2013 ALMS Race News, Results, and Insults

[Shifty]

I'd watch if I had a streaming-link...

[MOTV8]

I'd watch if I had a streaming-link...

I may try live.fiawec.com or your fav http://www.motorstv.com/car/endurance/fia-world-endurance-championship if I have six hours to kill.

Oh who am I kidding...

[Shifty]

[MOTV8]

WEC Qualifying from Silverstone was a fustercluck, summary here, and those fargin Astons own teh top two spots in BOTH gt classes.

I was gonna vader a grip of pix, but why bother? They're mostly Aston pron.

[MOTV8]

WEC Qualifying from Silverstone was a fustercluck, summary here, and those fargin Astons own teh top two spots in BOTH gt classes.

I was gonna vader a grip of pix, but why bother? They're mostly Aston pron.

[MOTV8]

Ugh...teh chops are getting worse, not better....

Reason for edit: freaky double posting.

[MOTV8]

WEC Silverstone recap; P1 Audis win as usual, GTE Pro class won by Aston Martin of Turner, MÜcke, and Senna, followed by AF Corse Ferrari and another Aston. GTE Am also won by an Aston, and the Larbre Vette did bring home 2nd, but that is under protest because they ran a Ferrari off the track to get that 2nd place. Euros... Next WEC round is the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, scheduled for May 2-4. Getting real antsy for my ALMS fix... :R & E:

[Shifty]

Is anyone streaming Long Beach qualifying?

[theChad]

Is anyone streaming Long Beach qualifying?

Try here:

Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach

April 19-20 2013

TUNE-IN DETAILS:

TELEVISION BROADCAST:

4/21/2013 at 1:00 pm EDT on ABC

LIVE STREAMING:

4/20/2013 at 7:15 pm EDT on ESPN 3

LIVE QUALIFYING:

4/19/2013 at 8:00 pm EDT on ESPN 3

[Shifty]

Is anyone streaming Long Beach qualifying?

Try here:

Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach

April 19-20 2013

TUNE-IN DETAILS:

TELEVISION BROADCAST:

4/21/2013 at 1:00 pm EDT on ABC

LIVE STREAMING:

4/20/2013 at 7:15 pm EDT on ESPN 3

LIVE QUALIFYING:

4/19/2013 at 8:00 pm EDT on ESPN 3

Thanks man!

[MOTV8]

Let's see if Dawg fixed teh forum posting demons....

Olly Gavin dreaming of another California victory

Round two of the 2013 American Le Mans Series moves, as is tradition, to the sunny shores of California for the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

The 1.968 mile, 11-turn temporary street course proved to be a happy hunting ground for Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in 2012 as it was the scene of the first of the four victories which culminated in them winning the 2012 GT Drivers Championship.

The Californian result also marked the third victory for the British driver at Long Beach in six appearances – a happy hunting ground indeed.

From Sebring’s 12-hour enduro, the 34-strong field now has to adapt to limited track time and a two-hour race which takes place on Saturday at 4:30 pm (PT). We asked Olly what his thoughts were on the Long Beach race:

Last year’s result kick-started your winning season – what are your memories of that Long Beach event? "Long Beach was the start of the run to the Championship for Tommy and me. As you so often have to be on street races, we were a little lucky in that the two cars in front of us on the grid had issues on the fourth corner of the race and their race was compromised from there on. We still had to battle our way from then on to the front but our car was good straight off and that was a big plus point."

With a great track record at Long Beach you obviously enjoy it there. Why? "It’s a challenging track but our car seems to always come off the truck quick there – by that I mean it’s good to drive on the Long Beach track from the word go.

We have very limited track time here – just 2 hours practice before going straight into qualifying – so that’s a huge bonus for us.

Our 2013 updates seemed to work very well at Sebring and will undoubtedly help us this year, although Long Beach success is a constantly moving target."

Who do you think your toughest opposition will be at Long Beach? "I think the BMWs will be a bit of the unknown there – at certain parts of the Sebring track they were very fast – and the Vipers also have very good straight line speed and punch off the corners well. They (the Vipers) don’t seem as nimble as the Ferrari, for example, at times and that might play against them."

