ALMS Salt Lake City - Race Report
I’m not sure where to put this one!

After the results at St Pete and Long Beach, where the #2 Audi won, it was thought that the balance had shifted. P1 was now back on top, back where some prefer it to be. Especially with coming to a “fast” track like Miller, it was the common though that this too would be an Audi track.

But something happened. Penske Porsche won. And took a 1-2 - Romain Dumas/Timo Bernhard over Sascha Maassen/Pat Long by just over 22 seconds. So now for this year, we have sort of an opposite game happening. Porsche wins at Sebring and at Miller, while Audi wins at the street circuits on St Pete and Long Beach.

Romain said, “it was for sure a nice race for our car. We had a different strategy from the rest of the field. When I got in, there was little more than 1 hour to go so I knew I had to be careful in my stint. I knew to keep a good gap and not get caught if there was a safety car. For sure our team made a very good strategy... It was an important win for us.”

For Timo, who started the race, it was a bit more difficult as he had to contend with the start of the race. “Like we expected at the start, the pole position wouldn’t be much of an advantage to me. We knew we just needed to stay ahead of the P2 cars. I was being overtaken into turn 1 and when they slowed down into turn 3 we were going back and
forth. I could see everyone was struggling after the restart – it was hard to get into a rhythm. The key to the victory was the race strategy. They brought me in during the second yellow and put me out of sequence so I had a clear run to the end. I was pushing quite a lot. It was hard because I couldn’t see the other people from the P2 class so all I had was the split time on my dash and I knew I just had to keep pushing.”

Sascha started in the #6, but was caught out in the mayhem at the start. From then on out, it was a steady climb through the field, before handing off to Pat for the finish. Pat had to contend with the rapid Simon Pagenaud in the de Ferran Acura.

“We were conserving fuel when Pagenaud was catching us, but we turned several equal laps to make sure he knew we could so it if pushed. Sascha really kept the car out of danger in a very difficult first stint,” said Long.

Give Penske and Porsche credit. They won fair and square and in somewhat convincing fashion, using the usual Penske combination of speed and strategy. But they were also helped by their competitors.

de Ferran Motorsports, who was making their debut were incredibly impressive all weekend long. Unfortunately, the boss made a mistake late in qualifying, going off and causing the team and the Michelin engineers to make the decision to replace the tires and start from the back of the grid. By waiting to pit around the 73 minute mark, Gil was able to bring the car up to second overall before handing off to Simon.

He was able to turn some stunning laps, setting the fastest lap in the race with a 1:32.816 and eventually taking the lead, if for a short time. Unfortunately his radio was not working, and there appeared to be some possible confusion on their second start. The team had made up a sign, asking about tires, and when he came in on his last stop, the team changed the tires, even though there was only about 30 minutes left in the race and Simon appeared to be waving them off. But the team played things cautiously, which was the right call, especially for their first race.

Simon - “At the beginning of my run, I had the in-car radio come out and fall in my lap. So I tucked it under my seat belts and drove like that. But the Acura was an incredible car today. It was so much fun out there. I had to get through the slower traffic but I was able to get to the lead. That felt great. We knew we had to pit late and I just drove as hard as I could. But this is a great start for the de Ferran team. It was exciting to race with a legend like Gil. I think we have a good starting point and we’ll be ready for the next race.”

If not for having to start from the back…

Dyson Racing had a good weekend, with Butch Leitzinger/Marino Franchitti coming home 4th overall, although 46 seconds back of the winner. This despite Butch having an off and then tangling with Adrian Fernandez as he returned back to action about 90 minutes into the race. Chris Dyson/Guy Smith, who finished 6th overall, was forced to start from the back when Guy had a cut tire in qualifying. The team had planned on swapping the right front tire to a harder compound after qualifying. Because you can only swap one tire after qualifying, it was to the back of the grid for the start.

Both cars were running nose to tail for sometime in traffic, also battling with Sascha and Ben Devlin in the Mazda. It took Butch awhile to shake free, which cost him precious time.

Fernandez Racing led early for over 20 laps, as Luis Diaz continued his strong run of drives. Unfortunately when Adrian got caught up with Butch, he lost some of the aero on the nose and dropped to 5th overall. “I think we had the car to win today. Luis proved it and I was out there running pretty easily. Traffic in this series can be very frustrating – very unpredictable – and you just never know what is going to happen. One of the Dyson cars went off and came back on track and suddenly just turned into the corner in front of me. I never expected it. He was coming very slow and when you are that slow, you don’t jump onto the racing line. I was at least 40 miles an hour quicker than him. Once we damaged the dive plane, we had a lot of push in the car. Luis did a tremendous job. We just have to keep doing this and one day we will get our race. It was a frustrating end.”

