ALMS Rnd 3: Mid-Ohio 19-21 May 2006

[jhansen]

After the Sebring lull it's nice to have back to back race weekends with Round 3 taking place at Mid-Ohio. The grid is once again on the smallish side, but Mid-Ohio should provide for a more entertaining race weekend. The track is freshly repaved, which should be a marked improvement over the previous surface. Dyson badly need a repeat of last year's result while the Penske bunch would just like to forget Houston. Corvette vs. Aston Martin continues while GT2 looks for a possible third new winner this year.

Please feel free to use this thread for discussion on predictions, practice, qualifying, and the race. This is a more conventional race weekend with practice on Friday, practice and qualifying on Saturday, and warm-up and race on Sunday. The relevant info can be found here:

Entry List:

http://www.americanlemans.com/Events...%20Entries.pdf

Event Schedule:

http://www.americanlemans.com/Events...6/Schedule.pdf

Live Timing & Scoring:

http://www.imsaracing.net/2003/lt/ltc.html

ALMS Radio:

http://globecast.workscast.com/

[Adam43]

Is it Porsche's best chance of an overall win? Before the smoker arrives?

[jhansen]

Hey, I thought it was smokeless?

Well, I would imagine that Penske's best chances are here or Limerock, which wont have the R10s either IIRC.

[skycafe]

It becomes interesting in that you know Porsche hasn't solved the problems, not enough time to have done that, so they are suspect going in, even if track is smoother. The Dyson cars seem suspect too. Audi R8 again?

robert

[Adam43]

I think you may be right skycafe. I'm sure Porsche have done everything they can, but is it enough time. It is a different circuit though, as you say.

So maybe an R8 or possibly a 'vette

[Fogelhund]

The Porsche problems have been at bumpy tracks. These problems didn't occur at Laguna last year, or at tests at other relatively smooth tracks. Luckily for Porsche, Mid Ohio has just been repaved, so it is possible that they could be fine.

I think that the Dyson cars will comfortably be the fastest cars this weekend, though we'll see if they can last.

[skycafe]

Bad start for Dyson with the 20 gearbox going after two laps. They are by far my favorite team in ALMS, but they always make it a challenge to like them Hopefully race day dawns a different day.

I figured Porsche's problems were done late last summer, after the reported problems in Europe and then here at Road Atlanta, and their passing of Petit. I am sure they thought problems were solved too, hence their (apparently misplaced) confidence in pace at Houston. Sure, huge difference in track, but you still have to wonder if riding curbing in one turn all afternoon, or something similar will present issues too-and if Laguna was somehow a fluke. Even if they give up on the idea of overall and just go for class win, they are in a pressure cooker situation. They can't fail again, or the cars start to develop some questions for future privateer buyers, and they also need to show pace. They also need for both cars to perform flawlessly to gain back that confidence.

robert

[dj4monie]

I happen to think Porsche will break through and win overal. This is just the type of track that lends itself to a lightweight car like a P2.

With all the competition adjustments made to benefit Aston Martin (this time, last year it was the Saleen and MC12) they should also stop the GM Racing freight train for at least one week and have suspreme confidence at Le Mans were they know they have the pace to beat GM two races in a row if they get it right this weekend.

Even if Penske wins overall, I think Intersports is still in a good position going into Le Mans test days. They'll leave Ohio for France with the points lead and I think that's IMPORTANT because once Penske finds reliablity, Intersport will have to find a bit more pace to keep in contact....

Where's Dyson in all this? Nursing a new car that's where! I'm sure they'll put it together enough to be bothersome however. I believe we haven't seen the best from this car yet. I think the longer tracks at Miller, Road America and Mosport will play a large roll in how even the mighty R10 stands up to a all of a sudden very QUICK Lola/AER combo. The V8 just needs a place to stretch out a bit, that's all.

I won't go into too much detail about GT2, its a cracker like it always is, but I think Porsche, despite winning at Houston will really feel the pinch here, at Le Mans and even at Lime Rock where the last time a Ferrari raced there it won.

I'm picking Panoz to win here, I feel the Risi 430 just isn't ready to win yet.

[gsmith2424]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

With all the competition adjustments made to benefit Aston Martin (this time, last year it was the Saleen and MC12) they should also stop the GM Racing freight train for at least one week and have suspreme confidence at Le Mans were they know they have the pace to beat GM two races in a row if they get it right this weekend.

Yes a win would bost the Aston's confidence but you must also remember that they are not on equal footing here and Aston lost there trick nose from last year which helped them be so quick.

