MOSPORT - The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is a series of sport car racing events of of the highest caliber with its roots in the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race in France. It consists of 4 separate classes of competitors who all race at the same time producing 4 winners plus the overall winner which usually comes from the LMP-1 (Le Mans Prototype) class. The lineup has both factory and private teams competing. The International Motorsports Association (IMSA) oversees all competitive aspects of the races.
Many of the present drivers in the ALMS also compete regularly in the Le Mans 24 hour event (ALMS Scheduling allows for this). Such notables as J.J.Lehto, Marco Werner, Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen all have tasted victory in that famous race watched by millions via TV hookups across the world. Other famed drivers such as Stirling Moss, Juan Fangio, Mario Andretti and the present Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher have also tried but failed to win this event.
The ALMS is also very fan-friendly and allows ticketholders into the paddock area, holds autograph sessions with all drivers and also provides entertainment such as Celtic dancers with a pipeband at the last one here.
The four different categories of these classes are: LMP-1, LMP-2, GT1 and GT2. The first two are for purpose-built race cars and the GT1 and GT2 are similar to the production cars but highly modified.
The pole position for the LMP-1 cars belonged to Chris Dyson/Andy Wallace in car number 20 Lola Ex257/AER with a time of 1:07.682 while a similar sister car of James Weaver in car number 16 was second. Third position went to the Audi R8 of J.J. Lehti/Marco Werner in car number 1 and 4th place went to their sister car number 2 of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. In the GT1 class, the surprising speed shown by the Saleen SR7 car number 63 of T. Borcheller/J.Mowlen awarded them the top spot in the lineup ahead of the regulars like O.Gavin/O.Beretta car number 4 and Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell in car number 3, both Corvette C6R drivers. Ron Fellows had to be content with 4th starting position as the Maserati MC12 of A.Bertolini/F.Desimone took 3rd.
An investigation into this situation revealed that IMSA had made a ruling to improve the competition in GT1, which allowed cars that were homologated prior to Dec. 31/2003 to run larger air restrictors, which resulted in an additional 50 horsepower for the cars (Saleen and Maserati among others).
LMP-2 The pole position belonged to Clint Field/Liz Halladay with a time of 1:10.355 (4th consecutive pole) Second place car number 10 was almost 1 second slower and 3rd place was a further 2 seconds adrift.
GT2 This highly contested class featured 7 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR's against 2 Panoz Esperante GTLM's. Number 1 and 2 slot went to perennial favorites Timo Bernard/Dumas car number 23 and M. Peterson/J. Bergmeister who were closely grouped in time. Third place was taken by Panoz number 51 of M. Francitti/B.Sellers.
As the race started James Weaver’s # 16 Lola ex257/AER passed teammate Chris Dyson in a similar car Before the first turn, Marco Werner also executed a similar move on Chris at turn 8, now in second place. These two front runners had a furious battle for the top stop and at the 51 minute mark the two cars touched as they tried to overtake a slower GT2 car in turn 10. This sent Weaver into the tire barrier; luckily the damage was minimal and he was able to continue in second place overall. The critical point came with the pit stop cycle and the #1 Audi now being driven by J.J.Lehto had to make an unexpected pit stop due to a front end vibration. The # 16 car, now being piloted by Butch Leitzinger reclaimed the lead. The crunch came with 35 minutes remaining when Leitzinger pitted for fuel but had no tire change (the car owner Rob Dyson dictated that call), risking a tire failure. Upon exiting the pits J.J. Lehto was right behind him, but Butch was able to hold him off to claim victory for the Dyson team. This was the second consecutive win at Mosport for them. The margin of victory over the second place Audi of J.J.Lehto/Marco Werner was 3.625 seconds. Third place Audi number 2 was one lap in arrears.
LMP-2 Clint Field/Liz Halladay were the winners in car number 37, a Lola B05/40, their second victory together and fifth victory for Clint this season.
GT1 Car number 4 Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin won the race by 2 seconds over their teammates Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell in car number 3 both driving Corvette C6Rs, thereby also increasing the overall point lead over their mates by a single point. Ron blamed this situation on his pit crew allowing Gavin to exit the pits in front of him. Gavin also mentioned the Corvette's economy which allowed both Corvettes to pit 4 or 5 laps later than the hard charging polesitter Saleen. He said that the Saleen was the fastest GT1 car on the track that also led many laps during the race. The speedy Maserati MC12 had to settle for 4th place but it also showed its mettle in the early stages by keeping Ron Fellows behind him for the first 15 minutes into the race. The more experienced pit crews of the Corvettes also contributed to the final outcome.
Ron Fellows also competed in the SPEED GT race event where he reached the top step on the podium driving the Cadillac CTS-V number 12 and edging out the quick Corvette number 28 of Lou Gigliotti and the Porsche number 7 of Patrick Long. 4th place Andy Pilgrim driving a Cadillac CTS-V still maintains the leader’s position in this series.
In the STAR MAZDA open wheel series race the winner was number 70 Jay Howard with a best lap of 1:15.475 (which is a GT1 class time) 2nd — R. Pecorari, 3rd — R. Matos.
In the SPEED TOURING series support race the winner was car number 97 a Mazda 6 driven by Charles Espenlaub, 2nd place was taken by the very experienced competitor and Real Time Acura team owner Peter Cunningham in number 42 car. 3rd place belonged to Pierre Kleinubing who had a remarkable run from 20th starting position to the podium. He was relegated to this position after swapping the engine in his Acura.
(News release from ALMS headquarters in Brazelton, GA:
The organization announced its new association with the new Miller Motorsports Park in Utah which will host the ALMS events next season, the summer of 2006.)
Motorsport - American Le Mans Series Round number 8
Archived Articles | 16 Sep 2005 | Udo RobiEWR
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