(from SA, 20 March 2010)
Peugeot pilots Alexander Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Marc Gene take overall honors at Sebring
-----The final sprint to the checkered flag was between the two Team Peugeot Total LMP1 cars with the No. 07 908 HDI FAP having a three second lead over the No. 08 when Sebastien Bourdais spun on cold tires exiting the pitlane after his final pit stop. That allowed Alexander Wurz to maintain the distance and take the checkered flag, leading a one, two finish for the French marquee, giving them their first victory on the 3.7 mile Sebring International Raceway. The gap at the end was 13.817 seconds.
The opening round of the American Le Mans Series was filled with action in all five classes at the 58th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Throughout the endurance event, Peugeot was the dominant team and between the two 908s, they led each and ever lap. The fastest lap of the race was set by Bourdais on lap 211 at 1:44.972. There was a bit of poignancy for Wurz, whose last visit to Sebring was back in the late 90's.... "The last time I was at Sebring was 1997 where I shared a car with Greg Moore. He was really, really a great guy and I was thinking of him and his family today and I want to share this win with him," said Wurz after taking the checkered flag.
Wurz was joined on the top of the podium by his co-drivers, Anthony Davidson and pole winner Marc Gene. Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian finished second as fireworks added light to the night sky.
"We really think after driving, this is the best prep for Le Mans," said Gene. "The bumps are more perfect to test for Le Mans than maybe Paul Ricard, where it is more smooth."
The two 908s contested each other for the lead but worked in tandem to pass the slower cars when needed. "I heard at one point from back home (England) that we were not really racing," said Davidson, "but I disagree. I've got aches and pains to prove that I was racing, my teammates agree."
It was the first win for Peugeot at Sebring, breaking the string of German marquee wins at the historic track. "With Peugeot we came here as a team and wanted to accomplish a goal and we did," said Davidson.
Team CytoSport are the LMP2 winners, driving a 2008 RS Spyder previously owned by Dyson Racing. Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen drove the wheels off the car to stay in touch with the Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01c, at one point CytoSport was four laps down. Then, they got lucky when their Highcroft rivals had to pit due an electrical issue for six laps.
"I really like this magnificent machine," smiled Pickett. "You expect that from Porsche. The Spyders are a superbly balanced car, it goes wherever you want and I'm always surprised how well it handles in traffic."
Pickett had two young guns with him for his second class victory at Sebring. "I'm 63 now, to do this at this level of competition is a wonderful adventure," he said while adding, "My teammates did the heavy lifting. They let me get in a little bit."
Klaus Graf won for the first time at Sebring and felt the emotion of being the team's driver for the closing laps: "It was quiet on the radio, bringing it home was special for me," he said. "It was my first Sebring win.
"I can't thank Greg enough on putting this team together. He has a great appreciation for this sport, and everyone in this room (press conference) knows what it takes to put something like this together."
Maassen has raced the RS Spyder at Sebring with the Penske team but this marks his first win. It is also his 30th ALMS victory. "I have to say that I have tried to win here with the Spyder quite a few times, but this time I was successful," he said.
"we had luck, that's for sure. We had our plan, we did exactly what we wanted to do," added the Porsche factory driver. "We drive safe and steady and we stayed out of the pits (for the non planned stops). That is the key to an endurance race. I want to thank Greg ... he showed (that) the Spyder can win in a privateer's hands. I don't think this will be the last time a privateer wins with it."
Highcroft Racing finished second, which helps them in the points battle for the rest of the season with the new LMP class -- a mixture of P1 and P2. Team drivers David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud were joined by Marino Franchitti and while disappointed with the outcome after leading for the majority of the event, they look forward to the rest of the season.
Risi Competizione earned a repeat victory in the demanding 12 hour race and this year for the GT2s, it was indeed a tight race. Yet for some of the top teams, it was one of heartache. For the Houston, Texas based team, it is also the swan song of the Ferrari 430 GT.
"I enjoyed it a lot," smiled Gianmaria Bruni. "We showed the Ferrari and Michelin fit together. We were fighting at the beginning but then we overtook the leader, we pulled away. We've known each other a while but Jaime has been with this car for a good long time."
The team had a trouble free race, especially considering the bad luck of their rivals. Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer were joined in this year's win by Gianmaria Bruni. It was Melo who had the honor of bringing the 430 home for its final victory in Sebring.
"I know the 430 from when we started developing the car," said Melo. "We want to put it in the history books, so we want to win [races and the championship] this year so bad. So we can send it off in a good way."
"The team is a very, very good team. With three drivers who are very consistent like Jamie (Bruni) and Pierre, it's the way to win this kind of race," Melo added. "The preparation of the car is key to this race."
Kaffer added, "It's always nice for the victory. It's a wonderful team. To drive a Ferrari and with these guys is awesome. You really get to enjoy driving the car."
The two BMW Rahal Letterman Racing teams came home second and third. Dirk Mueller, Joey Hand and Andy Priaulx drove the No. 90 BWM E92 M3 home to second place while teammates Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner were on the final podium step in the No. 92.
The final of the heartbreaks for a GT2 team came with two hours to go when Scott Sharp had a fire in his Ferrari 430 GT's left rear brake area as he exited the 16th turn. By the time the driver and owner of Extreme Speed Motorsports could safely bring it to a stop, the rear bodywork was on fire. His experience in racing allowed him to quickly find the nearest corner station manned by SCCA corner workers with fire extinguishers. It was the fourth and final full course caution.
Sharp was okay and commented, "It was a real shame," he said. "We were trying to get the car home. Everything was good until a vibration came up on the last caution. I stopped as soon as I could. There was a gap there so I figured there was a marshal with an extinguisher. The corner marshall did an excellent job with only used one bottle to put it out."
The new LMPC crowned first time winners at Sebring. Scott Tucker, Mark Wilkins and Christophe Bouchut had the honor to take the first victory in their Level 5 Motorsports Oreca FLM09.
"Unbelievable," said Wilkins. "To come here for the first time is a tough race. The guys from Level 5 did an awesome job."
Bouchut added about the team, "The mechanics really did a great job putting it together. I took the lead on the second stint until the checkered flag."
Scott Tucker commented on their lack of time in the car as he said, "It's a really nice package, its sophisticated, but simple. It was no problem running a triple stint in it. Overall, I really like the car."
While the GT Cup Challenge ran at selected events in 2009, the newly name GTC (Challenge) had changes with entries and not as an invitational process, plus the teams own their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.
Alex Job returned to the series and tonight celebrated his first win in the GTC class with drivers Juan Gonzalez and Leh Keen. Third driver Butch Leitzinger, has had a lot of experience on the demanding Sebring circuit. Pole winner Keen commented about the race long battles in the class, "It wasn't easy; the last 12 hours have been really intense. I have to give it to Alex (Job) He really knows what he's doing. He put together some great GTC cars for us. All the guys did an awesome job."
Gonzalez added, "It was very sweet. I've been racing vintage for almost 20 years. Today, I finally got my dream come true." The two drivers had veteran racer Leitzinger sharing the drive with them today and he smiled as he said, "I told Juan on the podium, this is my favorite time because it's the longest time before we come back here", referring to the top step of the Sebring podium!