ALMS 2012 thread

[MOTV8]

Patsy Long is still a douchebag.

[Desertdawg]

Heres your other favorite

http://youtu.be/3Hy4MCEc66o

[Shifty]

He's such a dolt....let's say teh BMW pulled out of ALMS, or let him go...being a dick ain't gettin' you a ride elsewhere....

[Shifty]

Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca: Getting a Grip on a Challenging Circuit

Third Round of American Le Mans Series Is Crucial in GT Championship Fight

With 82 class victories to its credit, Corvette Racing has celebrated at race tracks from California to France – but it's been four years since the Corvette drivers sprayed champagne from the top step of the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Fresh from a win in the preceding round on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., the Chevrolet team enters Saturday's six-hour American Le Mans Monterey with two objectives: to break the Laguna Seca dry spell, and to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Corvette Racing has competed in all 13 ALMS races contested at Laguna Seca. It took Corvette Racing six years to score the first of its four wins in the GT1 class in 2004. Since making the transition to the GT class in 2009, the highest finishing Corvettes have placed second, third and fifth on the central California coast. Now with a pair of new wide-body Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars and momentum from its victory in Long Beach, the team is optimistic that it can come to grips with this roller-coaster 11-turn circuit.

"Laguna Seca has always been a difficult track because it has a low-grip surface that makes it tough to dial in the chassis setup and manage the tires," said Tommy Milner, who notched his first career ALMS victory last month in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R he shares with Oliver Gavin. "Based on our performance in the first two races of the season, I feel that our Corvette will be competitive at every track on the schedule."

While maximizing points at Laguna Seca is the immediate objective, the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans looms large. The first shipment of parts and supplies has already been dispatched on its transatlantic odyssey to France, and the cars and crew will make the journey shortly. Thus the Laguna Seca six-hour enduro will be the final rehearsal for the 24-hour marathon on June 16-17.

"A six-hour race at Laguna Seca is a great warm-up for Le Mans," explained Milner, who won the GTE-Pro class at Le Mans last year with co-drivers Antonio Garcia and Olivier Beretta. "It's an opportunity for us to perform driver changes under race conditions and to work through race strategies with the engineering team.

"Racing in changing conditions at Laguna Seca will also be good practice for Le Mans," Milner added. "The weather can be chilly in Monterey, and we usually have cold temperatures at night in France. We can evaluate how various Michelin tire compounds perform when the track changes. That's valuable information that can help the team to select the right tires for every condition."

Jan Magnussen, who will co-drive the No. 3 Corvette C6.R with Antonio Garcia at Laguna Seca, also regards the series' third round as a crucial rehearsal for the 24-hour race in France.

"The Laguna Seca race will be another chance to run the car in different temperatures as we drive into twilight," the Dane explained. "It's an opportunity to get more data we can use at Le Mans. All of the team's technical developments for this year, from increasing the overall width of the cars to refining the aero package, have produced a better overall package."

While all eyes are on the prize at Le Mans, no one can overlook Laguna Seca's importance in the fight for the ALMS GT championships. After two of 10 rounds, Chevrolet is tied with BMW for first place in the manufacturers championship at 40 points. Gavin and Milner are second in the drivers championship, three points behind BMW drivers Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller and seven points ahead of teammates Magnussen and Garcia. Twenty-two points are on the line for a victory in the American Le Mans Monterey.

"I always look forward to racing at Laguna Seca," Magnussen said. "I love everything about it – the area, the layout of the track, the fantastic atmosphere."

Milner agreed: "The Corkscrew is cool, but the corner that I really love is Rainey Curve, the fast downhill left-hander after the Corkscrew. The faster the corner, the more I like it!"

[Shifty]

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2012/05/04/video-2012-bash-corvette-racing-seminar-with-fehan-and-binks/

[MOTV8]

Damn...an hour and a half? Is there a cliffs notes? Fehan...teh master of pocket pool!

[Shifty]

Reader's Digest version: Teh Bimmers cheated, teh Vettes were slapped with a pile of limitations upon entering GT2, and teh new Vipers are going to get away with a bunch of chit that teh Vette's didn't... And ya, teh GoDug has racked 'em a few times there....

