ALMS – Laguna Seca – Race Report
Déjà Vu - All Over Again
Or (thanks to Janos) Petit Petit
© Gary Horrocks

If you didn’t like this one, don’t bother watching another race in your lifetime. It’s hard to imagine somebody scripting two better finishes than we have witnessed in the last two races. On more than one occasion after the Laguna race, I heard somebody comment that this was world class. Indeed it was, from start to finish.

In a nutshell, the class wins went to the teams that have been there all season long. And yet again, the battle for overall came down to a nail bitter between Audi and Porsche.

From the practice times, it was evident that this was to be another course that was to be favoring the P2 cars, or at least be more favorable to the P2 cars than the Audi R10s. But what we have seen in the past is that the gap from qualifying time to race pace for the P2 cars tends to be greater than with the Audis.

The speed advantage of the P2s was predicted by the Audi engineers, but according to Dr Wolfgang Ullrich of Audi, they have not yet been able to incorporate traffic as a factor in those calculations.

While they may be able to factor in the ability of the Audi to come up to speed quickly, it is much more difficult to factor in the intangibles - driver skill and teamwork.

Dr Ullrich mentioned that he has never seen a driver with the ability of Allan McNish to either make, or to find, a gap in traffic. It’s like he has an innate sense that something is going to open up and goes for it, before anyone else can see that gap appear.

You also can’t factor in the ability of Dindo Capello to stay cool under the intense pressure that he has withstood in the last two races. His drives in the last two have been stunning. But, without the team, they never would have been in that position.

After the race, Allan McNish stressed the importance of the team in the battle. “Right from the beginning, we knew our only chance was to control from the start.” He was able to do so at the start, but it was important that the team come through on the pit stops and the strategy in order to give the drivers the opportunity to battle for the lead. And that they did all race long, despite missing an important factor in the pit stops.

“Bobby Green, our #1, became ill and had to step out, so Brad Kettler stepped in. Brad had trained Bobby for this position, so it wasn’t foreign to him, but it just made things different for us. But the good thing is that much of this crew has been together for a long time. They know what to expect of each other.” Allan explained that the basis of the crew dates back to the Rohr team, with which he drove 10 years ago and in fact crewed his Porsche GT1 in the FIA race at Laguna 10 years ago.

While a late caution set up yet another amazing finish, which saw Dindo holding off Romain Dumas at the checkered, even the early parts of this race gave you the feeling that it again could come down to the wire. The final margin this time was 0.410 seconds. Over the last 32 minutes, there were multiple times where Dumas got through, only for the torque of the Audi to come through again and again. The racing was intense, but it was clean.

If ever there was a perfect demonstration of the strengths of the Porsche and the Audi, here it was. From the Corkscrew to start-finish was where the Porsche had the advantage, but the climb to the Corkscrew was where the Audi was able to make up ground.

It was on turn 5, 16 minutes into the race, that Allan McNish was first able to take the lead, passing Sascha Maassen on the outside of turn 5. “All the way through the race, any overtaking was hard, but when battling with the Penske drivers was very clean.” Then the typical cycle started. The Penske Porsches would make it out of the pits faster, indicating that there is still work to be done on the making the refueling time equal - then the Audi would charge into the lead soon after the green flag.

One of the reasons that the Audis could charge so hard, so early, on a cold track was by plan. Dr Ullrich: “It was important for us to be in position on a restart to take advantage of the first 3-5 laps to make up positions. I think that was the key to the race. We were able to do that. With the cooler temperatures we were experiencing on the track, we felt it was important to take on new tires every chance we got. The time gained by not changing tires was lost on the restart and also in the first 3-5 laps.”

The race started under clear blue skies, but the temperature wasn’t exactly warm. At 5:40, 3 hours into the race, the air temperature was 63F degrees and the track was 75F. By the end of the race, those temperatures were down to 55F air and 58F track. Dr Ullrich: “The weight of the car helped the Michelins come to us quicker after the yellows. That is how the car was perfectly used.”

When the race went green for the final time, Dindo was trailing Romain Dumas, but made a move on the inside heading down into turn 2. Dumas went wide and allowed Capello a gap and then he was back into the lead. But not for good. Even though the lap leader records do not indicate it, Dumas was able to take the lead again, but unfortunately for him, Capello was able to power through again before the line. This occurred at least twice, where Dumas was able to pass the Audi at turn 11, but Dindo was able to get the lead back before start finish.