For Audi, who was racy and looking like the dominant ones early, their race may have come down to the timing of their first pit stop. Both cars stopped at the first caution, only 20 minutes into the event. Maybe they were expecting another caution, (of which only one more came – 5 minutes later), but that meant a minimum of about 72 minutes of track time for each of the remaining tanks. This “issue” became evident when both cars stopped at about the 90 mark. This gave them roughly 70ish minutes of run time, but 9 minutes of that were under caution. To prove the point, they did have to stop again for a splash later in the race.

When Emanuele Pirro made his last stop in the #1 Audi, he held about a 2 second lead. He came out of the pits in 4th overall. With 25 minutes remaining, Emanuele was just over 16 seconds back. It might well have been a race, but because of an incident in traffic with the Robertson Ford GT, we’ll never know if it was doable. It might have been, if the #7 did a timed stop on it’s last one, but it’s likely that that Romain was simply slowing to be cautious, as he had the race well in hand.

The challenge by the #2 Audi came unraveled 90 minutes into the race, when the car stalled on Lucas Luhr when he tried to exit the pits. Besides the issues in the pits, contact with the Gigliotti Corvette caused a cut tire and then a penalty for avoidable contact.

Both cars were capable of winning – but neither did, unless you consider a P1 class victory (car #2) and 7th overall a success.

For the Andretti Green and Highcroft Acura teams, their race ended early. On the restart after the first yellow, Scott Sharp dove inside of Butch Leitzinger, spun and then was tagged by Christian Fittipaldi. Rear suspension damage caused the Highcroft car to head behind the wall for repairs, while the Andretti Green car was delayed, plus penalized for entering the pits and performing work on the car when the pits were closed.

BK Mazda finished 9th overall, three laps back. Ben Devlin had another strong early stint, holding off Sascha, Chris Dyson and Butch for an extended period, quite reminiscent of his drive here last year.

What may have been one of the most stunning and enjoyable events was at the start. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see what Jon Field was going to do at the start. Lined up behind an Audi, and knowing what an Audi would do at the start, Jon followed. By turn 1, Jon was in second and on lap 2, Jon took the lead, driving that Lola for all it was worth, leading the field for 5 glorious laps. It was obvious that it would not last, as that Lola was twitching and sliding all over the place, but it was one of the more memorable few lap segments that has been seen in this series for quite some time. "I tucked behind one of the Audis," Jon explained of the start. "I figured he was going to the front too. We're fast down the straightaway, so I figured it was the right car to be behind. I tried to make my move at the end there, and they were really nervous on tires like I was, so I could maneuver around him pretty good. It was really nice."

In GT1, it was the final rehearsal for Le Mans for the Corvette team. It’s unfortunate that this team is in this situation, but there is nobody out there right now willing to take up the challenge. The #3 of Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen beat the #4 of Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta. But as Johnny said, “people say our wins are not meaningful, as we have no competition. But I believe the best competition out there are our teammates. There are none better.”

The GT2 battle for the lead ended 20 minutes in. The timing of the first caution and the pitting of the 2 Audis had the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche (Wolf Henzler/Joerg Bergmeister) right behind the pace car. The wave-by gave the team effectively a 1 lap lead over the rest of the field. Wolf - "We knew after warmup that the car was very fast and would be good over the long run. Early on, in the first yellow, I was able to get a lap lead on the rest of the GT2 field when I got the wave-by and they didn't. It turned out to be key to winning the race. Over my stint, I was able to stay out of the rest of the GT2 traffic and was very careful to keep out of trouble. When I caught the GT2 pack -- there were four or five of them together who were a lap down-they were all fighting for position and I had to work my way carefully through them, one by one. Thanks to the crew for a fantastic race. We are now back in the lead in the championship and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season in such a strong Porsche."

That left the rest of the class to fight for the rest of the points paying positions. Finishing second was the #46 Lizard (Johannes van Overbeek/Patrick Pilet), capping a very good day for the desert dwellers. Add in a 6th place for the #44 (Darren Law/Seth Neiman), and you’ve got a great day. Team principle Seth Neiman said, “congratulations to the entire Lizard team on our third double podium of the year. It's clear that the fight for the championship is really on now. Utah was our first return since Sebring to a standard road course, and the results here show that it will be a very competitive season and that the field is evenly balanced. We head to France next week for Le Mans, and we'll be back with the ALMS at Lime Rock in July."

Third in class was the #71 Tafel Ferrari, but it wasn’t easy. After the driver change from Dominik Fanrbacher to Dirk Mueller, the team dropped from 2nd in class to 6th. With about 20 minutes to go, the team called Dirk in for a timed fuel, from 2nd place and Dirk went on the attack. "Thanks for all the effort the team put into this race. We had two awesome pit stops. Really, really good. Dom drove a fantastic first stint. I had bad luck with the traffic for four laps in a row. I just couldn't believe it. But I didn't risk it. I knew we had to finish. Finally we had a very close finish but in the end we finished third.”

