Another 12hrs of Sebring in the books!

[k_dog]

Well, another 12hrs of Sebring in the books:

Oliver Gavin (#4-GTS Corvette C5-R) "It's just frustrating after leading for so long. About three laps before the incident, Ron had let me by and things were looking pretty good. Then, just as I was coming out of the front straight, it just started vibrating for about a second and then I heard a loud Bang! Sebring is very hard on race cars, and I never expected we'd retire, let alone due to the driveshaft."

At 9:55, John Graham (#11-P900 Panoz LMP01/EPP) into the pits. Tires and fuel, no driver change.

At 9:58, Darren Turner (#80-GTS Ferrari 550 Maranello) into the pits. Fuel only, no driver change.
At 10:00, top three in class:

#1-P900 Marco Werner (352 laps)
#38-P900 Stefan Johansson (351 laps),
#8-GTP David Brabham (348 laps)
#3-GTS Johnny OConnell (318 laps)
#80-GTS Darren Turner (305 laps),
#4-GTS Oliver Gavin (283 laps)
#23-GT Lucas Luhr (305 laps)
#31-GT Johnny Mowlem (304 laps)
#53-GT Andrea Chiesa (298 laps)
#20-P675 Chris Dyson (291 laps)
#37-P675 Duncan Dayton (262 laps),
#15-P675 Hayanari Shimoda (73 laps)

At 10:00, Lucas Luhr (#23-GT Porsche 911 GT3 RS), leader in class, into the pits. Tires and fuel, driver change: Sascha Maassen, retains the lead in class.

At 10:02, Perry McCarthy (#9-P900 Audi R-8) into the pits. Tires and fuel, no driver change.

At 10:04, Michael Durand (#37-P675 Lola EX257/AER MG) into the pits with transmission problems.

At 10:04, Didier Theys (#27-P900 Dallara MG) into the pits. Fuel only, driver change: Fredy Lienhard Sr..

At 10:06, Mike Fitzgerald (#42-GT Porsche 911 GT3 RS) into the pits for a stop and go penalty (speeding).

At 10:09, Robert Nearn (#2-GTS Saleen S7R) into the pits. Tires and fuel, no driver change.

At 10:16, Marco Werner (#1-P900 Audi R-8) leads Stefan Johansson (#38-P900 Audi R-8) by 14.378 seconds with 14 minutes to go.

At 10:19, Marco Werner (#1-P900 Audi R-8) leads Stefan Johansson (#38-P900 Audi R-8) by 15.849 seconds with 11 minutes to go.

At 10:23, Jean-Philippe Belloc (#71-GTS Dodge Viper GTS-R) is off course and stopped, the race is over for the viper, falling one place short of the podium behind the #4-GTS Corvette in third.

At 10:25, Rinaldo Capello (#7-P900 Bentley Speed 8) into the pits for a stop and go penalty.

At 10:28, white flag.

At 10:30, checkered flag.

Unofficial winners in class:
Marco Werner (#1-P900 Audi R-8)
Johnny O'Connell (#3-GTS Corvette C5-R)
Sascha Maassen (#23-GT Porsche 911 GT3 RS)
Chris Dyson (#20-P675Lola EX257/AER MG)
(top three in class the same as 10:00 pm order)

#1-P900 Audi R-8: Frank Biela, 2nd Sebing win (2000), 10th career
victory: Marco Werner and Phillip Peter both get their first career ALMS win.

#20-P675 Lola EX257/AER MG: Didier de Radigues gets his sixth career win, all in LMP 675, making him the winningest P675 driver. Chad Block gets his third career win, and Chris Dyson his first.

#3-GTS Corvette C5-R: Johnny O'Connell gets his 5th class win at Sebring, 2nd consecutive, and 14th career ALMS win. Ron Fellows has 14 ALMS wins, and 2nd in a row at Sebring. Franck Freon earns his 3rd ALMS win.

#23-GT Porsche 911 GT3 RS: Lucas Luhr wins for the 4th time in a row at Sebring, tying Bob Holbert (61, 62, 63, 64) and get his 14th career ALMS victory. Sascha Maassen wins his third straight Sebring GT class and 16th career ALMS, increasing his lead for the most wins by any driver in ALMS history.

Brian

[Layla's Keeper]

*sighs* We could've just posted last years results. I hope this isn't how the whole season is going to go.

End Audi Dominance in sportscar racing! Revive GTP or GT1!

[dirk-diggler]

that was predictable race, boring too

[k_dog]

I would really like to see Bently take it this year...
Brian

[vettemaan]

I wish they would have focused on the ferrari-vette battle in the first few hours before they tarted runnin into problems

[JMS]

Originally posted by vettemaan
I wish they would have focused on the ferrari-vette battle in the first few hours before they tarted runnin into problems

I agree, always fun to watch... Remember last year at petit-lemans? Thats was an awsome battle the last lap!

[vettemaan]

remember the 2001 petit lemans where the vette passed the viper on the last lap? that was even better (my favorite racing moment ever)

[hakka]

That was 2000, I believe. What about last year, when Ron Fellows started running down the Ferrari picking up 2 sec a lap, 30 sec behind with 15 laps left?? He ended up passing him on the penultimate lap...I was there!

[vettemaan]

yeah your right that was 2000. that was pretty awesome too.