Sebring 12 Hours 6-7
Either Side Of Half Way

This yellow has been interminable—taking on near grandamian proportions. Apparently the clean-up has taken longer than expected. Also, there were some timing and scoring issues that needed to be sorted out.

Near the end of the caution period the No. 77 Bratislava Porsche ran over some debris (a common problem) and suffered a flat tire. Meanwhile, the Panoz returned after fixing a broken differential.

There was big drama on the first green flag lap. Coming into Turn 10, Jaime Melo slipped inside one of the Lizard Porsches but then came across a gaggle of braking Prototypes. Carrying too much speed, and with wheels partly locked, he tried to slide to the outside only to have the unfortunate Dirk Werner in the way. The two made hard contact.

Both the front and rear left wheels of the Ferrari were damaged. Although he managed to scrape along for another 50 yards or so, the race-long class-leading car’s journey suddenly ended. Werner had nearly every wheel knocked askew on the No. 87 Farnbacher entry and he made an even more valiant try to get back, but could only manage to crab around a few more bends.

Greg Loles was, unsurprisingly, not at all happy about what befell his #87 Porsche, which had been running a strong third in GT2.

“Did you see that? I hope he lost his brakes. He’s stuck (Dirk Werner) at T10, we’re going to try and get to him.”

Unfortunately, the RSR was out of water, and that was that.

Dirk Werner: "I'm so sad right now. I drove to turn 7 and the Ferrari was really close because the track had just gone green. We couldn't drive really fast, we were just cruising around and waiting until the track was clear. Then the car crashed into me and broke something on the suspension so I couldn't steer any more. I tried to go back to the pits, but I couldn't steer the car and I was afraid I would cross the track at a certain point. Then the engine temperature went high, so I had no chance to get back to the pits. That's really the worst thing that could happen. We were running so great. It's pretty sad for everybody who is involved. All the work they've done to prepare the car is destroyed now."

Jaime Melo: “I went into the hairpin and it was a big mess, with lots of cars. To avoid it I went on the inside line and could not stop because I was on the grass. I hit the #87 Porsche. I should say it was my fault and I’m very, very sorry for everyone involved.”

The toe links were broken from the impact, which prevented the 430 from returning to the pits.

Mika Salo: “It’s a shame to lose such a big lead like this. The car was so well prepared this week, the best it’s ever been, and we were fast all the time – quicker than anyone else. We’ll come back next time.”

The incident has left it now a Porsche 1-2-3 in GT2, with Lizards 45 (Wolf Henzler) and 44 (Alex Davsion) on top, followed by the No. 5 Vici entry (Nathan Swartzbaugh).

The gaps between them are huge. The best placed Ferrari is in 4th—Nic Jonsson now driving the green No. 61 Risi entry several laps behind. The GT2 class interest is following the westward sun. Did someone hear Joerg Bergmeister chuckling?

At the halfway mark it looks Audi-Audi overall, Porsche-Porsche in LM P2 (but Bryan Herta close behind in the No. 26 Acura), then Porsche-Porsche in GT2. But wait, a moment later Marco Werner pulls in for a seemingly normal stop, and almost casually he pulls the lead car back into the garage area. There’s no urgency, no obvious problem, just a mysterious loss of power problem. It was traced to a faulty right turbo and the team took the time to perform some other maintenance (brakes).

Catching Up
The Peugeot will also test here on Monday and Tuesday.

Butch Leitzinger: “We lost a lap early on with a problem with the fuel rig. The car is pretty good now though. It wasn’t as good early, but it now looks like the track is coming to us.”

BK Mazda: According to John Doonan, the problem with the fuel cell was not a problem with the new tub, but with the cell that was swapped over from the wrecked chassis.

Johnny O’Connell: “The track is very slick. It’s as bad as it ever has been and it’s really bad in turn 10. Other than that, it’s been pretty uneventful.”

#71 Tafel: Dirk Muller is still at a loss as to what caused the damage to the car that punctured the radiator. He knows he did not hit anything, but believes that maybe some debris came up from below the car, which damaged the splitter and the radiator. The car went back out, but then the team found out that the splitter was indeed damaged and required replacement.

Nic Jönsson: “I was very pleased with this last stint but unfortunately we were about 10-12 laps under yellow. Then they put the lights out on the pace car at the wrong position on the race track and we missed out on a pit stop opportunity there. But otherwise, I was very pleased. I was able to run leader pace this last stint, 2:05’s, so that’s very good. We just have to keep digging here and stay out of trouble; there’s a lot of people making mistakes out there. We will see if we can avoid mistakes and I think then we’ll have a very good chance to compete for the podium. Tracy’s out there and doing a good job so he should continue on what he’s doing. Eric will then get in and we’ll see where we are at that point. Everything is good!”

David Brabham: "When I first got out there, I was focusing on avoiding traffic - it was really busy," said Brabham. "As my stint went on, I found myself struggling for grip. But it looked like everyone else was having similar issues. So it was probably due to track conditions."