What’s the secret to a quick lap at Long Beach? "The most important corner on the track is the last one and getting off that corner well is vital for lap time and opportunities to overtake other cars. If you can get into someone’s tow on the straight it’s the best chance you get to pass others going into Turn 1.

Street tracks are always a bit of a lottery, but if you are able to switch on your tyres fast, ride the bumps easily and go through and off the corners well, you’ve got a good chance to be fast.

As always with this type of course, there’s a mix of slow and medium speed corners and you have to work on direction change and traction as well as braking – as good as it is to go fast, you have to have the confidence to stop fast as well!"

Olly’s next race will be part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend entertainment in California on Saturday 20th April.

[Desertdawg]

Let's see if Dawg fixed teh forum posting demons....

I sure hope your happy now!

[MOTV8]

Let's see if Dawg fixed teh forum posting demons....

I sure hope your happy now!

I am indeed, but don't expect any reach arounds.

[MOTV8]

Two lengthy blurbs for your perusal, teh preview and teh Mags Q&A.

ALMS: Long Beach Preview

From the longest race of the year to the shortest, the stars and cars of the American Le Mans Series are set to light up the streets of So Cal in this weekend’s Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, the second round of the ten-race coast-to-coast sports car championship.

Saturday’s two-hour sprint race around the concrete canyons of the 1.9-mile, 11-turn historic Long Beach street course will see 34 entires among five categories do battle, including the largest combined P1 and P2 field seen at this event in three years.

While Sebring winners Audi has turned its focus to the FIA World Endurance Championship, the premier prototype category features a slim, but competitive three-car entry, led by ALMS regulars Dyson Racing (Lola B12/60 Mazda) and Muscle Milk Pickett Racing (HPD ARX-03c).

They’ll be joined by Petit Le Mans winners and current championship leaders Rebellion Racing, set to make its street course debut with one of its Lola B12/60 Toyotas for Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld. The Anglo-Swiss squad embarks on its first full ALMS season and will likely be sporting new aero developments to the P1 class contender, first used in last weekend’s FIA WEC round at Silverstone.

With limited track time this weekend - only two hours of practice on Friday prior to qualifying - acclimating quickly to the tight confines will be crucial for success on race day.

The P2 ranks sees a four-car entry, thanks to a full-season commitment by two-time and defending class champions, Level 5 Motorsports, which will field a pair of HPD ARX-03bs for Ryan Briscoe, Marino Franchitti and Scott Tucker. The trio combined to win at Sebring last month and head into Long Beach as favorites yet again, with Tucker set to pull double-duty between entries.

Level 5, which will be seeking its third Long Beach win in a row, will go up against a pair of nearly identical HPDs from Extreme Speed Motorsports, which made its prototype debut last month at Sebring. Scott Sharp, Guy Cosmo (No. 01) and Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek (No. 02) could have their work cut out for them, given the compact schedule this weekend, also Sharp boasts prior LMP experience at the circuit.

While the prototype categories will be fighting for top honors overall, much of the focus will again come in the production-based GT ranks. Five manufacturers: Chevrolet, BMW, SRT, Ferrari and Porsche are represented among the ten entries in the highly competitive category, which has always produced its share of fireworks at Long Beach.

The Sebring class-winning Corvette C6.R, however, will be 15 kgs heavier and have a reduced refueling restrictor opening this weekend, after a Balance of Performance adjustment handed down by IMSA following the around-the-clock Florida endurance classic.

How that will affect the pair of Corvette entries, including championship leaders Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, remains to be seen, although they’ll face stiff competitive from the likes of Risi Competizione, BMW Team RLL and SRT Motorsports, the latter two which debut their respective BMW Z4 GTE and SRT Viper GTS-Rs on the streets of Long Beach.

One shouldn’t count out Team Falken Tire, either, which took its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a podium finish at Sebring and heads to the site of the program’s ALMS debut some five years ago. Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler have claimed back-to-back class victories on the similar street race at Baltimore.

Seven cars are set to do battle in Prototype Challenge, led by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, which head in as championship leaders following the Fresno, Calif.-based team’s class victory at Sebring. Luis Diaz joins Mike Guasch in the No. 52 Oreca FLM09 this weekend.

