ALMS – Grand Prix of Mosport – Race Round Up
The Good, The Bad And The Really Ugly
© Gary Horrocks

This race had so much going for it. A classic venue (in more ways than one) with a highly competitive entry list and an oddity for Mosport – no rain on race day. And a huge crowd.

What transpired on track was good, bad and really ugly, and I’m sure the behind the scenes were all of the latter two.

Unfortunately this race will not be remembered for much good. There was good, but who can remember what it was?

At the start, Emanuele Pirro got a good jump and went through into second, following teammate Dindo Capello. Wow. Two P1 cars leading a bunch of P2 cars. As has become the norm, the Penske Spyders faded a bit, as the normal race pace of the Audi cars was again closer to their qualifying speeds than the P2 cars.

Marino Franchitti started his stirring drive in his Acura, passing Sascha Maassen, and the usual GT2 battle was intense. Marino and teammate Bryan Herta went on to finish 3rd in P2 in the Andretti-Green Acura, despite having some car issues and receiving a penalty for speeding in pit lane. Marino: “The XM Acura was awesome today. I think we had the measure of the Penske Porsches today. But we had a couple of little electronic issues which took a few laps for me to work out. We lost the dash and other lights but we were keeping Dumas honest. I think we actually had a faster car but it is very difficult to pass here. I could have tried but it was early in the race and I didn’t want to force anything with the Porsches. The Acura ARX-01a chassis was fantastic and the AGR guys had the car right on the money today. This is a great team effort to fight some little problems and get back on the podium. I was proud of the job Bryan did with no lights or dash and he fought hard to finish third. We are going to Detroit with renewed optimism.”

Bryan Herta: “I’m really pleased to get back on the podium because it gives us some momentum now. We had some electronic issues and we got a penalty due to those things. Marino did a fantastic job running with the leaders early in the race. And at the end we had the same pace or better even with those problems. I think we can take a lot of positives out of this race. Every track that we have been able to test ahead of time has been a good one for us. That has been a key to the XM Acura team. We need some more time testing this new car. We didn’t have rev or shift lights, any traction control or dash lights in general. We were missing some things that could have made us a little quicker. But overall I’m pleased with the car, the crew and our pace.”

At this time the GT2 cars were almost nose to tail. Yes, almost nose to tail. Note almost. By the end of lap 6, Dindo Capello was already lapping cars. He lapped all but one of the GT2 cars but 8 minutes in, the yellow flags came out. Adam Pecorari became a passenger in the van der Steur Radical, as it looked like something failed in the left rear. This put the car of the gutty team into the wall hard, and out for Detroit and who knows how long afterwards.

It also put an end to the GT2 race, as there was Mika Salo in the #62 Risi Ferrari, sitting on a one lap lead on the others in the class. Salo: “We had a good start and our car was really good. I’d say there’s no such thing as luck. It was good strategy work from our engineers who told us to push hard when they were expecting yellows and put us in the right place for the pace car, and good pit work from the team. I just had to keep it on the track and not hit anything.” Game over for the top spot in GT2. Just for insurance, the team pitted on the yellow and still kept the best part of a lap lead in the class.

Behind (or rather ahead in physical position on track) the rest of the GT2 class battled it out. Seeing an opportunity, the Lizards called Joerg Bergmeister into the pits on the yellow, in a hope to gain an advantage. It all came to naught later.

At just about the 1 hour mark, Jon Field dove inside Oliver Gavin at turn 3, in an optimistic move, and knocked the #4 Corvette into the grass, costing them the class lead and eventually the class win. Ollie Gavin: “We were just coming around for the first round of pit stops, and I could see Jon Field behind me. I’ve driven with Jon earlier in my career and should have known he was going to stick it in there and perhaps I hadn't given him enough room, but it was my corner. He hit my right rear with his left front and spun me around. That turned our race upside down, going from first to third.” This left the win for Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen, who both have had great success together at Mosport, winning overall in 1999 in a Panoz.

Just 5 minutes later, the first of the events occurred that would eventually cause the race to fall apart. Stefan Johansson (Highcroft Acura) and Dominik Farnbacher (Tafel Porsche) tangled. Johansson: "I was going down into Turn Two and the No. 73 Porsche was on the inside. I was passing on the outside, like all of the prototype cars have been doing with the GT cars. But I was hit in the left rear hard by the Porsche. I don't know what he was doing or thinking. Maybe he just lost it but his car hit my car pretty damn hard. The Highcroft guys tried to fix the rear suspension but it was just too messed up to continue. It was really a shame because we were running with the Penske cars.”

Dominik Farnbacher: "I don't know what happened. I thought I was where I thought I was supposed to be and the next thing I know the 9 car and I made contact and ended up in the grass. It's really disappointing when things like that happen."