Scott Sharp: "(I was) fighting through traffic, and [I was] battling the handling a little bit. By the end of my run, the track greased up. Each time we pit, we're making the car better."

Stefan Johansson: “The car was pretty good, and we clocked some reasonable times in the end. We're fighting some issues where the balance keeps shifting lap to lap and corner to corner, but the track is definitely gripping up. I didn't get any clear laps in the end, but the car is definitely getting quicker, but I think everybody else is too."

Hour 6 Positions (just after)
1 2 P1 1 Marco Werner Run 166 0.000 1:45.954 6 Audi R10
2 1 P1 2 Dindo Capello Run 165 1 Lap 1:46.302 8 Audi R10
3 7 P2 1 Emmanuel Collard Run 165 2.500 1:47.460 7 Porsche RS Spyder
4 16 P2 2 Chris Dyson Run 165 23.213 1:48.972 6 Porsche RS Spyder
5 26 P2 3 Bryan Herta Run 165 42.875 1:47.274 7 Acura ARX-01B
6 20 P2 4 Andy Lally Run 164 2 Laps 1:48.808 6 Porsche RS Spyder
7 15 P2 5 Luis Diaz Run 164 6.279 1:48.244 6 Acura ARX-01B
8 9 P2 6 Stefan Johansson Run 164 54.462 1:48.786 8 Acura ARX-01B
9 27 P2 7 Didier Theys Run 157 9 Laps 1:50.316 6 Porsche RS Spyder
10 3 GT1 1 Johnny O`Connell Run 156 10 Laps 1:57.839 5 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
11 37 P1 3 Clint Field Run 153 13 Laps 1:49.381 10 Lola B06/10 AER
12 45 GT2 1 Wolf Henzler Run 151 15 Laps 2:03.193 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
13 44 GT2 2 Alex Davison Run 150 16 Laps 2:03.802 10 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
14 61 GT2 3 Nic Jonsson Run 148 18 Laps 2:04.587 8 Ferrari F430 GT
15 5 GT2 4 Uwe Alzen Run 148 3.911 2:05.687 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
16 73 GT2 5 Pierre Ehret Run 148 10.100 2:03.370 7 Ferrari F430 GT
17 4 GT1 2 Max Papis Run 147 19 Laps 1:57.591 7 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
18 11 GT2 6 Joel Feinberg Pit 143 23 Laps 2:06.773 8 Dodge Viper Competition Co
19 07 P1 4 Stephane Sarrazin Pit 141 25 Laps 1:44.835 6 Peugeot 908
20 77 GT2 7 Miroslav Konopka Run 138 28 Laps 2:15.951 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
21 62 GT2 8 Jaime Melo Ret 137 29 Laps 2:02.434 7 Ferrari F430 GT
22 87 GT2 9 Dirk Werner Ret 136 30 Laps 2:03.660 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
23 008 GT1 3 Antonio Garcia Run 134 32 Laps 2:00.642 8 Aston Martin DBR 9
24 40 GT2 10 David Murry Run 126 40 Laps 2:06.786 8 Doran Ford GT-R
25 46 GT2 11 Johannes van Overbeek Run 124 42 Laps 2:03.381 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
26 71 GT2 12 Dirk Mueller Run 117 49 Laps 2:02.898 8 Ferrari F430 GT
27 12 P1 5 Chris McMurry Run 117 18.513 1:54.281 5 Creation Ca07-002 Judd
28 21 GT2 13 Tom Sutherland Run 106 60 Laps 2:05.505 6 Panoz Esperante GTLM
29 28 GT2 14 Marc Goossens Ret 99 67 Laps 2:05.105 10 Chevrolet Corvette C6
30 32 P2 8 J C Ravier Run 88 78 Laps 1:51.148 4 Zytek 07S
31 007 GT2 15 Paul Drayson Ret 70 96 Laps 2:07.103 3 Aston Martin DBRS 9
32 6 P2 9 Sascha Maassen Ret 29 137 Laps 1:49.190 2 Porsche RS Spyder
33 8 P2 -- Ben Devlin Exc -- -- ?.??? 0 Lola B07/46 Mazda
34 48 GT2 -- Johnny Mowlem DNS -- -- ?.??? 0 Ferrari F430 GT
35 10 P1 -- Ben Collins DNS -- -- ?.??? 0 Radical R10 ECO

This (the turbo change on #2) handed the lead over to Tom Kristensen in the sister car, but then that car stops and the front body panel is replaced. Although the stop was relatively short, it does scramble the top spots in a must unusual manner. Chris Dyson now leads the 12 Hours of Sebring, with his LM P2 Porsche atop the Acura of Christian Fittipaldi and the factory Porsche of Emmanuel Collard.

The No. 20 Porsche of Butch Leitzinger burped to a halt just past Turn 1. He managed to get it going again, but not before very nearly being collected by the remaining Audi. Meanwhile, the left rear wheel departed company on the Ford GT and Andrea Robertson carefully drove back along the back straight to the pits.