Tony Dowe looks at this race as a battle in a long war. "One of the realities of the Series we are in is that we know we cannot win every race and some races we will do better than others. The effort that Porsche has put in is fantastic. We really recognize how much effort they have made and we salute that effort. We gained even more respect for Wolf Henzler's efforts today. Because he drove for us last year we are very happy for him. But we also know the abilities of Dirk and Dominik and the team members who are working to put us ahead again. Our program is very strong. While the Lizard and Risi teams are away at Le Mans we are testing here in America at a number of facilities. We look forward to the results we find because we know with seven races to go there is everything to play for. The Lime Rock race and Mid-Ohio will be fantastic. I really look forward to seeing the results there."

The gain for Tafel was the loss for Farnbacher-Loles. After running well all weekend long, the team realized near the end that they would need a splash to make it to the end, dropping them to 4th in class. Unfortunately it was for naught, as post race inspection found the fuel cell over capacity.

Greg Loles - "This was a breakthrough weekend for us in the ALMS. The car had the fastest race lap and our program has reached a level where we're competing for the top step of the podium. Unfortunately, an oversight during the measurement process allowed our fuel cell to have a meaningless overcapacity – in fact, the car was unable to make it to the end without a stop for fuel. It detracted from a strong weekend and took away a well-earned fourth-place result. Clearly, our car is in position for class wins and I'm confident we will be competitive at every event."

As has been documented during the last few days, PTG Panoz has made some changes and has rebounded to have an encouraging weekend. If the car is developed as hoped, there may be more opportunities for the car to distinguish it as more than the best of the US built cars. 5th in class is a nice result for the team. The upcoming break should be good for the team and look for some more promising results later in the year.

Also promising were the results for the Gigliotti Corvette. Eric Curran was drafted into the team, qualified the car, and led them to a fine 7th place finish, which could have been even better if the car had not been hit so many times Eric – “I love racing in this series. I don’t have any issues with the drivers in this series – they’ll race you hard and clean. The LG Motorsports Corvette, with more chassis tuning and prep time can be a front runner.”

Miserable is a fitting description for the Risi race. After finding an issue in pit lane concerning the fueling system, the team was forced to start the race from the pit lane. Mika Salo drove hand and got the Ferrari up to second in class and things were looking better for the team, but then Jaime Melo got into the Gigliotti Corvette, apparently misjudging a pass. The resultant damage dropped the car out of the race on the spot.

For Team Manager Dave Sims, it’s more than just this race. It’s also Le Mans to think about. “Whatever the rights and wrongs of the incident were, our main concern now is assessing the extent of the damage to the #62 car. It was due to leave Utah on Wednesday for Europe so we obviously hope that it’s not too badly damaged to prevent that from happening. We are certainly going to have our work cut out over the next few days.”

Patrick Friesacher and Harrison Brix fought through a malfunctioning power steering system to take 8th place in class in the #61 Risi Ferrari.

Almost as bad as Risi’s weekend was the home town team of Corsa Motorsports. A weekend that held promise for the team soon was ruined by contact on the track, first by a P2 car, then later by the #73 Tafel Ferrari. A cut tire, a disconnected helmet blower and a non functioning drivers door all contributed to the long day. Near the end, when Johnny Mowlem was moving the car up through the field, he was hit and sent into the gravel, ending their day.

Drayson-Barwell, desperate for track time, started and ended the week the same way – with blown motors. The team is quite happy with the chassis and how it is responding, but track time has been limited by the engine failures. There will be some work taking place back in the Aston shops to take care of this issue.

Vici entered two cars for the first time this year, but did not have a rewarding weekend. Neither car finished, with the #5 stopping off course with 4 minutes left in the race. Both cars had multiple penalties for various infractions.

As mentioned earlier, the Robertson Racing Ford GT was the victim of a hit by an Audi, but at the 1 hour mark, with David Murry at the wheel, the car was in 8th in class. Given the right circumstances, it would be interesting to see how competitive this car could be.

The Primetime Racing Viper, debuting on the new Hankook tires retired after 35 laps. It was a rough weekend for the team, but they continue to work hard at getting this racing game done right.

Reflecting back on the race, it’s evident that this was not one of the great races that the series has had, especially when compared to the qualifying session the day before. But not every race is going to be a nail biter. This did have more that it’s share of moments – good and bad. But it is evident that the circuit that they competed on this time is quite good for the show.

The facility again is one of the best that we, as a series visits, and has earned a spot on the schedule for the future. Yes attendance could be better, but that comes with educating the general public. So far, it’s not like the movie, Field of Dreams (build it and they will come), but maybe in the future…

After Le Mans, we can see more of the intriguing GT2 battle for supremacy, and see what Audi has up their sleeves to battle the pesky P2 cars. Any bets on when an Acura wins overall?

4 MCC