ALMS 2012 thread

[MOTV8]

Holy clown shoes Batman! And there is a whole backstory with GM and Riley! They must be salivating at the chance for some payback. They were the ones that R&D'd and hand built Lou Gigliotti a GT2-spec/SCCA World Challenge C6.R, and then got sued for it by GM, and snubbed by the ACO frenchies that send out the Le Mans invites. They'll have to detune that motor by 180hp or so! I wonder who'll they have driving??? Oops, I found them: "Four drivers currently are signed to drive including Dominik Farnbacher, from Ansbach, Germany; Marc Goossens from Geel, Belgium; Ryan Hunter-Reay from Dallas and Kuno Wittmer from Montreal." RHR is an Indy car vet, can he drive a GT?

[Desertdawg]

Damn, we're going to need bigger tracks...... I wonder if teh clown shoe news will bring teh Mofo Tony in to post some barbed comments with us? I bet he knows how to smack talk teh BMW !

[MOTV8]

Mofo can't talk smack, at least until he buys one...

Vadered teh Viper...

[Desertdawg]

Great Googly Moogly! That's a lot a silver ...

[VenomOnWheels]

Great Googly Moogly! That's a lot a silver ...

Quick silver

[MOTV8]

We'll see how quick they run soon enough.

Blurb in teh mail today:

Chevy Team Races on Waterfront Circuit

Instead of the wide-open expanse of Sebring, Corvette Racing will compete in the concrete-lined canyons of downtown Long Beach. Instead of 12 grueling hours in central Florida, the ALMS at Long Beach will condense the competition into 120 minutes of close-quarter combat. What hasn't changed, however, is the imperative to perform. With 20 championship points to be won on the waterfront street circuit on Saturday, April 14, the Chevrolet team will be fighting for a victory.

Corvette Racing has participated in every ALMS race in Long Beach, winning three straight in the GT1 class in 2007-09. After moving to the GT category, the team scored consecutive runner-up finishes in 2010-11. Now with two new wide-body Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars, a fresh driver lineup, and the momentum from a double podium finish in Sebring, the Chevrolet camp is primed to return to the top step of the podium.

It's a race against the clock as well as the competition in Long Beach. With only a single two-hour practice session on Friday morning to prepare for qualifying and the race, track time is precious. The Corvette Racing engineers and crew will have to test and evaluate setups quickly in this abbreviated schedule. In addition, driver Antonio Garcia will have to learn the intricacies of the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit.

Garcia has won his class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, the 12 Hours of Sebring once, and scored an overall victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona – but he has never raced on the streets of Long Beach. Now as a full-season driver with Corvettte Racing, the Spaniard relishes the task ahead of him.

"I've done street races before in places like Pau and Macau, and I enjoyed them very much," Garcia said. "I'm looking forward to my first street race in the American Le Mans Series, which has become one of the best endurance racing series in the world."

Jan Magnussen, Garcia's teammate in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, is a formidable force in Long Beach. Magnussen won the GT1 class with Johnny O'Connell in 2008 and scored runner-up finishes in the GT category in 2010 with O'Connell and in 2011 with Oliver Gavin.

"I'm fortunate to have Jan as my co-driver in Long Beach because he has been successful there in the past and I can count on him to teach me the circuit," Garcia explained. "I've prepared for my first race there by watching videos of the track, and I'll walk the course with Jan and the engineers on Thursday to learn about the corners. I know the Corvette Racing team will give us a good setup. Jan can work on fine adjustments while I focus on learning the track."

Tommy Milner, now teamed with Gavin in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R, will make his second start at Long Beach for Corvette Racing. Last year he came from the back of the grid to finish fifth after a post-qualifying tire change.

"Having very little track time definitely adds to the challenge in Long Beach," Milner said. "It takes 30 to 45 minutes for the track to get rubbered in, and with the predictable red flags, we may have only an hour or so of meaningful track time before the race. Fortunately the team can apply information from last year. Based on the performance of the new Corvette chassis and Michelin tires at Sebring, I think we'll be very competitive.