Other PC driver changes include Duncan Ende being confirmed with RSR Racing for seven of the nine remaining races. Ende joins Bruno Junqueira in the Paul Gentilozzi-run No. 9 entry, which also makes for a potent lineup.

Two-time and defending class champions CORE autosport will be searching for its third consecutive Long Beach victory this weekend with a singe entry for Colin Braun and team principal Jon Bennett, while BAR1 Motorsports is also expected to be a contender with both of its prototypes, with its No. 8 entry of Kyle Marcelli and Chis Cumming coming close to a maiden victory last time out.

A capacity field of ten GTC cars rounds out the entry list, including the Long Beach ALMS debut of Hollywood’s own Patrick Dempsey, who will team with co-principal Joe Foster in the No. 27 Dempsey Del Piero Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

Andy Lally claimed a debut pole for the team at Sebring but will be on GRAND-AM duty this weekend at Road Atlanta.

Entries from Alex Job Racing, Flying Lizard Motorsports, JDX Racing and TRG are expected to be contenders for the class victory as well. Of note, Dion von Moltke joins Flying Lizard for the remainder of the season, teaming with Brian Wong this weekend in the No. 45 Porsche.

The compressed two-day weekend gets underway on Friday with two hours of practice in the morning followed by qualifying later that evening. The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach takes the green flag Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET, for what’s surely to be a street fight in So Cal.

-and-

Magnussen Targets Long Beach Corvette Success

Danish Corvette Racing ace Jan Magussen is looking to put the troubles of Sebring behind him when he and Spanish teammate Antonio Garcia hit the streets of Long Beach this weekend for the second round of the American Le Mans Series.

The duo along with Jordan Taylor suffered gearbox issues at the opening round of the championship and left Florida without any points in the championship.

The result was a major blow for their championship aspirations but Magnussen now has his sights set on concentrating on race wins with a "nothing to lose" attitude.

The Danish/Spanish duo last year finished just off the podium in 2012 after their No.3 Corvette was damaged in a first corner pile up. Despite losing downforce (from a missing front hood), the 'Vette was still very strong.

With warm weather predicted throughout the Long Beach weekend, the forecast will make a pleasant change to last year when heavy rain severely impacted Friday practice and qualifying.

Corvette Racing hits the track for the first time at 7:30am on Friday for a two hour practice session. Qualifying is not until 5.25pm for the GT class cars.

Saturday's two hour race goes green at 4:30pm.

Q: How much are you looking forward to putting the troubles of Sebring behind and heading to Long Beach?

A: "We're a long way behind in the championship because of scoring zero points at Sebring. We just need to go out to Long Beach and try and get a win.

"I'm really looking forward to it. The Long Beach circuit is fantastic. It's one of my favorite street circuits.

"Last year we were very competitive. Unfortunately, we had some damage right at the beginning of the race, which because the race was so short, we couldn't stop and fix it and try to make it up.

"We just kept going. We were still pretty fast but we obviously lost something because of the damage to the car. We're looking forward to having a trouble-free race this time."

Q: Forecasts call for high temperatures this weekend. How does the heat affects the car?

A: "When it's really hot out, I think the Corvettes have a bit of an advantage because we've spend so much time working on the air conditioning system in the car.

"It means the air conditioning goes into the helmet, through the seat, cools the body and cools the whole cabin down. I think we have a little bit of an advantage over whatever systems the other teams run.

"We've been working on this for many years now and we have a very good system. That has a big effect on driver performance.

"At Long Beach, we'll do one stint each. It won't be very physical anyways, but for the race that you're doing double or triple stints, it's much easier getting back in the car.

"The system is working so well now that when you get in the car, you get the sensation of cooling down. It's pretty extraordinary what it can do now."

Q: What kind of effort has Pratt & Miller put into other systems, such as the radar, and how does it work?

A: "We've been working on the radar system for some time now. Sebring was the first time we used it and it really helped everybody throughout the race. Especially when it got dark, when you could not see through the rear-view camera, it was very useful.