[Shifty]

Corvettes Qualify Second and Fifth for American Le Mans Series Monterey

Milner Second Quickest in GT at Laguna Seca, Garcia Grabs Fifth on Final Qualifying Lap

MONTEREY, Calif. - Corvette Racing drivers Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia took different approaches to qualifying for Saturday's six-hour American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but both produced top-five results. Milner qualified the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R second in the GT class on his third hot lap with a time of 1:22.661 seconds. Garcia waited until his seventh lap around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette to clock in with a 1:22.919 for the fifth qualifying spot.

Garcia tied the time of Porsche driver Patrick Long, but Long was awarded the fourth position because he completed his fast lap before Garcia. Aston Martin driver Darren Turner took the GT pole with a time of 1:22.229.

"That was one of the best laps I've put together in my life," declared the delighted Milner. "I was hoping for a clear lap, I got one, and the cars ahead of me weren't dropping wheels off the track so I didn't have to contend with dirt in the corners. The Corvette is really, really good here, and the guys have done a great job fine tuning the setup to exactly what Oliver and I want."

Garcia was eighth after six laps, seventh after seven, and then the Spaniard vaulted to P5 on his final lap.

"This is the kind of track where the tires take a little while to come in, so I prefer to build up the grip gradually instead of pushing too early," Garcia explained. "This was my first qualifying run in the Corvette and my first low-fuel run in this car, and it felt really good. I think we have a strong car for the race and that is what we are looking for."

The race will begin at 1:30 p.m. and run to sunset. Changing track conditions will test the drivers and crews.

"Our plan in practice was to look toward the race and not worry about qualifying," Milner noted. "Ultimately qualifying worked out really well for us, but our focus was always on the race. In the final practice session we ran a set of tires past their normal life and they still held up well. I'm happy with qualifying, but I'm even more excited about the race."

The eight fastest qualifiers in the GT category were separated by .7 seconds, promising another fiercely competitive race in the third round of the ALMS.

"I think it's going to be another sprint race for six hours," Garcia predicted. "It doesn't really matter how long the race is in GT now, it's all-out from the start. A six-hour race will give Corvette Racing more opportunities to gain time on pit stops, that's a strong point of this team. If we put together a good race and make no mistakes, we have a good chance to win this race."

The six-hour American Le Mans Series Monterey will start at 1:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 12, and will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 13. Live coverage is available starting at 4:15 p.m. ET on ESPN3.

American Le Mans Series Monterey GT Qualifying (Top 10)

Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car

1. 007 Fernandez/Turner, Aston Martin Vantage, 1:22.229

2. 4 Gavin/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 1:22.661

3. 55 Mueller/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 1:22.905

4. 45 Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:22.919

5. 3 Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 1:22.919

6. 01 Sharp/van Overbeek, Ferrari 458 Italia, 1:22.923

7. 56 Mueller/Hand, BMW E92 M3, 1:22.939

8. 02 Brown/Cosmo, Ferrari F458 Italia, 1:22.942

9. 17 Henzler/Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:23.356

10. 48 Miller/Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:23.448

I told y'all we need to keep an eye on that damn Aston Martin...

[MOTV8]

Yep....time to break out teh derogatory British barbs. This should be 6 hours of fun! I don't mind that I was wrong, but I really thought everyone would be chasing Ferraris all year.

[Shifty]

Teh ESM machines are a whole bunch better than they were last season...

[MOTV8]

Gavin owned that bimmer for 2nd, lets see if he can reel in teh AM...

[MOTV8]

CR owns teh pits, eat it AM.

[MOTV8]

Lizard for lunch, CR 1-2.

[MOTV8]

@half way mark, three more hours to go. Teh running order in GT: 1. #4 Corvette (Milner) 2. #45 Porsche (Long) 3. #3 Corvette (Garcia) 4. #55 BMW (Auberlen) 5. #17 Porsche (Henzler) 6. #01 Ferrari (van Overbeek) 7. #56 BMW (Hand) 8. #007 Aston Martin (Turner) Johnny O doing a nice Corvette piece right now....