[19dodge]

The #009 Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy had a huge off in the morning practice session. The DBR9 apparently had a brake failure and snapped sideways in the corner and launched into the air over the gravel trap. He ended up in the tire barriers. It was a very scary accident, but luckily, Pedro was unharmed. The car surprisingly did not receive extensive damage. The Prodrive mechanics are currently working on repairing the car in hopes of making it out by qualifying.

[JAG]

Is qualifying 8pm UK time?

[jross427]

qualifying under way

[jross427]

whoops went afternoon practice

[RA-D]

forgive me if this is a stupid question, but which channel is showing it in the UK. (Since MotorsTV changed its accessability I haven't been able to get it somewhat annoyingly, I guess it's on there)

[Dani Filth]

Porsche 1 second ahead of Audi .. now it's just a matter of lasting the race . imho

[Bramzel]

GT1 and GT2 qualifying times promise a great battle tomorrow

[JAG]

I realise it's a new car and all that, put shouldn't Dyson be quicker?

The hybrid Pescarolo was significantly quicker than the restricted R8 in qualifying and (less so) the race, in the LMS last year.

This season the revised Pescarolo and new Creation/Zytek hybrids are quicker still.

Race pace I can understand the R8 putting up a good show, afteralll they know the cars reliable and can run 100%, but qualifying should be owned by Dyson, assuming they are running well and have a decent set-up.

[fer312t]

Here's a pre-race question.....

Since the race is tape delayed by 1 hour...will CBS just cut off the start and pick up the race mid way through??? They did this last year and it was maddening and disgusting... If they are going to delay it, at least start the race with a taped recap of the start BEFORE showing the current running order...

[skycafe]

I think they will do a merge--tape of start and opening laps and gradually catch it up to virtual live, which means a focus on leaders only and any 'action,' like spins or what have you.

Groan...


robert

[Danske]

CBS was compressing the first two hours of the race or so into one hour, showing the start and pretending it didn't happen an hour ago and eventually catching up to the live race for the final hour. I think they may have also done a few broadcasts where they just joined in progress. The last broadcasts I remember did a brief recap of the first hour (a bit confusingly, I thought) and then followed the rest of the race live. Right, I think the confusing part was giving the current running order and then showing the "earlier" clips.

[Fogelhund]

FWIW - It is Wheeler Productions doing the broadcast, and cutting it up, in a rather poor and unpredictable manner.

[Aerodynamic]

Interesting to see that Shimoda in last year's Zytek is still over a second quicker round Ohio than even factory porsches.

Such a shame that there is no 04s in the States this season. Perhaps Zytek might see some sense and race teh 04S and not the 06S on the twisty tracks when they go ALMS racing later on this year............

I think that the 1.11.333 record that Shimoda holds is going to stand for a long time.

[JAG]

....well until next year at least.

A sorted P1 should be 1-3 seconds quicker than the RS Syder, even on the twisty stuff.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by JAG

I realise it's a new car and all that, put shouldn't Dyson be quicker?

The hybrid Pescarolo was significantly quicker than the restricted R8 in qualifying and (less so) the race, in the LMS last year.

This season the revised Pescarolo and new Creation/Zytek hybrids are quicker still.

Race pace I can understand the R8 putting up a good show, afteralll they know the cars reliable and can run 100%, but qualifying should be owned by Dyson, assuming they are running well and have a decent set-up.

I think the R8 was running in a much more heavily restricted guise in the LMES last year which might go some way towards explaining the difference.

More critical though is the relative maturity of the machines in question. The Pescarolo can probably be seen as the ultimate expression of what a Courage C60 can do, much as the R8 has benefited from consistent enhancement over the years. By contrast Dyson's in much the same situation as they were in 03 when they started out with the MGs, having an enormously complex car that they needed to work on sorting in a public way - they'll get there with this year's Lola, but in the meantime they give the appearance of falling short in contrast to the enormously well prepared Audi.

Once the Zytek appears, and Audi start running the R10 (which simply due to the stage of its development won't be as bulletproof as the R8) combined with the performance of the Porsches (provided the ACO doesn't peg them back after today's result) and an evolving Dyson Lola I think things will start to get a lot more interesting up the front.

[elan]

I think this network time buy is a bad way to attract new fans to the series. I understand what they are trying to do. But, marketing, advertising and promotion seem to me a better use of funds. Show races in their entirety somewhere else. I'm glad the pre Lemans part of the season is over. Unfortunately, we still have 3 races left on CBS which will take us through the end of July. Hopefully, all the buzz about what is supposed to happen after LeMans will materilaize.



.