"At night, the rear-view screen kind of glares up because of the strong headlights. But the radar with the different colored arrows made it possible to get much better use out of the camera.

"There's a safety factor involved with it, but knowing who is coming up from behind, how fast are they coming and which side they are going, is a huge help."

Q: How handy will the radar system be at a place like Le Mans?

A: "It's going to be a good advantage. With a system like that, you only have to avoid one crash and it pays for itself. It's a great value.

"It will be interesting to see what everybody else comes up with now that we have it."

Q: What kind of precision is required to tackle Long Beach?

A: "That's the thing about street circuits, it's knowing how much you can push and push in the right places. Because in some of the places, a penalty is so large for making a mistake, so you always have to be a little bit cautious.

"You can't always rely on having the same amont of grip lap after lap. There could be some stuff on the track or something to make you go wide.

"I really enjoy having to be extra precise. But there's still room for some error as you don't do much damage for just scraping the walls a little bit."

Q: What did you think of your son, Kevin's, first weekend of racing this year in Formula Reanult 3.5 at Monza recently?

A: "He did very well with two second place finishes. I think they made a small mistake in qualifying that put him P7. He probably should have been a little further up in the grid but he wasn't on-track going fast at the right time because of a drying track.

"To get a second place out of that was fantastic. It kept his head in the game. It was a really mature drive and a big improvement from last year.

"In Race 2, the three guys up front were racing and had an amazing race going. It was so exciting to watch, but at the same time a little bit scary. But it was very good to see Kevin in a situation, where even though he was in the lead, the guy that was trying to pass him around the outside would have most likely come off worse than Kevin had he stayed in it.

"I think he's learned from mistakes of last year, and of how expensive these mistakes can be. It probably could have been the win but it could have also ended in the wall.

"I'm very proud of the decision he made. It might be the best race he ever had."

Q: He then had the chance to go to china and be on F1 standby for the first time for McLaren. What were your thoughts about that?

A: "That was an exciting weekend for Kevin. I think he learned a lot by just sitting in on every meeting and really getting to understand how F1 works.

"I think it's a great opportunity for him and it's good to see that he's making the most of us."

[Shifty]

They sure don't want to see Corvette win again, do they?

[MOTV8]

I know teh Tommy lost like 8 lbs. to help but it didn't.

Qualifying was dominated by......

VIPER POWAH!

1) Farnbacher - Viper

2)Sellers - Porsche

3)Bomarito - Viper

4) Mags - Corvette

5) BMW

6) Milner - Corvette

[Shifty]

I know teh Tommy lost like 8 lbs. to help but it didn't.

Qualifying was dominated by......

VIPER POWAH!

1) Farnbacher - Viper

2)Sellers - Porsche

3)Bomarito - Viper

4) Mags - Corvette

5) BMW

6) Milner - Corvette

Odd that teh vehicles that lost weight should be fastest... It still seems odd to me that even though CR wasn't fastest at Sebring, we still eat teh weight penalty that will hurt us in LB-they were wallowing thunderpigs out there. I still believe that if we have to take teh weight, it should be in teh form of pushbars, and let's race this race Mad Max style...

[MOTV8]

Corvette Racing Qualifies 4th and 6th at ALMS Long Beach

(LONG BEACH, Calif., April 19, 2013) – Jan Magnussen, driver of the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, qualified fourth (1:19.047 secs.) in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Class at Long Beach. Tommy Milner, who won his first ALMS race at this event last year, qualified sixth (1:19.083) in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn Long Beach Street Circuit.

“We definitely made some good improvements between practice and qualifying,” Magnussen said. “It’s always hard here because there’s such a long time between the two sessions, so you really have to think about how the track is going to develop, so I think we made some good choices. We’ll go back and look at some old data and fine-tune a little bit, but overall, I’d be happy to race this car.”

Magnussen added that the No. Corvette C6.R experienced a minor problem during practice, but it was fixed before qualifying.

“We had a small issue shifting this morning. Fixed. All gone,” Magnussen said. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Magnussen will team with Antonio Garcia for tomorrow’s race.

Milner will again team with Oliver Gavin. The two won the 2012 ALMS drivers’ championship, and opened the 2013 season with a victory at Sebring last month.