Full course caution. Pits closed. Pace car out. Kind of. Things were starting to get a little weird. The monitor shows the pace car waiting at the side of the track for the leaders. Then things got even more weird, and I’m not sure if anyone really truly knows what happened.

Various reports indicate that the following happened:

The pace car failed to pick up the leaders, which was the #7 Penske Porsche. Instead, an Audi was picked up as the leader, at least that is what has been claimed.

That same Porsche passed who knows how many cars under the yellow, and was told by the team to wave those cars back around, so as to not be penalized. This is something that multiple individuals stated was discussed in the drivers’ meetings.

The communication went out over the radio that the pits were open, but the sign at pit entry indicated otherwise. Still, the Penske team entered the pits. Both of the cars involved in the accident were in pit lane and when they heard the pits were open, started working on their cars, only to be told by officials that they could not work on the cars. This confusion caused a couple laps delay for the Tafel car, while the Acura eventually retired from the damage.

Then the calls went out to what seemed like almost the entire field, for penalties for passing under the yellow. Teams that were not mentioned for losing time in the ALMS pit notes indicate that they were delayed by the mess. How? At this point, who knows. Certainly after the race, nobody knew.

According to the Lizards, normally this would be allowed to be rectified within 3 laps, but instead the team, as well as who knows how many others, were held in the pits for either stop and gos, or were actually held at pit exit in the penalty box. This included the #2 Audi.

Reports from pit lane indicate that chaos reigned. Teams were shouting at each other and any official that happened to be within earshot, and even those that weren’t. Tom Milner came into the media center somewhere around this time looking for Marty Kauffman. I guess he wasn’t within earshot distance. A few minutes later, word came through that the Panoz was officially retired from the race. Reason – extenuating circumstances. Tom Milner: “We actually retired the car because of bad officiating. It didn’t matter to us – it wasn’t going to cost us anything in the points chase. But we felt it was the right thing to do.” This could have cost the team a good result, as Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen had the car running really strong.

Further reports indicate that various parties saw just about every car pass under the yellow. It all depends on who you talked to and at what time. Confusion and frustration reigned supreme. Wolf Henzler: "I'm pretty upset. The Spyders came in when the pit closed sign was still up. I don't know what happened. My session went well but I got hit by the 31 and it caused enough damage to give me some handling problems. I think the 62 overtook me under yellow too. No one on the track is behaving." The #71 Lizard car with Wolf and Robin Liddell finished 6th in class, after running as high as second in class. Robin Liddell: “We thought we had something for this race, but the car developed a big understeer late in Wolf’s stint and was bad through mine.” After the race, the team discovered that the rear bar was broken.

The race went so wrong for the Lizards. Bergmeister was one of those penalized for passing under the yellow, and was one of those that likely had the most to lose. Instead of challenging for what might have been a second place finish, the team was demoted down to 5th in class, despite being one of the quickest cars out there in traffic. Joerg Begmeister: “We were fast. There were times when the Ferraris could not pull away from us or match us, but it all got screwed up. I was waved by after being previously passed by the #7. And for that, we get penalized?”

All this left the Rahal-Letterman Porsche with another good finish, third for Ralf Kelleners and Tom Milner, behind the #61 Risi Ferrari, but ahead of the Petersen / White Lightning 430.

Somewhere along the way, the race resumed, but it’s doubtful it was noticed. Actually, it was 24 minutes later, but it seemed like an eternity. In might not even have been noticed track side, as communication between officials and corner workers was problematic all weekend long. When the race did restart, most enthusiasm was gone from the race. There were stunned faces all around and unfortunately there were some outstanding drives that went under-noticed or under-appreciated as a result.

Oh, Allan McNish was well on the way to winning the race, breaking the Penske Porsche streak. But no. The Audi was slowing, due to gearbox issues and was eventually passed by Timo Bernhard in the #7 Porsche. The #6 also got by, but was re-passed by the Scot.

McNish: “My Audi R10 TDI worked very well while excellent strategy from Audi Sport North America put us in control of the race. I was able to pull away in traffic but with a few minutes to go, encountered a technical issue with the gearshift. I was stuck in fourth gear at times losing us a lot of time. Despite Dindo and I taking our seventh class win of the season and extending our championship lead, we’re obviously very disappointed, having come so close to winning the race outright.”

Dindo Capello: “A really cruel ending to a weekend that had been so go for us until the last few moments of the race. I couldn’t believe Allan had got a gearbox problem almost within sight of the chequered flag. Technical issues are so rare. We’ve waited for another overall victory since St Petersburg in April and I honestly believed we’d had all of the bad luck we could suffer.”

