WooHoo

<yahoo> <yahoo> <yahoo> <yahoo> <yahoo> <yahoo>

The Audi is again on the pole (suprise, suprise) and the other classes' poles are as expected (Porsche (P2), Corvette (GT1) and Ferrari (GT2)).
The new Acura/ARX P2's look fast so we may have a good fight for the P2 class and, as alway, you can't count out the Aston's in GT1 or Porsche 911's in GT2.
As for the P1's?, well, outside of the Audi's everyone else seems to be well behind but will the Audi's fall to mechanical problems?

http://www.americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?ID=2880

Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.
Thursday's qualifying results
1. Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Marco Werner, Germany; Frank Biela, Germany; Audi AG/R10/TDI (P1), 1:44.974
2. Allan McNish, Scotland; Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi AG/R10/TDI (P1), 1:45.326
3. Romain Dumas, France; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Helio Castroneves, Brazil; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:46.046
4. David Brabham, Australia; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Duncan Dayton, North Salem, NY; Acura/ARX-01a (P2), 1:47.109,
5. Andy Wallace, England; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:47.130
6. Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; Tony Kanaan, Brazil; Acura/ARX-01a (P2), 1:47.423
7. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.175
8. Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Luis Diaz, Mexico; David Martinez, Mexico; Lola/B06-43/Acura (P2), 1:48.417
9. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Emmanuel Collard, France; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:50.185
10. Jamie Bach, West Palm Beach, FL; Ben Devlin, England; Raphael Matos, Brazil; Lola/B07-40/Mazda (P2), 1:50.312
11. Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Lola/EX257 AER (P1), 1:53.125
12. Fredy Lienhard Jr., Switzerland; Didier Theys, Belgium; Eric van de Poele, Belgium; Lola/Bo5-40/Judd (P2), 1:53.594
13. Ron Fellows, Canada; Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:57.061
14. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Max Papis, Italy; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:57.480
15. Antonio Garcia, Spain; Liz Halliday, Rancho Santa Fe, CA; Darren Turner, England; Aston Martin DBR9 (GT1), 1:58.241
16. Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Johnny Mowlem, England; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (GT2), 2:02.439
17. Tim Bergmeister, Germany; Tomas Enge, Czech Republic; Memo Gidley, San Rafael, CA; Ferrari 430GT (GT2), 2:02.701
18. Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.043
19. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Robin Liddell, Scotland; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.338
20. Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Ian James, England; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.652
21. Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Colin Braun, Ovalo, TX; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (GT2), 2:03.811
22. Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Tom Kimber-Smith, England; Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:03.997
23. Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Graham Rahal, New Albany, OH; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.001
24. Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Lars Nielsen, Denmark; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.654
25. Scott Maxwell, Canada; Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Ross Smith, Plano, TX; Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:04.686
26. Peter Kox, The Netherlands; Jarek Janis, Monaco; Spyker C8 Audi (GT2), 2:04.758
27. Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.897
28. Terry Borcheller, Gainesville, GA; Marc Basseng, Germany; Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:06.811
29. Ben Aucott, United Kingdom; Joe Macari, UK; Rob Wilson, England; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:07.062
30. David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Arie Luyendyk, Jr, Phoenix, AZ; Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:11.529
31. Philip Collin, Park Ridge, IL; Antonio Hermann, Brazil; Luchiano DaSilva, Italy; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT2), 2:13.056
32. Miroslav Konopka, Slovakia; Bo McCormick, England; Mauro Casadei, Italy; Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT2), 2:15.693
33. Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Creation/CA06H/Judd (P1), 10:27.341
34. Maurizio Mediani, Italy; Rui Aguas, Portugal; Jose Maria Lopez, Argentina; Ferrari 430GT (GT2), No Time

For those of you living in the States, the ALMS race at Sebring will be shown live on Speed TV. They are showing about 8 hours of coverage, only interrupted by the Craftsmen Truck race and some NASCAR practice.

Looks like Motors are showing it all live :D

That's because it's being shown on the Nascar, wait, I mean "Speed" channel <blink> <blink>

Move the trucks to ESPN2 and show us the whole race, dambit!

Does seem a bit unfair. We get to see the whole race and you won't

I can order it on SpeedTV.com with the millions of different camera angles but it's just not the same <suicide>
Stupid SpeedTV

oh great

an entire day taken up by bloody sportscar racing

I hate SpeedTV - too many commericals and then a 3+hr 'break' for Busch series qualifying and Nextel practice <grrr> <grrr>

well what about the qualy for F1 last night....SPEED TV delayed it so they could have interviews with drivers from the Craftsman Truck race in Atlanta!

That pissed me off badly!!!

SPEED are showing almost 10 hours of the race, not bad really - seems it is a 12 hour race.

more like 6 hours with all the commercials they showed in the last 30 minutes. <blink> <blink>

Question I can't find out - why are there only 4 P1 cars and 3 GT1 cars racing at Sebring?
What happened to everyone else? Did they pull out or pass on the race?

You don't HAVE to watch it - i's not compulsory. Compulsive yes, compulsory no.

I'm loving every minute of it! Nice to see Ollie Gavin doing well too. <thumbs>

no, but its taking up the schedule on my favourite channel for 12 hours!

its not racing, its just not

you rarely ever see a pass for 1st place on the track

its just not good

Then you ain't watching this race. There have been a ton of passes for the lead during the race. It was hard racing for a long while.

And just because there's a lot of "passing for the lead" in some races, it doesn't make them good - I've seen sleepers at 'Dega with a ton of lead changes... and I'm a Nascar fan.
I've also watched a replay of '64 British GP without a single lead change and it was a nail biter the whole way. The two cars were never more than 2.5 seconds apart for the whole race - one bobble from the leader and he'd have lost. Terrific racing but no lead changes.

<thumbs>

It's been terrific so far hasn't it?

i've watched (watching) some of it

its yawnish

even the pit crews have gone to sleep! roflmao

Hardly surprising seeing how hard they've all been working for the past several hours.

total bollox!


i work as hard as them, if not harder, and I don't fall asleep!

roflmao roflmao roflmao

Ah, Endurance Racing, an interesting sport.

For example. I did the 24 hours of silverstone (yes, doulbe the distance, You WILL fall asleep if you do it) and the best bit is the night time. the atmosphere is electric charged by V10 engines.

Best bit was when Dieter Quester decided he was going to mug the Mosler - he stalked it for a couple of laps with his lights turned down, and then ambushed it at Brooklands, turned his lights on and off and away, leaving Shorty in the Mosler behind. utterly increidble.

Then we get the other side to the action, the mechanics themselves. they can fix a car so well and so quickly that a car which was seriously damaged can be back with a chance with a win. ok, so they go a few laps down but that's recoverable.

Takes a different way of looking at it than Nascar, F1, etc. all the tactics are different, and the drivers are under greater pressure...

<think> I thought it was the car battery we had been given for the night <blink> :D

ah, that was what that was then!!

Actually, I don't know why they bothered giving us one. We had a set of circuit lights right on the post see

Well I have just been out for beer and baby back ribs, and now I intend to sit back and enjoy.

I thought it was a great race and watched it til I fell asleep...(didn't manage to watch that and F1!).

You missed a phenominal end ot the GT2 class - 0.20 second difference between 1 & 2. I thought Bergmeister was going to have him but the Ferrari just had enough to hold out.

The other classes were basically settled earlier due to mechanical problems (typical for Sebring).

Overall, a terrific race.

Watching it now...on last lap, Motors have had a 3 hr highlights show :D