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Petit Le Mans - Atlanta, Georgia - October 4th 2008
2008 Petit Le Mans #1
The weather was perfect and the crowd was one of if not the biggest in Petit Le Mans history. I don't know if that was a fluke or if the battle of the diesels made everyone toss off the bad economy to see the race anyway. Those who went to see the Audi/Peugeot battle certainly got their money's worth.
It was a great race in every category...McNish wins from two laps down due to his throwing the car off the track in warmup on cold tires. Risi also came back and won from losing two laps to a throttle sticking problem.
Too bad the Mazda P2 coupe didn't get to race...I was watching it in T1 during warmup as the driver pushed too far to the edge and lost the back end then backed it deep into the tire barrier. The morning sun was brutal at the time which certainly could have been a factor. There was a lot of time to make a repair but the tub was too damaged to simply bolt on new parts.
Lot of heartbreaks for Acura...the Patron P2 crashed out in the first hour...the rest of them struggled to keep pace with the Porsche's except for the XM car which was very exciting to watch as it was on the limit and further the whole race....then involved in a massive crash in the dark. The Panasonic car never was a threat to the Porsche's however it was the only Acura to finish.
The passing was intense with so many P1's and P2's on track reeling in the GT's in the blink of an eye. I've never seen so much close passing with so few incidents...most of the 9 cautions had nothing to do with contact during passes.