Dave Maraj: “Audi Sport North America scored its eighth LM P1 1-2 of the season but it was also a very disappointing race for us. The #1 Audi encountered a technical issue concerning the transmission with just 10 minutes to go after an outright victory had looked all but certain. The #2 R10 TDI suffered at the hands of a misunderstanding in the pits, not of our making, during a full course caution. Marco set the fastest race lap so the safety car confusion makes it even more frustrating for us.”

In the dash to the checkered flag, Timo pushed the BK Mazda of Ben Devlin out of the way, which thankfully caused no problems for either (at least as of this writing…).

At race end, it was another Penske 1-2 in the LMP2 class, and a 1st and 3rd overall. Romain Dumas: "For sure it was not predictable. With 20 minutes to go I was already cleaning my helmet and thinking we had won the class again. That was the goal as it always has been. It was difficult to keep the Audi in sight early at the start. I knew if we kept good contact we would have a chance. But this time with the traffic it was too difficult. Unfortunately I lost my gap to the safety car but we were able to leave the pits in first position. I think the LMP2 class is the future in America. We have 10 cars and put on a great show, but we are very happy to battle against Audi. Normally they are so much quicker on the straights and we think we cannot win. But then you have something happen like today. We are doing our race and trying to win the class. I heard this week the difference was 30 KPH on the straight. If our cars are better, they should come in our direction."

The #6, with Ryan Briscoe in the car at the time, had a rough last bit of the race, as with about 25 minutes left, he had to pit with damage to a rim from previous contact. They made the stop without taking on any fuel, which was a tough call. The car ran very low at the end, costing them the chance to stay in front of the eventual 2nd place Audi. Ryan Briscoe: “I was concentrating on cementing the second place in LMP2 when I also came upon the Audi, and passed it. But the Audi still had power on the straight-aways, and we were worried about fuel at the end of the race, so the team told me to back off to conserve the fuel and our one-two finish in class.”

If there was a highlight of the race, it would have to be the performance of the BK Mazda. Actually, if the above mentioned incident (with Timo) had knocked the car off track, it might have been fitting, the way the race went. But thankfully for the team, it didn’t and the team was able to celebrate their 4th in class, 6th overall finish, after running as high as second overall. Ben Devlin, who drove a masterful stint to end the race, described it as “mega. We needed this finish. Mike made a great call as far as stops during the race and I was able to gain on cars in traffic. We were able to pull enough, do a stop and still come out on top of the Dyson car. When I came out of the pits late with Butch (Guy Smith) on my tail and I was on cold tires, I was really concerned. But I was able to drive the car hard and keep him behind me. It was really mega.” John Doonan of Mazda was having a difficult time not smiling after the race. “It was what we have been working so hard for. We’re making good progress in a tough class and I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”

John indicated that the information concerning privateer use of the Mazda/AER motor ought to be made public soon, now that the bean counters have finished up their jobs. This was definitely a boost to those efforts…

Finishing an encouraging 3rd in LMP1 was Autocon. But Chris McMurry was still a bit frustrated. “We were penalized for two minutes twice, plus one stop and go. They claim I crossed the out line from pit lane with both wheels. I’m not that stupid. That would put me out into the middle of the track. It likely cost us 5-6 minutes at least. The car was good, but the race was frustrating. Especially after some non-calls last race weekend at Road America. I was off track in a session and there was no caution. If someone hit me where I was, I probably wouldn’t be talking to you right now. Something has to be done.”

Chris’ teammate for this weekend was local man Tony Burgess. “It felt wonderful to drive in P1. I was wondering what was going on over in Europe, wondering if it was me, but now I realize it was more the car than it is me. It’s drivable everywhere on the track. I really had a great time and hope to be with the guys again soon.”

As far as resolution from the event, it has not yet happened. As of Monday night, there was no further word from IMSA concerning official results. The points and official results have not been posted. This is all that had been released:

"When the last car in the field passed pit in, the Race Director called for pits open in order to give the overall leader, who was the next car, the first chance to pit. The Pit Closed board manager called that he had cars level with him and was unable to signal that the pits were open. While there was confusion on the radio that the pits were actually closed, the Stewards ruled that the pits had opened and that the leader properly was able to pit first.

"The issue regarding penalties assessed to cars 22, 37 and 45, which passed the overall leader, is under review."

After a race like this, enthusiasm for the next is hard to drum up. But here we go, 5 days later, the teams will be in action at Belle Isle, in Detroit. Thus far, we know that van der Steur will not be there, nor will Autocon, who had chosen not to enter. Returning will be Cytosport, as well as the Robertson Racing Panoz and we will see the debut of another Viper Competition Coupe, this time from the Prime Time Race Group.  Oh, Cheap Trick will be in concert after the race too.  Oh boy.