"Long Beach is tough, no question about it," Milner noted. "Staying off the walls is obviously very important, but the bumps and the varying levels of grip can also catch a driver out. The braking zone going into the first turn presents an overtaking opportunity, and the end of the back straight is another good place to pass. The track layout allows a car ahead to be defensive without really blocking. Sometimes you have to be a little forceful to overtake, but that's the nature of a street race."

ESPN2 will broadcast the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach live at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 14. The 2-hour race will be carried simultaneously on ESPN3.com.

[Shifty]

Rain Silences ALMS' Roar By The Shore Qualifying washed out, grid set by championship points An unusual rainy day in southern California washed away qualifying for the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach. That left Dyson Racing's Mazda-powered Lola coupe on pole position for Saturday's second round of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. As a result of the inclement weather, championship points set the grid for the Saturday's two-hour race on the 1.968-mile Long Beach street circuit. Thanks to their P1 victory in the season-opener at Sebring, Guy Smith and Chris Dyson will start on the inside of the front row. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's Honda Performance Development ARX-03a of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr will start second. Smith was the overall pole-winner at Long Beach last year, but Graf and Luhr won the race. Saturday's race will be a challenge to the extreme; the only group to have any dry track time was the GT Challenge class in its 15-minute qualifying session. "Obviously the situation is not ideal, but historically Long Beach has been good for the Dyson team and myself," said Smith, who was second with Dyson behind the Muscle Milk car. "This is a new car so we'd like to have more time to get it ready but I know with our experience we'll be able to still be successful tomorrow. So it should make for a good race. We saw in Sebring the Muscle Milk car is working really well." Defending GT champions and Long Beach GT race winners Joey Hand and Dirk Müller will start first in class again at Long Beach. The pair are coming into Long Beach off win in the season opener at Sebring. A light drizzle began falling just as the GT session started with the rain getting progressively worse. "(The team order) was pretty much go fast at the beginning. But to be honest it was already slippery; we were far off the GTC times," Müller said. "The main key was not to make a silly mistake and not push too hard and kiss the wall." Corvette Racing's pair of Corvette C6.Rs will start second and third in GT. The car of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia lead the Corvette charge following their runner-up class finish at Sebring behind the BMW. "I think you're gonna see the same thing as last year, excitement," Hand said. "This is a unique street race where you can pass here. You don't have to start from the pole to have a shot. The BMW RLR team is always good here. I love this place, this is my favorite venue in all the world. Last year we had a great setup and had great times. Being fast at the end of the race last year bodes well for tomorrow's race." Level 5 Motorsports' HPD ARX-03b will start first among the P2 runners. Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut will team in the Sebring-winning Level 5 entry ahead of Black Swan Racing's Lola-Honda coupe of Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen. Conquest Endurance's duo of Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson will start third in class with their Morgan-Nissan. CORE autosport's Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel are on the Prototype Challenge pole. Popow, part of CORE's Sebring-winning trio, is racing at Long Beach for the first time. "It is a strange feeling to be on pole without even racing on the track," said Popow, who turned four laps in Friday morning's wet session. "I'll have to get used to the track tomorrow and learn as I go." "It's strange, I've been here for 10 years now and I've never seen rain," Dalziel said. "All credit to the organizers and stewards for making the decision. Having the GTCs in the front and prototypes in the back would have been dangerous. We have to do our homework and avoid some of the drivers who are fresh at the race." Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil will start on the GTC pole for Alex Job Racing with their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Keen had qualified second in the class behind JDX Racing's Michael Valiante but the red flag and subsequent cancellation of the entire qualifying session erased the GTC order. "The car was pretty jerky the first we drove it in the dry," Keen said. "We had no data from this morning, but we had a lot (in the dry) from last year. I'm excited to get the car out there tomorrow and go for the win. The track will rubber in tomorrow if it stays dry. We know Alex Job always has good setups." MacNeil - like Popow - also is racing for the first time at Long Beach. "I'm hoping for a dry race. Leh did a great job in qualifying," MacNeil said. "I'm going to try and keep it between the walls, not on the walls. It's not my first time in a street course, so I just want to have a clean race and go for the win." The Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach is the second round of the 10-race ALMS championship. ESPN2 will air Saturday's race live from the world famous Long Beach street circuit just outside Los Angeles starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. The race will be carried simultaneously on ESPN3. I'm sure glad teh grid wasn't set by times, GTC would have been at teh front, and LMP in teh rear...