“Obviously, it’s super, super close, as it always is in GT,” Milner said. “So, the position doesn’t sound great; sixth is not what I was hoping for, but it was only two-tenths off the pole. That’s pretty close.

“Obviously, I’d love to get a win here again, like I did last year, my first win in ALMS, but at the end of the day is the championship and finishing the race and keeping the nose of the car clean, give it to Oliver and let him work his magic like he did last year.”

Corvette Racing has 78 ALMS class victories, including four in 2012, making it the most successful team in American Le Mans Series history.

The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach starts at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, April 20.

I hope I get home in time to catch the streaming...

[MOTV8]

ESPN3, check

Live Timing, check

, check

, check

[MOTV8]

****Spoiler Alert****

Bimmer Bimmer Viper Vette Vette

[Shifty]

****Spoiler Alert****

Bimmer Bimmer Viper Vette Vette

More like Cheater, cheater, cheater, Vette, Vette...

Sour grapes I guess, but how obvious was teh weight gain for us, and loss for teh Vipers? Poor Wolf, he was running a helluva race before trimming that snake...

[MOTV8]

Cheaters...with waivers. Teh real test will be teh BOP for teh bimmers. Will they get 30 lbs and a refueling dohicky.........or nada? I feel bad for Wolf too, lol! I do also commiserate with teh Viper crew, they were having a great race weekend. Until teh end there!

[MOTV8]

Corvette Racing Finishes 4th And 5th At Long Beach

Corvette Racing scored two top-five finishes at Long Beach to maintain a share of the lead in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Manufacturer Standings through the first two races of the season.

Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, drove the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to a fourth-place finish in the GT class in the two-hour Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished fifth in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R.

“As we saw in qualifying, the cars are just so close in performance,” Milner said. “We were in a good spot, but just a little unlucky there.”

Milner, who earned his first career ALMS race at this event last year, qualified sixth and had driven up to fourth when the team pitted with just over an hour remaining, and changed drivers. During the exchange, the team had a difficult time securing the steering wheel.

“Pretty much our race was so dictated by that pit stop where I got in and really just struggled to get the wheel on,” Gavin said. During the stop the team also experienced some trouble with one of the tires, and “the wheel got spun around and I was then trying to find the point where it had to slot on, and it wasn’t so easy to see. By the time I got it on, everybody else had finished up their pit stops and we came out pretty much at the back.”

Garcia, meanwhile, started fourth and quickly moved toward the front.

“Everything went to plan, basically,” Garcia said. “We knew how usually the first lap works here. I basically put pressure on, and the two cars in front of me both went off so I kind of made myself a little bit of a gap and made a pass on both.”

But, a series cautions slowed the No. 3 Corvette C6.R’s momentum, and brought pit strategy into play.

“All of those yellows – especially that first one, it was like flipping a coin,” Garcia said. “I think it was the right call to stay out, but then with all of these yellows coming after is where being in the lead wasn’t such an advantage anymore.”

The No. 3 Corvette C6.R was running second when the driver change was made.

“It started off pretty well,” Magnussen said. “I think the way the strategy and the pit stops worked out really hurt us. It seemed like everybody else was trying to salvage something and kind of went out of sequence and gained really well on it, and we lost on it, unfortunately. We were struggling a little bit too much right there at the end with grip.”

With less than 15 minutes remaining, Gavin passed Magnussen for fourth place.

“It was another learning lesson for us,” said Gavin, who teamed with Milner and Richard Westbrook last month to win the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. “It was good just to score the points in the championship, to get fourth place, I’ll take that every day with how rough that race was. It was pretty nasty at times, and difficult, and traffic was hard. There was plenty of bumping and banging, and you just have to try and keep the car clean. There were a number of times where I thought, ‘Oh, this could get pretty messy here. We’re going to lose a corner off the car.’ Or, it was just sliding and sliding and you were just hoping that it was going to stop sliding before we ended up hitting the wall, and fortunately it did.”

The No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE won the race, followed by the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, the No. 91 SRT Viper GTS-R, and the two Corvettes.

