2008 Sebring 12 Hours

[Wouter Melissen]

The final entry list was just published with a strong 35 entrants. Especially the LMP2 and GT2 classes promise to be very interesting with a variety of semi-Works teams. GT2 will also see the debut of the Ford GT and Corvette racing cars. In LMP1 the most interesting entry is the diesel powered Radical. And most importantly Audi will finally face a factory backed car in the LMP1 class for the first time in many, many years. At the official test the single Peugeot was quickest, so it promises to be a very exciting race.

[Wouter Melissen]

Here are more pictures of the Riley built GT2 Corvette:

BADBOYVETTES.COM - GT2 Lou UPDATE

[Wouter Melissen]

And here are the shots of the GT2 Ford GT-R:
:: ROBERTSON RACING :: Sebring International Raceway - March 14-17, 2007

[RacingManiac]

Peugeot is pretty confident for their sole entrant eh? Audi had problem with one R10 in 06 simply because a chunk of rubber got trapped in the cooling duct.....

[togos452]

Saturday March 15, 2008 on the Speed Channel

9:30AM EDT Live Coverage

My picks

LMP1: # 07 Peugeot Sport, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, drivers Nicolas Minassian, Stéphane Sarrazin, Pedro Lamy

LMP2: # 32 Barazi - Epsilon, Zytek 07S, drivers Juan Barazi and Michael Vergers

GT1: # 3 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, drivers Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, Ron Fellows

GT2: # 62 Risi Competizione, Ferrari F430 GTC, drivers Mika Salo, Jaime Melo, Gianmaria Bruni

New videos on the left of previous ALMS races:

AUTO-RACING - LeMans Series, LeMans Racing, LeMans Results - SPEEDtv.com

American Le Mans Series :: World Class

A look back to last year's epic battle in GT2 between the # 62 Ferrari of Jaime Melo and Jörg Bergmeister in the # 45 Porsche.

YouTube - Battle - Final lap ALMS Sebring GT2

[Kitdy]

What engine is in the LMP1 Radical? What engine is in the GT-R?

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

What engine is in the LMP1 Radical? What engine is in the GT-R?

Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI




My picks:

LMP1: # 07 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

LMP2: # 9 Highcroft Patron Racing Acura ARX-01b Acura

GT1: # 3 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R

GT2: # 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 991 GT3 RSR (how can you bet against a car with Joerg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler, and Marc Lieb driving?)

[Brix]

I Hate the fact that Riley, so offen get the credits for making "the first" Corvette Gt2!
because the first Corvette Gt2, deputed last year in the form of Markland Racing
Chevrolet C6 Corvette Z06 GT2 - Ultimatecarpage.com - Images, Specifications and Information
That my friends is the first Corvette Gt2!

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Brix

I Hate the fact that Riley, so offen get the credits for making "the first" Corvette Gt2!
because the first Corvette Gt2, deputed last year in the form of Markland Racing
Chevrolet C6 Corvette Z06 GT2 - Ultimatecarpage.com - Images, Specifications and Information
That my friends is the first Corvette Gt2!

but not made in the USA, so that does not count
Have you got any more info about what happened to the project?

[RacingManiac]

My Pick:
P1: #1 Audi Capello/Kristensen/McNish
P2: #6 Porsche Maassen/Long/Briscoe
GT1: #4 Chevorlet Gavin/Beretta/Papis
GT2: #62 Ferrari Melo/Salo/Bruni

[Wouter Melissen]

Monday testing round up. Peugeot, Porsche, Corvette and Ferrari fastest.

Originally Posted by American Le Mans

Peugeot picked up where it left off at the American Le Mans Series Winter Test by turning in the fastest time in Monday's first test session for the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Stephane Sarrazin's unofficial time of 1:43.302 was the quickest in the two sessions at the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit.

Sarrazin's time was 1.672 seconds better than Marco Werner's qualifying record from 2007 in Audi's R10 TDI. Coincidentally, Werner was second quickest Monday at 1:43.784 that turned out to be Audi's best time on the day. Allan McNish had posted the fastest lap of the morning session at 1:44.093.

Sarrazin led all entries at the January Winter Test with a 1:42.801.

Audi has won Sebring's 12-hour classic every year since 2000 including the last two seasons with its diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI. The task grew tougher in February when Peugeot announced its entry into the race with its factory 908, the car that finished second to Audi at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007.