[MOTV8]

Mags makes teh pass of teh year!

[MOTV8]

Wow...

[MOTV8]

Spoiler... Gavin Mags Auberlen Hand Mags single-handedley took BOTH bimmers to school...a few times! CR looks ready for Le Mans!

[Shifty]

Ye gads! In teh words of OG: "Stellar, smashing and brilliant!" Even with teh pit screw-ups, we still brought it home! That 'pass' by Mags that earned him teh Hard Charger award gave me a hard-on to make Viagra jealous.... Beautiful finish for teh boys!

[MOTV8]

I loved how Gavin made his moves look effortless, but Mags was driving it like he stole it, those passes should be Youtube viral in 3..2..1..

Graf, Luhr Give Muscle Milk Its First Laguna Seca Win in ALMS Monterey

After six hours of racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing won the American Le Mans Series Monterey by a comfortable margin of three laps after rivals Dyson racing were stricken with handling and mechanical problems.

Muscle Milk HPD drivers Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr was never really challenged by the Dyson Lola Mazda, which was off the pace all weekend and spent a lot of time in the pits.

In P2, a really exciting race between the two Level 5 HPDs and the Conquest Endurance Morgan Nissan ended several laps early when the Conquest Morgan had an electrical failure.

GTC went to TRG’s Jeroen Bleekemolen, who held the lead through the final hour after finally getting past Michael Avenatti and Cort Wagner in the Competition Motorsports Porsche, who eneded up third behind GMG’s car.

GT and PC were decided in the final green-flag stint with 15 minutes to go in the race.

Corvette finished one-two in GT on the strength of some incredibly skilled/borderline crazy passing maneuvers by Jan Magnusson. Bill Auberlen nearly took second in class on the last corner—which he negotiated sideways—but Mags held onto the position, finishing right behind teammate Olly Gavin, who won at Long Beach as well.

Scott Sharp in the ESM Ferrari finished fifth behind Joey Hand in the second BMW, two seconds ahead of Jörg Bergemister’s #45 Flying Lizard Porsche, who was another two seconds ahead of Wolf Henzler in the Falken Time Porsche.

The entire second half of the race was about that close, with the top five or six GT cars lapping nose-to-tail and making pit stop performance crucial. The #007 Aston Martin showed early speed leading in the first hour, only to suffer a botched stop, which then lead to a downward spiral of events that included a stop and go penalty.

PC was a fight, literally, and plenty of penalties were assessed, but in the final minutes Colin Braun of Core Autosport pushed past Bruno Junqueira in the RSR Oreca, who barely stayed ahead of Tom Kimber-Smith in the second Core car.

All three had to work their way past Kyle Marcelli in the Merchant Services car in the final eight minutes; Marcelli finally came together with Kimber-Smith and ended up in the gravel with five minutes left in the race, finishing fifth in class. The top three cars finished with 1.73 seconds.

_/!\_ Vader.

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/03hS84G5FXfLP/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/02Sn3Q46Vp9iC/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/07jb6vyfpyeil/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/03kTeft00X4H7/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

http://dlstatic.speedtv.com/imageserve/01LX1PQ990fLT/575x459.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000

[Shifty]

That's because teh Olly has more class than a suburb elementary teacher, and teh Mags is teh junkyard dawg....

[MOTV8]

Corvette Racing Reigns in American Le Mans Series Monterey with One-Two Finish

by Corvette Racing on May 13, 2012

Gavin and Milner Score Consecutive GT Victories; Magnussen and Garcia Take Second in Six-Hour Race

MONTEREY, Calif., May 12, 2012 – Corvette Racing broke its victory drought at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in convincing fashion today, sweeping the fiercely competitive GT class with a one-two finish in the six-hour American Le Mans Series Monterey. It was the team’s first victory at the central California circuit since a win in the GT1 class in 2008, and its first one-two finish since moving to the GT class in 2009.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner scored their second straight victory in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R by a 3.45-second margin over their teammates Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the sister No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. The winning Corvette drivers completed 232 laps after rebounding from a troubled pit stop that dropped them to seventh place at the midpoint of the race.