[MOTV8]

I hope Hand gets punted into teh fountain.

[MOTV8]

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/0gYR04B60Baf6/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/079sgj79Cu8PE/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/03vDdj50Mt9a9/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

[MOTV8]

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/0gYR04B60Baf6/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/079sgj79Cu8PE/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/03vDdj50Mt9a9/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

[Shifty]

I hope Handjob gets punted into teh fountain.

Fixed!

[Desertdawg]

Did you guys see his?

Lou Gigliotti will make his return to SCCA World Challenge racing this weekend in the LG Motorsports #28 ZR28 Camaro. Lou and LG Motorsports have had one of the most winning combinations in World Challenge history over the years, only 2nd in total number of wins EVER in the series and a total of three championships.

#28 will make it's first run at the GrandPrix of Long Beach, this weekend on Sunday, April 15. If you are attending the race, be sure to stop by, check out the car and get an autograph from Lou!

NBC Sports, Sunday, April 29th at 3-4:30PM eastern. Note, time and date subject to change. View live streaming on www.world-challengeTV.com day of race and continuously on demand after races.

[MOTV8]

Gotta sell dem Camaro headers!

[Shifty]

Hood? We don need no steenking hood!

[Shifty]

Excellent job O.G.! (and teh Tommy-fine first stint)

[MOTV8]

Teh WIN!

[Shifty]

Mags might have even pulled a P3 if he hadn't lost his hood (thus a bunch of teh frontal downforce) early in teh race...still, a respectable job bringing it home!

[MOTV8]

He didn't make it easy for teh Ferrari to get around, that's fer sure. Props to Gavin and teh Milner, tough to stay "clean" on that tight ass track. No Bimmer stuck in teh fountain though...so I am slightly disappointed.

[Shifty]

I am a little perturbed that Bimmer managed to sneak to P2...

[MOTV8]

Perturbage noted.

Did you catch teh Aston charging and pwning Henzler? They're getting pretty quick. Teh Lotus getting rear-ended at the fountain was the funniest shit, them trying to fix it and the P2 schmuck that tagged it whining all day about teh flaggers not warning him had me rolling.

ALMS: Muscle Milk Dominates Long Beach

Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr earn back-to-back Long Beach victories. Level 5 Motorsports (P2), Corvette Racing (GT) and CORE autosport (PC) among class winners...

On a picture-perfect day in Southern California, a stark contrast to Friday's rain-soaked chaos, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing broke through to take victory in the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr became the first repeat overall winners on the streets of Long Beach, using fuel mileage to their advantage to take their new HPD ARX-03a to its maiden victory.

The turning point in the two-hour street fight came with the race's one-and-only full course caution with one hour and eight minutes remaining, which saw the majority of teams pit for fuel and tires.

A refueling problem for Graf, however, resulted in the Muscle Milk machine revisiting pit lane for a final top-off before the restart, which took the German out of the lead and placed him at the rear of the field.

"I pushed really, really hard and I did qualifying laps for a series of laps just to catch up to Chris [Dyson]," Graf explained. "Once I was able to get close to him, he struggled a bit coming out of the hairpin and we were side-by-side going down the front straightaway.... I was able to just get ahead of him and stay in the lead."

From there, Graf edged out a considerable lead over the g No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60 Mazda of Chris Dyson, taking a 43.659-second victory over the Sebring P1 class winners.

It marked an emotional turnaround for the Greg Pickett-led squad, which dominated the season-opener at Sebring last month but retired late with a refueling issue.

"A really good team comes back strong," Luhr said. "That's what we did today. Sebring was a shame but now we'll hopefully keep winning races the rest of the year."

The win for the Muscle Milk duo came on Michelin street soft tires.

