ALMS – Laguna Seca – Thursday Testing Report
Fernandez Lola Heads Them All
© Gary Horrocks A perfect day. Laguna Seca. Blue skies. It doesn’t get much better than this. It was a glorious way to kick off the finale of the ALMS season. One thing we found out real quickly was that the latest round of resurfacing here at the track did wonders. In this, the first session, the existing track record was obliterated. Or would be obliterated if this indeed was an official session. The old record was in the 1:13 range, but here, in near dark conditions, Adrian Fernandez ripped off a 1:11.677. Stunning. Another thing we learned is that if the times from this session are any indication, the track does appear to be one, as JC-W suggested a week ago, that will favor the P2 class cars. The top four cars in the session were all P2s (Penske, Penske and AGR, above, in second, third and fourth), with Allan McNish setting a 1:12.783 to head P1. This led a tight group of five cars that all turned a fast lap within 0.1 seconds of each other (Highcroft, Dyson, Dyson and #2 Audi). The track was resurfaced this last off season, in response to the bumpy conditions that arose from the most recent repaving, just the year before. According to Butch Leitzinger, the surface is greatly improved. “I didn’t race here last year, but the track is greatly improved over what I remember. There is more grip in the surface and it also appears as if the surface may be slightly more porous, as the blowing dust doesn’t appear to be affecting the grip level as much as I remember.” Overall, Butch is quite happy with the Dyson Porsche out of the box and feels that it is a nice way to start things off. If, and that is a big if, the conditions hold, could it be possible to see times dip into the 1:10 range? Hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to find out, but the four letter word that starts with R has been mentioned… In GT2, Jaime Melo was fastest in the session. He has never driven the track before, but made quick work of it, setting his time in the Risi Ferrari in just a handful of laps at speed. Only 0.12 seconds back was the #71 Tafel Porsche, followed by the #45 Lizards Porsche just over 0.1 second further back. For Tafel, the race at Petit could have come down to the delays from the fuse issue and the stuck wheel, but Tony Dowe stated you can’t view it as a ‘could of, would of’ thing. It didn’t happen, so they need to keep working to improve. He is quite happy with the pairing of Dominick Farnbacher and Wolf Henzler in the car, comparing it quite favorably to any other pairing in the class. All indications are that the team will return to the GT2 class again next season. Before the session started, Johannes van Overbeek was found all anxious and ready to get going. The Lizard driver, still in contention for the championship said, “this is going to be great. I can’t wait to get out there.” In the continuing game of musical chairs in the prototype classes, the spot of the injured Johnny Mowlem was taken by Hayanari Shimoda (below). Mowlem is here, with his wrist in a brace, indicating that he ought to be cleared to compete in a few weeks’ time. With the change of Shimoda to the Zytek, Darren Manning was called in to fill the slot in the Arena P1 Zytek again (so no Max Chilton). Ben Devlin was also anxious to get going. “The last race was tough, dropping out with 30 minutes to go, but up until then, it was a really good race for us. I’ll be back with Mazda next season and I’m looking forward to it. We’ve committed to a more extensive testing program in the off season and I hope it pays off.” In other Mazda related news, the awaited announcement concerning availability of the Mazda to privateers may become public this weekend. Gary Johnson, Road Racing Manager for Dodge Motorsports, was walking about the paddock, looking after the Vipers in both the Speed and ALMS series. He says the GT2 program is getting more attention in the company, which is a good thing, but there are no definite answers about the project as of yet. From discussions with teams running in the Speed GT ranks, there is a definite interest in moving up to the ALMS, as currently, the way the regs. are, the Vipers have very little chance of success in the Speed series. The new Corvette color scheme is a nice touch for the GT1 class, and the cars are not identical. The two cars are pretty much opposites of each other. What is black on one car is yellow on the other. A note for those model builders out there – the yellow surrounding the new markings is of a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the car. It appears as if the Robertson Racing team will be trading in their Panoz for a Kevin Doran built Ford GT for next season. Further details in a news item next. Friday will see a one hour morning session and then another one hour afternoon session, followed immediately by qualifying. This ought to be good. | 
