R10 Audi Sport North America Michelin
2 7 P2 1 Romain Dumas 1:48.654 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin
3 15 P2 2 Adrian Fernandez 1:50.123 Acura ARX-01B Lowe`s Fernandez Racing Michelin
4 6 P2 3 Sascha Maassen 1:50.126 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin
5 20 P2 4 Butch Leitzinger 1:50.153 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin
6 66 P2 5 Gil de Ferran 1:50.220 Acura ARX-01B de Ferran Motorsports Michelin
7 26 P2 6 Franck Montagny 1:50.604 Acura ARX-01B Andretti Green Racing Michelin
8 1 P1 2 Marcel Fassier 1:50.702 Audi R10 Audi Sport North America Michelin
9 16 P2 7 Chris Dyson 1:50.834 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin
10 9 P2 8 David Brabham 1:51.249 Acura ARX-01B Patron Highcroft Racing Michelin
11 8 P2 9 Ben Devlin 1:53.313 Lola B07/46 Mazda B-K Motorsports Dunlop
12 30 P1 3 Ryan Lewis 1:55.459 Lola B06/10 AER Intersport Racing Dunlop
13 37 P1 4 Jon Field 1:56.956 Lola B06/10 AER Intersport Racing Dunlop
14 12 P1 5 Michael Lewis 1:56.986 Creation CA06H-001 Judd Autocon Motorsports Dunlop
15 4 GT1 1 Oliver Gavin 2:03.147 Chevrolet Corvette LS7 Corvette Racing Michelin
16 3 GT1 2 Johnny O`Connell 2:03.855 Chevrolet Corvette LS7 Corvette Racing Michelin
17 45 GT2 1 Jörg Bergmeister 2:07.610 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports Michelin
18 008 GT1 3 Terry Borcheller 2:07.977 Aston Martin DBR-9 Bell Motorsports --
19 71 GT2 2 Dominik Farnbacher 2:08.065 Ferrari F430 GT Tafel Racing Michelin
20 21 GT2 3 Joey Hand 2:08.640 Panoz Esperante GTLM Panoz Team PTG Dunlop
21 62 GT2 4 Jaime Melo 2:08.994 Ferrari F430 GT Risi Competizione Michelin
22 46 GT2 5 Johannes van Overbeek 2:09.048 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports Michelin
23 87 GT2 6 Dirk Werner 2:09.782 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Farnbacher Loles Racing Michelin
24 44 GT2 7 Darren Law 2:09.900 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports 44 Michelin
25 73 GT2 8 Alex Figge 2:10.752 Ferrari F430 GT Tafel Racing Michelin
26 61 GT2 9 Harrison Brix 2:11.082 Ferrari F430 GT Risi Competizione Michelin
27 18 GT2 10 Francesco Pastorelli 2:11.797 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR VICI Racing Kumho
28 40 GT2 11 David Robertson 2:14.346 Doran Ford GT-R Robertson Racing Dunlop
29 54 GT2 12 Tim Pappas 2:14.505 Doran Ford GT-R Black Swan Racing Falken
30 11 GT2 13 Chris Hall 2:15.442 Dodge Viper Competition Co Primetime Race Group Hankook
31 007 GT2 14 Paul Drayson 2:20.458 Aston Martin Vantage GT2 Drayson-Barwell Dunlop