Dyson Racing's sister Lola-Mazda of ALMS debutant Michael Marsal and 2011 PC co-champion Eric Lux came home third in class but 15th overall, having lost three laps.

The battle for top honors in P2 came down to a fuel mileage race, with the then class-leading No. 37 Conquest Endurance Morgan-Nissan of Martin Plowman forced to pit with less than 10 minutes to go for a splash-and-dash.

It gave the No. 055 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Christophe Bouchut the class lead, thanks to a fuel-saving final stint that was rewarded with the second straight win for he and team owner Scott Tucker.

"We had great strategy because when we saw that it would be hard to come back on the leading car, the engineer made a good [call] to save some fuel to save a pit stop," Bouchut said. "It's what brought the victory in the end, so it was a great decision."

Tucker lost ground early on when he was hit from behind by the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Rudy Junco, who received a penalty for avoidable contact.

Plowman and co-driver David Heinemeier Hansson, who led the opening laps in his Long Beach debut, wound up second in class, ahead of Level 5's sister HPD of Luis Diaz and Tucker, who pulled double duty between the two entries.

CORE autosport also collected its second consecutive class victory, with Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel steering their Oreca FLM09 to a dominant win in PC.

It marked back-to-back Long Beach wins for the Jon Bennett-owned squad and also came on the 10th anniversary of Dalziel's first U.S. racing start.

"I've known Alex for maybe two years now and it's amazing to see how far he's come as a driver," Dalziel said. "The performance he put on today really what won the race. To never seen this place and to hold off guys who've raced here many times was a huge success."

The duo finished an impressive third overall, just one lap behind the overall race-winning machine. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's PC entry of Memo Gidley and Mike Guasch finished fourth overall and second in class, with CORE's Bennett and Colin Braun completing the PC podium in third.

Corvette Racing scored its first GT class victory of the season, with the No. 4 Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner holding off defending class champions BMW Team RLL in the hotly contested production-based ranks.

Both drivers enjoyed time out front, with Gavin ultimately making the race-winning pass on the No. 56 BMW of Dirk Muller, which was caught off-sequence after an early race puncture.

"It got a little bit hairy towards the end with traffic," Gavin explained. "It seemed like a lot of guys were struggling with traction and there were a lot of cars going off, which kept it on your toes. But I hade enough of a gap to the BMW."

For Milner, it marked his long-awaited first-career ALMS victory after having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year with the Pratt & Miller squad.

“I have been racing in the ALMS since 2006 and have had opportunities to win but didn’t get it done until today,” he commented. “I am very happy with the victory but this is a total team effort. Today we had the best combination. It was definitely a difficult weekend with no practice and things like that," Milner said. "But I felt confident that we'd have a car that would be competitive and be comfortable to drive and one that could win the race."

Gavin drove the car to the checkered flag and had to fight off challengers to get the lead and the eventual victory. “The car was very competitive and it was all about the car’s set-up,” he said. “When I got in it, we were third and I quickly got into second over Scott Sharp and then I squeezed my way past the first-place car. It got hairy toward the end as a lot of guys were struggling.”

Three GT cars finished on the same lap. Muller and pole-sitter Joey Hand wound up second, ahead of the No. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia of Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek, which also enjoyed time out front.

The No. 3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen rebounded from an early race incident to finish fourth, with the Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner and Adrian Fernandez finished a surprise fifth, ahead of all the Porsches.

In GTC, Green Hornet Racing scored its first series victory, with Damien Faulkner and Peter LeSaffre rebounding from an early race incident, which ripped the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car's splitter off.

Faulkner drove an impressive closing stint, jumping from fourth to the lead and the eventual win.

Next up for the American Le Mans Series is a six-hour enduro at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, scheduled for May 10-12.

Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach

Long Beach street circuit, Long Beach, Calif.

Saturday’s results

1. (2) Lucas Luhr, Germany; Klaus Graf, Germany; HPD ARX-03a Honda (1, P1), 86.

2. (1) Guy Smith, Beverley, UK; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Lola B12/60 Mazda (2, P1), 86.