A handover to Guy Smith put the Penske Porsche of Emmanuel Collard on top, with Kristensen bearing down on a 15-second gap at about 0.4 per lap. We now have the odd situation of only two LM P1 cars in the top 10 overall. It’s almost a reverse of years past when the LM P2 class was the one subject to such meltdown.

Hour 7 Positions
1 7 P2 1 Emmanuel Collard Run 195 0.000 1:47.460 8 Porsche RS Spyder
2 1 P1 1 Tom Kristensen Run 195 13.605 1:46.302 9 Audi R10
3 16 P2 2 Guy Smith Run 195 52.090 1:48.458 7 Porsche RS Spyder
4 26 P2 3 Bryan Herta Run 194 1 Lap 1:47.274 8 Acura ARX-01B
5 15 P2 4 Adrian Fernandez Run 194 34.726 1:48.244 7 Acura ARX-01B
6 20 P2 5 Butch Leitzinger Run 194 1:17.016 1:48.808 7 Porsche RS Spyder
7 9 P2 6 David Brabham Run 193 2 Laps 1:48.026 9 Acura ARX-01B
8 27 P2 7 Jan Lammers Run 185 10 Laps 1:50.316 7 Porsche RS Spyder
9 3 GT1 1 Johnny O`Connell Run 184 11 Laps 1:57.839 5 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
10 37 P1 2 Richard Berry Run 180 15 Laps 1:49.381 12 Lola B06/10 AER
11 2 P1 3 Lucas Luhr Run 180 5.303 1:45.954 7 Audi R10
12 45 GT2 1 Jörg Bergmeister Run 177 18 Laps 2:03.193 7 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
13 4 GT1 2 Oliver Gavin Run 175 20 Laps 1:57.591 8 Chevrolet Corvette LS7
14 44 GT2 2 Darren Law Run 174 21 Laps 2:03.802 12 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
15 5 GT2 3 Craig Stanton Run 173 22 Laps 2:05.538 7 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
16 73 GT2 4 Jim Tafel Run 173 1.593 2:03.370 8 Ferrari F430 GT
17 61 GT2 5 Tracy Krohn Run 173 35.881 2:04.587 9 Ferrari F430 GT
18 07 P1 4 Nicolas Minassian Run 171 24 Laps 1:44.835 8 Peugeot 908
19 11 GT2 6 Chris Hall Run 168 27 Laps 2:06.773 9 Dodge Viper Competition Co
20 77 GT2 7 Mauro Casadei Run 160 35 Laps 2:15.951 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
21 008 GT1 3 Terry Borcheller Run 160 14.972 2:00.347 9 Aston Martin DBR 9
22 46 GT2 8 Richard Lietz Run 150 45 Laps 2:03.252 7 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
23 40 GT2 9 Andrea Robertson Run 145 50 Laps 2:06.786 10 Doran Ford GT-R
24 12 P1 5 Tony Burgess Run 142 53 Laps 1:54.281 7 Creation Ca07-002 Judd
25 71 GT2 10 Robert Bell Run 142 31.818 2:02.898 10 Ferrari F430 GT
26 62 GT2 11 Jaime Melo Ret 137 58 Laps 2:02.434 7 Ferrari F430 GT
27 87 GT2 12 Dirk Werner Ret 136 59 Laps 2:03.660 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
28 21 GT2 13 Tom Milner Run 131 64 Laps 2:05.505 7 Panoz Esperante GTLM
29 28 GT2 14 Marc Goossens Ret 99 96 Laps 2:05.105 10 Chevrolet Corvette C6
30 32 P2 8 J C Ravier Run 88 107 Laps 1:51.148 4 Zytek 07S
31 007 GT2 15 Paul Drayson Ret 70 125 Laps 2:07.103 3 Aston Martin DBRS 9
32 6 P2 9 Sascha Maassen Ret 29 166 Laps 1:49.190 2 Porsche RS Spyder
33 8 P2 -- Ben Devlin Exc -- -- ?.??? 0 Lola B07/46 Mazda

Audi Sport North America - Reassessment
The organisers have released the following statement, relating to the early incident between Dindo Capello and Johannes van Overbeek.

The Race Director initially assessed a stop-and-go penalty against the No. 1 car for avoidable contact with the No. 46 car. At the request of the Race Director, the Stewards subsequently further reviewed the incident. The following additional penalties are warranted due to the severe nature of the incident:
1) The entrant is warned that any additional avoidable contact by either of its cars in the remainder of the Sebring event may warrant more severe penalties.
2) The entrant is placed on probation for the next two Series’ events regarding avoidable contact incidents involving either of its cars.
3) The driver of the No. 1 car, Dindo Capello, will be fined by the stewards in an amount to be determined after the Sebring event.

Will penalties be applied to any other cars in this event?