Unofficially, Chevrolet and BMW share the Manufacturers Standings with 34 points apiece.

“Those guys battled the whole race,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “I would say tires were a factor throughout the race. It was tricky out there. I commend the whole Corvette Racing team for really staying focused and driving toward the front. You know, a couple of cars in front of us were a little tight on gas. We didn’t get them today, but it was a good points day and momentum in the season continues. So, on to Monterrey.”

The ALMS season resumes with Round 3 on May 9-11 with the American Le Mans Series Monterey (Calif.) at Laguna Seca, where Gavin and Milner won last year.

Long Beach Results

1. #55 BMW Z4 GTE (Auberlin/Martín)

2. #56 BMW Z4 GTE (D. Muller/Hand)

3. #91 SRT Viper GTS-R (Farnbacher/Goossens)

4. #4 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R (Gavin/Milner)

5. #3 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R (Magnussen/Garcia)

6. #48 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Miller/Holzer)

7. #23 Ferrari F458 Italia (Sweedler/Bell)

8. #93 SRT Viper GTS-R (Bomarito/Wittmer)

9. #62 Ferrari F458 Italia (Beretta/Malucelli)

10. #17 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Henzler/Sellers)

[MOTV8]

IN THE COCKPIT: Oliver Gavin, Long Beach

It was a pretty tough weekend for us at Corvette Racing but, all things considered, fourth place at Long Beach was a good result...

It was a pretty tough weekend for us at Corvette Racing but, all things considered, fourth place at Long Beach was a good result as it gave the team, Tommy [Milner] and me enough points to keep us at the top of the points table. We’re tied with BMW now, who won the two-hour race, but lots of others had much worse luck and points are points.

There’s a real limited program for the ALMS cars at Long Beach and we have just one two-hour practice session at silly o’clock in the morning on Friday – it’s always bad when you come to work in the dark! – followed by a 15-minute qualifying on Friday afternoon. The track is different in each of the two sessions, the temperatures are different and it can be a real challenge if you have problems.

We were chasing a small issue on Friday morning but worked hard with the data and our engineers before qualifying and were pretty confident. Tommy qualified but we couldn’t match the pace of the Vipers and the Porsches. There was just 0.5 seconds separating the top eight GT cars so that shows just how mega-competitive it is, and we started 6th.

Like all street courses, the first few laps can be pretty brutal in terms of bumping and banging, but Tommy drove well, used his head and didn’t get into any incidents. We were running a different tire choice to most of our competitors but our strategy across the three caution periods in the first hour worked just right.

Tommy handed over to me during the third of the cautions but we then had our only real issue in the race. We were very quick with the seat belts and so on, and were looking good for a quick exit from the pits, but unfortunately we had a problem with the right front wheel gun. It got stuck on the wheel and then the steering got pulled to one side; the steering wheel got spun round and I couldn’t even get the steering wheel back on the column because it was out of position. When it went green again we were in 8th place.

Our pace was great, and we got a new fastest GT race lap record on the way to the checker but thought at one stage we’d have to settle for 7th as there was a string of fast cars in front of us and we didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. Then it all seemed to happen in the last 30 minutes of the race.

One of the Vipers and the Falken Porsche spun so that promoted us a couple of places and then I was following Jan down into Turn One with maybe 20 minutes to go and he had a huge moment, locked the right front and then the rears. I don’t know how he managed to keep the car out of the wall but he did, and I managed to sneak by and got the 4th place but both of us by that stage were beginning to struggle with our tires.

I think our Corvette C6.R has the potential to compete for another championship and to fight everybody on the way to that, but it will need some luck along the way. We could have got collected in quite a few different incidents through this race, but we managed to keep our nose clean and walked away with an unscathed car. We can now move on to Laguna still in good shape, but we need more of that luck there!

It’s going to be a very, very competitive season and I think everybody will be taking points off one another and there’ll be plenty of different winners which is great for fans. Roll on Laguna for another shot at victory! That’s a four-hour race so the stakes will be completely different compared to Long Beach. See you there.

[Shifty]

Teh SRT Vipers already bought this season, and would have taken this one quite handily if it wasn't for Wolf taking out teh lead Viper...