3. (8) Alex Papow; Ryan Dalziel, Scotland; Oreca FLM09 (3, PC), 85.

4. (11) Michael Guasch, Palo Alto, CA; Memo Gidley, San Rafael, CA; Oreca FLM09 (4, PC), 84.

5. (10) Jon Bennett; Colin Braun, Ovalo, TX; Oreca FLM09 (5, PC), 84.

6. (18) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Oliver Gavin; Corvette C6-ZR1 (1, GT), 84.

7. (16) Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Dirk Mueller; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT), 84.

8. (24) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Ferrari F458 Italia (3, GT), 84.

9. (17) Antonio Garcia; Jan Magnussen; Corvette C6-ZR1 (4, GT), 84.

10. (4) Scott Tucker; Christophe Bouchut, France; HPD ARX-03b Honda (5, P2), 83.

11. (27) Darren Turner; Adrian Fernandez; Aston Martin Vantage (6, GT), 83.

12. (23) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Wolf Henzler; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT), 83.

13. (25) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Jorg Bergmeister; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT), 83.

14. (20) Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Sascha Maassen; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (9, GT), 83.

15. (3) Michael Marsal; Eric Lux, Jacksonville, FL; Lola B11/66 Mazda (10, P1), 83.

16. (14) Lucas Downs, North Mankoto, MN; Kyle Marcelli; Oreca FLM09 (11, PC), 83.

17. (6) David Heinemeier Hansson; Martin Plowman, Indianapolis, IN; Morgan/Nissan (12, P2), 83.

18. (13) Duncan Ende, Los Angeles; Henri Richard; Oreca FLM09 (13, PC), 82.

19. (7) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Scott Tucker; HPD ARX-03b Honda (14, P2), 81.

20. (21) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Marco Holzer; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (15, GT), 81.

21. (22) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Ferrari F458 Italia (16, GT), 80.

22. (9) Rudy Junco Jr.; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Oreca FLM09 (17, PC), 80.

23. (29) Peter Lesaffre, Rye, NH; Damien Faulkner; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, GTC), 79.

24. (28) Cooper MacNeil; Leh Keen, Dublin, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, GTC), 79.

25. (31) Chris Cumming, Vancouver, BC; Michael Valiante, Vancouver, BC; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 79.

26. (33) Alex Welch; James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, GTC), 79.

27. (30) Emilio Di Guida; Spencer Pumpelly, Mason Neck, VA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, GTC), 77.

28. (32) Michael Aventatti; Bob Faieta, Tujunga, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (6, GTC), 74.

29. (19) Jorg Muller, Germany; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; BMW E92 M3 (18, GT), 71.

30. (12) Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Bruno Junqueira; Oreca FLM09 (19, PC), 69.

31. (26) Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Townsend Bell, Santa Monica, CA; Lotus Evora/Cosworth (20, GT), 57.

32. (15) Tony Burgess, Canada; James Kovacic; Oreca FLM09 (21, PC), 35, Accident.

33. (5) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Joeren Bleekemolen, Netherlands; Lola B11/80 HPD (22, P2), 1.

[Shifty]

A little vader'ing....

And now for teh ones that matter...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r185/Shifter_album/GT2%20ALMS%20Vettes/_DG25757.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r185/Shifter_album/GT2%20ALMS%20Vettes/_DG25855.jpg

Congrats to Tommy, finally shook that albatross (of no ALMS wins, even for Panoz or BMW)!

[MOTV8]

Teh Nice.

Corvette Wins GT Class at American Le Mans Series at Long Beach

Corvette Racing ended a long dry spell by winning the GT class of the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, capitalizing on collisions by the Team RLL BMWs which dominated last season.

Corvettes finished first and fourth in GT. Oliver Gavin and Tom Milner got their first GT win in the #4 Corvette C6 ZR1, beating Joey Hand and Dirk Müllers #56 BMW M3 by 5.68 seconds. The BMW was under hot pursuit by Scott Sharp in the #01 ESM Ferrari he shares with Johannes van Overbeek, which finished third, only 2.62 seconds behind the BMW and gaining.