Over the last minutes of the race, the following was the margin at the line:

8 minutes - .811 second lead
7 - .656
5 - .921
4 - .366
3 - .560
2 – 1.201
1 - .576
checkered - .410

It was an amazing last stint in the race. Capello: “At the final caution, we changed tires again, and again I didn't have much grip and couldn't push. I had the softest Michelin tires available, but they were too hard for the conditions. It was very good but it was very difficult to keep Romain behind. I couldn't keep the speed through the Corkscrew but to the end I had to push very hard, but not too hard to make a mistake. It was not easy in the last 15 minutes and it got harder. Every lap I could have been overtaken. I tried to brake as late as possible but not too late. I would rate this race as even better than Petit. At least there we had an advantage on the long straight which we don't have here."

While all along the mantra from the Penske Porsche camp was ‘we’re only racing for LMP2 wins’, you could tell that they wanted this one, especially after the result at Petit. But that said, it was a dominating season for the Penske squad. 11 class wins and 8 overall wins for Penske.

Tim Cindric, Penske Racing President: "Three years ago we came here for the first time in prototype racing and to be here and win this race three years in a row is pretty special. To do it in the fashion we did tonight and this year, it doesn't happen like this too often. We appreciate the things that we have achieved, and to see what these guys have done is very gratifying. A lot of the credit goes to them. The team continues to try to improve and Porsche continues to get better and better with the performance of the car and its reliability.

Romain Dumas: "It was a great race. Atlanta was a little bit disappointing because the safety car killed my gap. But tonight it was just a great race. I pushed my best and I think we overtook so many times. For next year I would love a chicane on the front straight. It was all the time fair and I didn't want to have an accident or contact. We won the class and that was the target. If we can fight and I'm all the time here for that."

Timo Bernhard (#7-P2 Porsche RS Spyder): "I'm very happy for my first race win here. I was very close a couple of times but always something happened at the end. Maybe it's the reason I'm with Romain now. The start was not easy. I was expecting an Audi next to me at the first turn and it was like that. I was behind Sascha when Allan took the lead and we were all very close. For me in the early stages I didn't want to risk anything and stayed patient. In my second stint I was able to get around Sascha and race with Allan. I wanted to keep it that way to the middle of the race.”

The battle for third overall was just as good, with Marco Werner holding off Ryan Briscoe Adrian Fernandez and Tony Kanaan. But to be honest, in the last 30 minutes, it was difficult to concentrate on anything other that was going on at the front of the race.

For Acura, it was not the way they had hoped to end the season. And the indication that it was not to be their race happened early, on the first lap, when Bryan Herta in the AGR car spun into the kitty litter at turn 2 - and lost a lap. David Brabham also lost it in the same turn, but it looked like he did so trying to avoid getting tangled up in the mayhem. The AGR car was able to regain that lost lap during the race. Without that spin? Who knows.

Herta: "I didn't think the tires were going to be that cold on the start. I'm really disappointed by that because I really put us in a bad spot. It was an easy spin on the first lap but the car got stuck in the gravel and we lost a lap. Tony jumped in the car and brought us back in contention today. He drove a sensational race.”

For Brabham and the Highcroft team, their race ended early, when Stefan Johansson went off. But he was flying. He was picking off cars quite easily and was showing some tremendous speed. Unfortunately, on the front straight, he moved over and appeared to block Werner in the Audi in an effort to keep him behind. This ended up contributing to his demise, as the contact caused the tire to go down. He slowed on the climb out of 5 and was pushed off track by Butch Leitzinger in traffic.

Johansson: "I don't know quite what to say - it's highly disappointing. I think we could have won the race today - I just felt we had the car to do it. It was awful to get hit the first time and then even worse to get taken out completely. I don't know if we would have recovered from the damage, but it was just body damage - the suspension seemed fine. I could have driven it back to the pits. It's one of those things you have to live with - we were so close but didn't quite make it."

The Fernandez Lowe’s team was fast all weekend, as the Lola chassis seemed to be suited to the track. They led for a while by double stinting on tires, but came away with at least a positive result for the team, in what may be their last race in a Lola.

Adrian Fernandez: “It was a fantastic race for the Lowe’s Acura team. It felt great to have a great performance in front of our Lowe’s executives and also the NSX Car Club who were cheering for us. I had a very good car today but it was a bit frustrating with the GT cars. I just didn’t get much luck with them today. Every time I moved to pass, they went the same way. I made a move on Briscoe to get in second place (in P2) but a GT car slid right in front of me. Overall, it was a great way to finish the season and go into 2008.”

