Sebring, 19 March 2011
The 59th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by
Fresh from Florida, saw the revival of the Audi – Peugeot battle for
the overall LMP1 race honours, the former giving the R15+ its
swansong outing, whilst the latter had a pair of new 2011 908s
with which to do battle, backed up by the earlier 908HDi-FAP of
the Oreca Team Matmut. The race also marked the debut of the
Ferrari 458 Italia GT, with four examples running in the GT
category, together with three examples of the model it replaces,
the F430 GT, one running in the same class, and the other two in
the newly inaugurated GTE-AM class, where only one
professional paid driver is allowed in each driver line-up. The race
was also the inaugural one in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans
Cup, a series of seven races, five within the ALMS and LMS
series, plus the Le Mans 24 Hour Race and a season finale in
China.
During the course of the four practice sessions, there were four
different cars heading the practice times, not unnaturally from the
Audi and Peugeot diesel entries. The # 1 Audi of Bernhard /
Dumas / Rockenfeller headed the first session times, with team
mates Capello / Kristensen / McNish topping the table in session
2. Then it was the turn of the Peugeots, with the # 7 example of
Wurz / Gené / Davidson taking the quickest time in the third
session, and then surprisingly the older # 10 Team Oreca Matmut
example of Lapierre / Duval / Panis quickest in the fourth session,
with a lap of 1min 48.704secs, the quickest of all four sessions.
Come the qualifying session on Friday afternoon, and it was the #
8 Peugeot 908 of Montagny / Sarrazin / Lamy that grabbed pole
position for the race, making it five different cars fastest in each
session on the track. This was followed by the # 1 Audi R15+, the
# 7 Peugeot, the # 2 Audi and the # 10 Peugeot, so the balance
seemed pretty even between the main contenders for race
honours, with a fraction under 2secs covering the top five
qualifiers. The quickest of the petrol engine cars was Muscle Milk
Lola Aston Martin B08 62 of Pickett / Graf / Luhr, just over 3secs
off the pole position time. The LMP2 class qualifying honours
went to the Signatech Nissan Team Oreca 03 Nissan of Mailleux
/ Ordonez / Ayari, with the LMPC class quickest time being set
by the Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09 of Peterson / Cameron /
Guasch. In the GT categories, the main GT class pole position
went to the # 51 AF Corse Ferrari F430 GTC of Fisichella / Bruni /
Kaffer, with the Lietz / Roda / Ried Proton Competition Porsche
911 RSR taking the GTE-AM class pole, and the Alex Job Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Sweedler / Keen / Reid posting the
quickest time in the GTC class.
The race started under clear blue skies at 10.30 on the Saturday
morning, and immediately it was the #8 Peugeot in the lead from
pole position but being chased hard by the pair of Audis and the
sister # 7 car, with the # 10 Peugeot following closely. It didn’t
take long for the action to get a little too hot, with the first of nine
safety car periods starting on lap 12, when the Pastorelli /
Schwager Lamborghini Gallardo went off the track. The numerous
safety car periods during the first two thirds of the race, kept
bunching the field up, and thus advantages ebbed and flowed
between each safety car period.
It wasn’t long before the front runners started to experience
problems, the first victim being the # 1 Audi of Bernhard / Dumas
/ Rockenfeller, which picked up a front tyre puncture at the end of
the first hour, and then on the out lap after having that replaced,
picked up a left rear puncture which damaged the bodywork
necessitating replacement of the whole rear section. It’s progress
was further hindered by two drive through penalties later in the
race, but still managed to finish 5th a lap down on the # 2 sister
car of Capello / Kristensen / McNish in 4th place, which had its
own problems, after what was considered a no fault (of the Audi
driven by Dindo Capello) collision with the # 7 Peugeot of Wurz /
Gené / Davidson, damaged the suspension and bodywork,
dropping it seven laps off the lead. The collision also damaged the
Peugeot, further compounded by Marc Gené burning out the
clutch as he tried to get going again, which also dropped this car
out of the running for a race win, to finish an eventual 8th overall.
The sister # 8 car was still in contention for the win until the 10th
hour, but broken louvres on the front wing, caused by debris being
thrown up, necessitated the replacement of the nose section in
accordance with the regulations, and then Pedro Lamy spun on
the out lap after this work, which dropped the car off the lead lap.
He eventually worked his way back on the lead lap, but too much
time had been lost, and the best he could do was to take the final
spot on the podium. Thus victory went to the “old” Team Oreca
Matmut Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP of Lapierre / Duval / Panis, which
finished just over 30secs ahead of the Highcroft Racing HPD ARX-
01e of Brabham / Franchitti / Pagenaud, a great result for the
car’s maiden outing.
The LMP2 class win went to the # 055 Level 5 Motorsports Lola
Honda of Tucker / Hunter-Reay / Diaz, with the LMPC class win
going to the # 006 Core Autosport Oreca LM009 of Jeanette /
Gonzalez / Junco. The main GT group was the source of virtually
a race long battle between the works BMW M3s, the works
Corvettes, the Flying Lizard Porsches and the pole sitting AF
Corse Ferrari plus the debuting Risi Competizione Ferrari 458
Italia GT. All the teams had problems to one degree or another,
but at the end of the day, the two quickest Ferraris retired, the AF
Corse car of Fisichella / Bruni / Kaffer with an overheated
gearbox, after a cooling duct came adrift, and the Risi car of Bruni
/ Melo / Salo withelectrical problems in the closing stages of the
race. This gave the pair of BMWs a bit of breathing space, and
they went on to seal a 1 - 2 class win, with the # 56 car of
Priaulx/Mueller/Hand leading home the # 55 example of Farfus /
Auberlen / Werner, with the Beretta / Milner / Garcia # 03
Corvette taking the final podium spot. There was a small
consolation for Ferrari, as the # 57 Krohn Racing F430 GTC of
Krohn / Jonsson / Rugolo won the GTE-AM class, whilst the GTC
class win went to the # 054 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Pappas
/ Faulkner / Bleekmolen.
Keith Bluemel
03/2011
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