It certainly was a great job from Corvette Racing, putting together a great car right off the truck, Oliver Gavin told alms.com. I learned a lot from Tommy [Milner]. He was a bit of a Guinea pig for me today, seeing how the tires lasted, seeing it through the longer run. Tommy did a great job staying out of trouble in the first few laps. He gave me advice on time management.

I knew we were third going out. But I got ahead of Scott Sharp quite quickly. It was harder to get ahead of Joerg, I managed to squeeze through. Then it was about managing and saving the tires. It got a bit hairy, with extra traffic, and there were a lot of cars going off. It kept you on your toes. I had enough gap to stay ahead of the BMW."

The second Corvette finished fourth. The #3 Corvette was damaged in a first-lap accident which also sidelined the #55 BMW. Despite the damage, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen managed to bring the car home only eight seconds behind the ESM Ferrari.

Two incidents changed the complexion of the GT race. On the first lap, Duncan Ende in the #25 PC Dempsey Racing Oreca tangled with Antonio Downs in the #8 Merchant Services PC Oreca. Jorg Mueller in the #55 RLL BMW slammed on his brakes to avoid the par, which got him rear-ended by Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette.

Apparently Mueller hit the PC cars anyway, because he ruined his cooling system. Garcias Corvette lost its hood, which caused it to understeer for the rest of the race.

On lap 17, Tom Milner squeezed underneath Joey Hand in the #56 BMW to take the class lead. Hand, concentrating on the Corvette ahead of him, cut across the nose of Guy Smith in the #16 Dyson Racing P1 Lola-Mazda which was about to overtake up the inside. Hand clipped Smiths left front wing, breaking it while cutting his own right rear tire. Hand had to pit, which cost him a lot of track position and gave Milner in the Corvette time to open a gap.

I got the lead in the opening stint, said Tom Milner. I was behind Joey in the BMW. I felt I was quick behind him. I just waited for an opportunity. He got held up exiting turn 8 or 7I stayed on it and was able to sneak by there.

Finally, I got a win in ALMS, racing since 2006. Ive had some great podiums and big heartbreaks after chances to win.

With an unknown car from the rain sessions, it was great to get a win that meant something. I learned a bit from last year where I had put myself in bad situations so I focused on keeping out this year.

Its a big team win today, not just about me, but the team, and my co-driver.

Johannes van Overbeek actually took the lead from the Corvette before the halfway mark; the ESM driver wanted the win as a birthday present perhaps. BMW retook the lead in the pits, (they didnt need tires, having taken a full set when hand came in with a flat.) Müller couldnt hold off Magnussen with older tires, though; the Corvette driver retook the lead after five laps.

The GT race went right down to the wire, with Scott Sharp gaining on Dirk Müller; if he had had another several laps he might well have finished second. Had it been a 2-hour, 45-minute race like most ALMS events, he might have been fighting for the lead at the end.

Farther back in the pack, series veteran Adrian Fernandez in the #007 Aston Martin Vantage showed that he could drive a GT car as well as a prototype, battling past Wolf Henzlers #17 Falken Tire Porsche with a precise and very daring move, squeezing ahead with about the width of a sheet of paper between the two cars, but never making contact.

The most disappointed GT team was Alex Job Racing, which debuted its gorgeous black-and-gold Lotus Evora at Long Beach. Bill Sweedler went off on the first lap, then spun the Lotus to get back on track.

Unfortunately Tim Pappas in the #54 P2 Black Swan Lola-Honda had just been released from the pits, where he started since he missed qualifying. Pappas slammed into the Lotus, sidelining his own car and doing enough damage that the Lotus needed several stops to make repairs. AJR wasnt planning to win the race, but they certainly hoped for a less jarring debut.

The American Le Mans Series stays in California for its next race, the American Le Mans Monterey Presented by Patrón, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 12.

The ALMS Monterey event will be a true endurance racea six-hour contest against fatigue both human and mechanical, as well as against other cars in five classes. Racing fans on or anywhere near the West Coast wont want to miss this one.