Chris Dyson and Guy Smith were the last car on the lead lap at the end. While the final result was not what they had hoped for, they are getting closer. Both cars were among the class leaders, with the Leitzinger / Andy Wallace car leading for about 10 laps. Unfortunately any chance they had went away with the contact with Johansson. Butch Leitzinger: “Stefan and the Audi got in it pretty hard going up the front straight and it damaged Stefan’s car quite a bit because he was starting to drop back. I got beside him going toward the bridge but then figured I wasn’t far enough along to make the pass and got in behind him. I think he might have thought I was still there beside him and he braked very hard and with nowhere to go, I ran into the back of him.”

Despite only finishing a somewhat disappointing 5th and 6th in class, the team came away content with the results and ready to get on with preparations for next season. They are due to be testing at Sebring in the next few weeks.

Chris Dyson: “It had gotten quite cold at the end and we got some pick-up on the tires and the grip had fallen off. In clear running we were matching everyone out there. I lost some time in traffic unfortunately and that kept me from challenging the Penske cars at the end and really attacking the Acuras. We unlocked a big amount of performance this weekend. Our hats off to Porsche for producing such an engineering marvel this year. We ran the whole season without a single mechanical DNF.”

The British contingent on the Prototype classes did not feature as well as hoped, but the Creation Team still came home with a podium finish in P1, just ahead of the Arena Zytek.

Creation Team Principal Ian Bickerton: “I love America! I think two trophies from two races in the American Le Mans Series, we can’t ask for more than that. The competition is well stiff out here at the moment and we need to up our game to match theirs. I think we know how to now. We have learnt a lot in the last three weeks out here and hopefully we can pull together a deal to go to Interlagos and finish the season off there. I think we’ve done a great job, and look forward to being back here next year.”

Jamie Campbell-Walter: “What is incredible is that last year P1 and P2 on the grid was the Zytek and the Creation and that, after four hours of racing, Darren Manning (#10 Zytek) and I were still racing hard again this year. But the pace of the manufacturers such as the Acuras, the Porsche Spyders and Audi is incredible. While we improved by seven or eight tenths from last year, they’ve moved on by about three seconds. But all credit to the team; we’ve come here and got two podiums from two races and well done to all the sponsors, the team and the Dunlop tyres.

“We had a bit of a problem getting our tyres up to temperature after the safety car periods. While everyone suffered from this a bit, us and Zytek seemed to suffer more than most. In the last stint, we had to stop under green and the Zytek had got in front of us, we were lucky because we put a new set of tyres on just at the crucial moment. Mine came in quicker than his, as a new tyre, and I was able to overtake him in a do or die move at the Corkscrew. I hadn’t come all this way to finish 4th – I wasn’t really into that! I’m really pleased.”

The race for Intersport again came to an early end, this time because of Richard Berry crashing out while running under yellow. Again, Jon Field had the car running strong early, but it didn’t last.

BK Mazda did not fare well at their “home” track. Problems, reported to be a turbo, put them behind the wall for repairs, only to retire late in the race. The team is looking forward to the off season to test and develop the package they now have, which they are quite happy with. It’s been a positive step this season for the underdogs of the P2 class.

In GT2, Risi and Ferrari swept the championships, by winning class. They didn’t need to win the race to bring home all of the trophies, but not surprisingly, the team again came home first in class for the 9th time this season.

Risi’s Team Principal, Giuseppe Risi, who has had an emotional season, was generous in his praise for the competition provided within the American Le Mans Series. “We’ve had quite a year but we have to look at the Porsche teams who have provided the competition because, without them, we wouldn’t be here. I especially want to mention the Flying Lizard team, who are real sportsmen. Racing in the ALMS has been very special, and I think the Series is justified in calling itself “World Class”. We have a competitive car now, and I am sure Porsche won’t be sleeping over the winter. Neither will we!

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our sponsors and Ferrari North America, and hope they will enjoy this success just as much as we will.”

But the battle for the win was not all that simple. It might have been down to being cautious early, but the Porsche teams and the Panoz of PTG were racy and made a good show. But in the end, it was again all Risi. Jaime Melo: “At the beginning I was very careful, especially at the start as there was some confusion at the first corner. I lost first position but I knew that I could fight for that afterwards. I just tried to find a good place to overtake Joerg (in the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche) and afterwards I just tried to keep a good pace and not make any mistakes.”

