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Sebring 12 Hours 4-5 Just about on the three hour mark, the Risi Ferrari, the class leader, pitted for a ‘routine’ pad change. This was under the safety car, for the Zytek accident. Risi personnel knew they would have to make a pad change at some point, so as a set of pads seems to last over nine hours, the job was completed at one-quarter of the race’s duration. Remember, pads to the metal were a feature of this team’s closing laps a year ago. Jaime Melo’s earlier trip over the grass at T10 was put down to prototype traffic and a slippery track. Peugeot – second stage of the initial problem: The hydraulic pump to the gearbox has failed, and the 908 is in the paddock for a 15 minute repair. Bryce Miller has been in the Farnbacher-Loles Porsche, and coped well with a cool suit connection that popped out early in his stint. Audi will test here on Monday and Tuesday.. presumably running the cars as they finished the race (assuming they do).
On the green (after the Zytek accident) there are five cars on the lead lap, plus a wailing Peugeot of Sarrazin working on the three-lap deficit. Rockenfeller-Dumas-McNish-Fittipaldi-Smith.
The story thus far has been the fast but fragile Peugeot, the good run of the Andretti Acura, the inability of the Porsches to keep pace (No. 6 is now retired), and the strong dominance of the No. 62 Risi Ferrari in GT2. Chapman Ducote lost the No. 008 Aston under braking (“braking issues”) and spent a bit of time sorting out the direction of travel. Drama at the four-hour mark as the Peugeot ducks into the paddock—apparent hydraulic problems. If not formally, then at least practically, the French have surrendered America—again. Some down the order stories; the Gigliotti Corvette is running quickly whenever Marc Goossens is at the wheel. Dumas’ No. 7 Porsche (3rd overall, 1st in LM P1) is having a good battle with the No. 26 Acura of Fittipaldi. The No. 7 Porsche is running despite having made two more stops than the similar Dyson cars. One was because of a penalty and the other was a quick change of the nose unit during a caution period. The crash damage was too much for the Drayson Aston and James Bond has left the building. The crew of the No. 28 Corvette crew has discovered metal shavings in the crankcase oil and is investigating the source. After a few slow laps the team retired the car. The official reason given was overheating but we believe it is engine related. The No. 11 Viper is having driveshaft problems. At about the 4:30-mark, Allan McNish hands the No. 1 Audi back to Dindo-Dingo Capello. It drops to third place with Andretti-Green Acura now second overall and first in LM P1. The GT2 lead remains solid for the No. 62 Ferrari. Didier Theys has backed into the wall. Although the Porsche was able to continue there is ample debris and dislodged fencing to bring you another yellow.
The green flag should fly again soon after the five-hour mark—so we’ll continue the race saga on the next instalment. It is a long period of relative inactivity though.... edging towards an hour. Scott Atherton is incredibly upbeat about the state of the series going into 2008. He won’t have a crowd figure until later today – “People are still arriving even now” – but he expects a crowd figure “very similar to last year, perhaps up slightly”. Last year was an all-time record. 2007 crowd figures for the series, comparing like for like (same circuits), were 45% up, year on year. He’s particularly encouraged by the advertising that ‘his’ manufacturers are placing in Autoweek and USA Today, Thursday’s edition of the paper featuring a double page, full colour Acura ad. The manufacturers are so important to the ALMS – and without the CEO’s knowledge a photo opportunity was created on Tuesday evening, with 14 different models of car lined up on the start-finish straight here. “It’s fun to be here in this chair right now,” he summed up. More from the CEO next week. The Risi Ferrari lost time at the commencement of this SC period (the Horag damaging the fence), Jaime Melo having been pit-bound when the pits were closed: he had to come in, because he was so low on fuel - and had to wait until the pits were open for service. #62 still leads by more than a lap... Rob Bell, #71 Tafel Ferrari: "Dirk hit some debris, which punctured the rad. and it was such a big hit, the splitter fell off." The #71 is running at a good pace - but 30 laps down. "We're hoping to pick up one or two points to carry on into the season." Allan McNish: "We're having problems with the wind, which keeps changing direction. I'm concerned about the long yellow because the tyres pick up so much dirt." The Scot didn't seem unduly concerned about early pace from the Peugeot. Hour 5
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During the caution period
the Peugeot rejoined the others—some 25 laps off the pace. The No. 40 Ford has
been circulating ever slower—such that is holding up cars during the caution
period.