[Shifty]

That Aston will need watching...

[MOTV8]

IN THE COCKPIT: Jan Magnussen, Long Beach

"We did end up with a fourth place spot, which is not too bad. I think if I had a bit more luck in traffic we might have ended up on the podium..."

Jan Magnussen | Posted April 18, 2012

First of all I’m very happy Corvette Racing got a win, but of course I would have preferred it was the No. 3 car.

Long Beach was certainly a challenge for us. Antonio (Garcia) was driving at the start of the race and it was a worst-case scenario. He hadn’t been to Long Beach and the race start was his first dry lap, and he got into an incident on the first lap. A couple of LMPC cars got together he had nowhere to go and sustained quite a bit of damage. I was hoping for a better start, where he could get a clean early run and settle in a bit, but that’s street racing for you. It was no one’s fault, just what happens.

The damage was pretty bad on the car. The nose was pushed in and the hood was gone. Unfortunately when the hood took off, it also took out our Gurney flap on the rear wing, which creates a lot of downforce. The rear diffuser was also broken too. So we really did not have any aero on the car for almost all of the race.

And to make things worse, the air conditioning broke in the impact as well. It was a bit hot in there.

So with no aero, Antonio did the best he could and turned the car over to me. We don’t have as much downforce as prototypes but it is still very important on these cars and it was tough not to have. However with a new set of Michelins, the car was actually pretty good and turning competitive times. But with no downforce we were sliding all over the track and we wore them out. It was only towards the end when I absolutely used up everything I had and the Ferrari and BMW were able to pull away from me.

We did end up with a fourth place spot, which is not too bad. I think if I had a bit more luck in traffic we might have ended up on the podium. But a second place at Sebring and a fourth place in Long Beach is still good for a 2012 championship run. The No. 3 car crew is very fast and have us a great pit stop at Long Beach – they really work very hard and their results show it. We were actually faster than the No. 4 car on the stop but I couldn’t pull out because the pit stalls at Long Beach are so tight.

Overall, I feel that Corvette Racing’s performance level is better than last year and very close to the competition. With the weather last weekend, it was a matter of which team unloaded best off the truck would win the race. And for sure the Corvettes were the best – that speaks volumes about the engineering team behind Corvette Racing.

Congratulations of course go to Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner on their win. It is great to have both cars on the pace and I am thrilled for Tommy to get his first ALMS victory.

We are just going to have to get better luck on the track and keep getting wins and points and the championships will come to us. Of course it won’t be easy. The competition in GT is fierce and only getting harder. The Porsches and ESM Ferraris are very fast and have teams that have a good handle on their cars. And of course BMW is always a big factor.

So now we get ready for Laguna Seca in May. Obviously I have a lot of experience there and have had some good luck, bad luck and certainly some drama at that track. For Corvette Racing, Laguna is a very important race for us in terms of Le Mans preparation, as we get to run in the sun during the day and transition into night when everything cools down.

Last year at Laguna we did have some issues at night. At Sebring this year we were able to validate some changes and we were even better than we’d thought we were going to be when it got cool. Laguna gives us another chance to do it again.

But before Laguna, there are a few things coming. One is my son, Kevin’s first race in World Series by Renault at Aragon in Spain. I’m very much looking forward to finding out how he does there. His pre-season testing has gone extremely well, and I know he’s pumped and hoping for a good result.

Unfortunately I cannot be there in person, as I will be in Scandinavia running the Camaro Cup. That is a one-make series with tube-frame cars. In Sweden there are about 35 cars at each race and they’re very short events and it’s a ton of fun. It’s a bit like the motor racing equivalent of a bar fight.

Even though I may not be with Kevin I will be making sure that he knows that I am there for him and of course I’ll be following on the internet. I’m very proud of what he’s done and who knows, maybe we’ll drive together someday!

Jan

A winner in all 12 previous seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Jan Magnussen, a four-time class winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, drives the No. 3 Corvette Racing C6.R in the ALMS GT category with Antonio Garcia. For more information, visit www.janmagnussen.com.

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