Mika Salo, who finished the race, had some great battles during his double stint, especially with the no. 18 Porsche of Ralf Kelleners, and thanked the whole team as he crossed the line on the four hour mark. “Today was an important Championship for Ferrari and for us also, and the whole team. It didn’t go our way completely; we wanted to win the Championship two races ago which didn’t happen. To win all three Championships is very important for everyone here and in Italy. I want to say thanks to the Lizard guys. We had some bad luck and they had some bad luck too but they were always there and that made good racing.”

Ironically the battle for second in class came down again to the end, with Dominick Farnbacher in the Tafel Porsche just holding on for second in class over the Rahal Letterman team, this time with Ralf Kelleners in the car at the end. Unlike at Petit, there was no a pass on the track for the change in position. It came down to fuel for the Rahal car. They had to stop with two laps to go for a splash.

The second consecutive 2nd place finish for the #71 Tafel car was a good way to end the season for the team. Wolf Henzler: “The car was good all weekend, and I would really have liked to do the qualifying but it didn’t work for us. We knew though that as it was a four hour race, it wasn’t too bad for us and we could still achieve a good result.”

“Once the race began, we had some understeer – like all the Porsches today – which was difficult when trying to overtake. As you get very close to another car you lose downforce and that made the understeer worse and it was more difficult to overtake. The team made a good strategy call at the first pit stop, changing only front tires, so we gained track position, going from 5th to 3rd. That worked really well and I was then following Jörg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizard Porsche but couldn’t pass him because of the understeer.

“When Dominik took over from me after two hours, he was running good but suffered the same electrical problem we had at Petit Le Mans and lost power. He tried everything, switching off the ignition and main switch, and in the end had to stop completely and shut down everything and then re-start again. We lost a lot of time because of this and dropped to 4th place but we had some good luck too. When Auberlen’s Panoz tried to pass the Rahal Letterman Porsche he spun off and then the Rahal car had to make another stop for fuel while we did not.”

One of the #71 drivers had this Corkscrew moment.

Just like for the Tafel Team, the result of 3rd here at Laguna was a good result for the Rahal team, which showed marked improvement during the course of the season.

Ralf Kelleners: “It was a very tough race. I had to work very hard to keep position The car was good, but with about 45 minutes to go it got very hard to keep pace because of a flat-spotted tire that kept getting worse, and the need to try and save fuel. We are pleased with the result however, and are happy with the way the season ended.”

Both of the Rahal team drivers led during the race, including late for Kelleners, but he was just not able to keep the pace with the flat spotted tires. Then with 8 minutes to go, there was an incident between kelleners and Bill Auberlen in the PTG Panoz that put the Panoz out of the race and almost caused a late race caution which may have changed the final course of the race. Ralf Kelleners: “I am sorry that he went off because of the contact but I had to drive hard. He would have gotten me eventually but he had to be a little more patient. I wasn’t really in a position to move over and let him go at that point. We were running second and we were going for it.”

This was especially difficult for Tom Millner, as it was his Dad’s car that was sent off course and out of the race. “Certainly, mixed emotions for me tonight because we had a podium finish, but it came at the expense of my father’s team and I know how hard those guys have worked - just like we have. We are pleased with the race today, especially after we had some trouble in the warmup session. It was the last race of the year and we really wanted to go for the win, but I think that we did pretty well to score a podium and wrap the season strongly.”

For the Flying Lizards, the championship was a long shot entering the race, but that didn’t stop the team from giving all it had. Joerg Bergmeister led early in the #45, but was passed by the Risi car just about 45 minutes into the race. Later, contact with the #71 Tafel car cost them track positions due to a cut tire and a penalty for avoidable contact. They were able to rebound to finish 4th in class, three spots above their other team car.

It was quite a season for the Lizards and solidies their position as one of the preimiere teams in the series. It also further solidifies Joerg Bergmeister as one of the top sportscar racers around.

For Petersen White Lightning, the season came to a crahing halt, when their Ferrari was retired early in the race with transmission problems. Peter Dumbreck: "For the first few laps under green I felt that I could run the pace with the other leaders. I made a mistake and ran wide in one of the corners and they seemed to pull away a little bit and I had a lot of attention from the car behind me but I was confident about the rest of the race. Under yellow I went for a gear change going into the last corner and nothing happened. I had a box of neutrals and I knew straight away that I had a big problem and it was enough to put us out of the race. Once I realized it wasn't going in gear I was past the pit entrance. But, it wouldn't have mattered it would have just meant I wouldn't have had to walk so far to get back."