Today’s win was the 36th career ALMS victory for Gavin, and the second for Milner after the pair won one month ago in the streets of Long Beach. The victory vaulted Gavin and Milner into first place in the GT driver standings and gave Chevrolet the lead in the manufacturers championship after three of 10 rounds. Corvette Racing has now notched 83 class wins and 55 one-two finishes.

“We had a lot of ups and downs today, but ended up with a great result,” Gavin said. “The Corvette C6.R car was spectacular and Corvette Racing did a brilliant job. We were all the way back to seventh at one point, so it took great pit stops and a fantastic setup to pull us back to first.”

“It was just a crazy day, and winning feels really good,” Milner said. “Our Corvette was phenomenal. We had one hiccup in pit lane, but this Corvette Racing team never gives up. We fought back and Oliver did an amazing job in his final stint. Just a great day for Corvette Racing!”

Gavin made the winning pass with one hour to go, taking the lead from Porsche driver Wolf Henzler. “I knew that he was strong and I needed to get it done and make it stick as soon as possible,” Gavin reported. “I got just enough inside of him and he gave me just enough road. We had a bit of a rub in the last turn; Wolf’s hard but fair.”

Magnussen put on a show in the final hour, moving from fifth to second with a series of power plays. The Dane passed a Porsche and a BMW in a single move on the front straight to take second, but subsequently lost the position to the No. 55 BMW. With 15 minutes to go, Magnussen regained the runner-up spot by following a prototype through on the inside line in the Andretti Hairpin.

“I knew it was an opportunity for something to happen,” Magnussen said. “The BMW got a little sideways, and I could see the P-car starting to pass on the inside. I was going to try to follow the P2, but he braked early and took all the air off my front end. I locked up the front brakes and kind of pushed him past the BMW.”

Antonio Garcia drove the middle stint in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R, taking the lead shortly before the four-hour mark. “It was a very hard race, which is why GT racing in ALMS is the best in the world,” Garcia said. “A six-hour race and in the end it comes down to hundredths of a second. I’m very happy for Corvette for its first one-two of the season. We were very solid all the way through, and we just need to keep digging. The next stop is Le Mans, and that is where we need to do another one-two!”

Today’s victory at Laguna Seca marked a change of fortune for Corvette Racing, which has struggled at times to come to grips with the roller-coaster 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit.

“Last year, Laguna was probably our toughest event,” noted Engineering Director Doug Louth. “Our cars have changed a great deal from 2011, but the biggest difference this weekend was the 2012 Michelin tires and the work that engineers Chuck Houghton and Kyle Millay did to arrive at the baseline setup for this event. This is always a difficult track to keep a handle on through changing conditions, and any year that you have good cars every session and throughout the race is remarkable.”

Corvette Racing’s focus now shifts to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the crown jewel of endurance racing.

“We have a long month of June coming up, and Le Mans is a very different beast,” Milner observed. “I’m looking forward to going back and driving down the Mulsanne Straight.”

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Test Day in Le Mans, France, on June 3, followed by the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16-17.

American Le Mans Series Monterey GT Results (Top 10)

Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car/Laps

4 Gavin/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 232

3 Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 232

55 J. Mueller/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 232

56 D. Mueller/Hand, BMW E92 M3, 232

01 Sharp/van Overbeek, Ferrari 458 Italia, 232

45 Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 232

17 Henzler/Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 232

007 Fernandez/Turner/Mucke, Aston Martin Vantage, 230

44 Neiman/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 230

48 Miller/Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 229

Time to go pillage teh French countryside...

[Desertdawg]

Awesome, now I'm going to watch it on DVR, at least I don't have to worry about whether Corvette wins or not! espn3 sucks!

[Shifty]

I'd really like to catch a YouTube link of Mags pass of Auberlein and that LMP car...

[MOTV8]

I'd really like to catch a YouTube link of Mags pass of Auberlein and that LMP car...

SHAZAAM!

Last 20 minutes of Laguna

You can fast forward to around 4 minutes if you're impatient...

[Marana Rich]

THANKS!