The top three LMP2 entries were within 0.828 seconds of each other with the No. 7 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder on top at 1:45.147, set by Timo Bernhard in the morning session. The defending class Series co-champion with Romain Dumas was just ahead of last year's P2 race winner Andretti Green Racing (1:45.866 in the morning session) and Dyson Racing's No. 16 Porsche RS Spyder (1:45.975 in the afternoon).

Corvette Racing sat 1-2 in GT1 with Oliver Gavin pacing the works squad with a 1:56.501 in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R during the morning session. His time was 0.978 seconds better than the sister car of Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows, a time set in the second period.

All six Corvette drivers boast at least one Sebring victory with O'Connell leading the way with six. That puts him in a tie for most in race history with Phil Hill. O'Connell also can set a record for most consecutive starts with his 18th this weekend.

Bell Motorsports' Aston Martin DBR9 was third in class with Terry Borcheller turning in a time of 1:59.882 in the morning. This will be the first race for the Aston Martin in the hands of the Bell operation, which has a long history of chasing the Corvettes in a Saleen S7R.

The top three in GT2 on Monday looked very much like the final championship standings from 2007. Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo in the No. 62 Ferrari F430 GT was quickest at 2:01.423 that was more than a second better than last year's qualifying record. The Risi squad won its second straight class championship in 2007 and won last year's Sebring race by just 0.202 seconds.

The team it beat was second fastest in class Monday. The No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb was 0.213 seconds back of the Risi car. Tafel Racing's new No. 71 Ferrari F430 GT was third in class at 2:01.882.

The 2008 American Le Mans Series season opens with the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 15. The race will start at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live by SPEED, which will begin its coverage at 9:30 a.m. MotorsTV, SPEED Latin America and Greenlight Television will provide international coverage as well. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.

Selected quotes
Lucas Luhr, Audi Sport North America
Audi R10 TDI (LMP1)
"You cannot compare a prototype to a GT car. But there is a heavy car with a lot of weight in the back due to the diesel engine. The longer wheelbase doesn't help but it's a very fast car here."

Pedro Lamy, Team Peugeot Total
Peugeot 908 (LMP1)
(On driving Sebring in the Peugeot versus the Aston Martin DBR9 from 2005 and 2006) "This car is much different than the Aston Martin. With the Peugeot, we are the fastest car on the track with the Audis. So we are doing all the passing. So far the car has been pretty good on the track surface. Because the track is very bumpy, this is a very good test for Le Mans. If you can survive 12 hours here, you can compete and finish at Le Mans."

Oliver Gavin, Corvette Racing
Corvette C6.R (GT1)
"This is pretty much the same car we raced since the end of last year. There have been a couple of little modifications with dampers and little things. The team also has worked on the traction control a bit."

(On the Bell Motorsports Aston Martin DBR9 entry): "It's good to have them here with the car to take on a factory team. Maybe we are sometimes a victim of our own success in the American Le Mans Series. But the Aston is a very good package, and they have shown the guts to race. We are looking forward to it."

David Murry, Robertson Racing
Ford GT-R (GT2)
"The car arrived here at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and we got on the track at about 4 p.m. We're so ecstatic with the car. It has had very little problems. We were working on shock and spring settings, so we're already working on setup. The goal for now is to find out what the car likes. We've made changes to the spring heights and ride heights. The car has no problems getting the power down. It really gives us the platform to be a winner."

Marc Basseng, Farnbacher Loles Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"The first test day was not that good because in the first free practice we had a problem with the flywheel sensor in the car, so we stood still for the whole session. The second session was better. We found something with the car so we have a lot of work to do for tomorrow, to make the car better and better. But the (Porsche) pre-test was good; Dirk (Werner's) lap time was very quick. I'm really happy with the team and my teammates, and I'm sure we can get good race results at Sebring and over the season."

[Wouter Melissen]

On Tuesday the Peugeot was fastest again, ahead of an Acura!

[Wouter Melissen]

It was youngster Marco Andretti, who set that very fast lap. It is quite amazing that the talent has been present in three generations of Andrettis.

[baddabang]

Originally Posted by Wouter Melissen

It was youngster Marco Andretti, who set that very fast lap. It is quite amazing that the talent has been present in three generations of Andrettis.

Haha, Is that the same Andretti Quiggs graduated with?

[Wouter Melissen]

Originally Posted by baddabang

Haha, Is that the same Andretti Quiggs graduated with?

Then it's safe to say that Quiggs' education is not to blame for his current state.