Lucas Luhr again did not get into the car for the race, and thus ended one of the most difficult seasons a team has had to endure in quite some time. But they will return next season, ready to go.

Michael Petersen: "It's an unfortunate way to have such a troublesome year end but it has been pretty much that way all year for us. With all the different drivers and diversities we've had it is a shame to have it all end less than an hour into the last race. On a positive note, it definitely leaves everyone hungry to get to the start of next year. It is going to make the winter break a long one for everybody but we'll lick our wounds and return with, hopefully better luck, and pursue another championship with Ferrari."

Dale White: "This was an uncharacteristic way to end an uncharacteristic season. Having a season like this is disappointing but seeing everyone working together and the effort every single person on this team has put in makes me very proud."

GT1 saw the Ollies holding off the O’Connell/Magnussen pair. Ho hum. Yet another 1-2 for Corvette. But this sort of reaction has not been fair to the team. It’s not their fault that no one wants to come and play with them. But if anyone gets the idea of blending racing with promotion of the brand, it’s Doug Fehan. He has stuck his neck out time and time again for this program and did so yet again this season.

Fehan: "When the season began, we weren't the only ones to realize that we could go throughout the season without serious competition. There were questions about how we could do it and how long we could go. Most of those questions I asked myself and were asked every time I walked into the Renaissance Center. We're all here because we are great competitors. But at the end of the day, it’s a marketing exercise and the object is to sell vehicles, and to do that you have to win races. To go forward and having said that, if we saw a lack of participation or enthusiasm then we'd call it quits. But we have had record crowds at our Car Corrals, for model cars and posters. We bring these Corvettes to the race track to let Corvette owners see, touch and smell these cars and be a part of it. They want to see competition and we do to. But they had a hell of a show this year, and they'll say it. People like seeing these cars and being part of the team. But it's a hell of a marketing effort and we're going to continue it."

So, what about the future of Corvette Racing and the recently announced ACO regulations? "LMP1? I’d have to ask Gill Campbell to get more room set aside for the Corvette Corral!! I think I would be misleading you if I said we weren't interested in seeing what this new rules package will be. The rumors we hear is that this is a package that will put a shift on the display of the cars that will put an emphasis on design of the car and the relevance. If we get the rules and know what our product line is, we'll have a better idea. We will do anything to forward the Corvette brand. But anything can happen. A shift to GT2 is a distinct possibility. We’ve looked at and will continue to look at all possibilities.”

Then there is the question about customer cars. "We've had inquiries and have a number of cars competing in Europe quite successfully. They're doing it on their own and very economically. It's a testament to the homework we've done on this car. If a guy wanted to buy a car to run here in the ALMS, we'd support him technologically. We sold a car in 2005 but they wanted to do it their own way and they struggled. We will continue next year as is. We haven't determined what we're going to do from a race standpoint and a marketing standpoint. At this juncture, it's too premature to say. But we will be back in ALMS with GT1. We stand up for Corvette worldwide. If you race in GT1 and these guys are off here, then our drivers are your drivers."

The similarities between the finish of this race and Petit are eerie. But, for this race, the mayhem was kept to a lower level than at Petit. The racing was for the most part first class and incidents involving some of the lesser experienced drivers did not have too negative an outcome on the race as we saw at Petit, thankfully. But that will need to be addressed for the future. The level of competition that we have arrived at here in this series makes it difficult for those looking at stepping up in the ranks.

As always, coming to Laguna is a joy and this year was even more so. The facility continues to improve and the racing surface was an obvious improvement over what we have seen in the past. Allan McNish considers this one of the safest tracks that they race on in the ALMS, and that’s important, as with the increase in cornering speeds that have been coming due to recent jumps in the technology, many tracks are increasingly becoming more and more dangerous due to lack of sufficient run off.

Word form Laguna is that next up, improvement wise, is items for the fans. The track has improved, so next, the fans will get to see the improvements. As long as the racing is like this, I don’t think the fans would mind things staying the way they are. Unofficial indications are that the fans responded in a positive fashion, as attendance was up 20-30% over last year. That continues to be good news.

What more to say. The season is over - what a way to end it. The ALMS finished on a rampant high. Awesome.