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ALMS: Audi’s 1-2 at Elkhart Lake in Thrilling 4hr Race

Written by: ALMS Communications 08/10/2008 - 12:26 PM Elkhart Lake, WI

The race would ultimately finish as it started, but it was a dogfight all the way. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Audi scored its second straight 1-2 finish in the 2008 American Le Mans Series with Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr taking a 2.463-second victory Saturday in the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable. Diesel power won overall at Road America for the first time since 2006 as Werner crossed the finish line just ahead of teammate Marcel Fässler.

Werner passed race leader David Brabham on Road America's long front stretch for the lead with 20 minutes left. TDI Power ran down the Acura in the waning moments as two late yellow flags played into Audi's hands, just as it did two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio.

Werner and Luhr won for the sixth time this season in LMP1 and fourth time overall. Luhr qualified on the overall pole position as Audi won overall at Road America for the first time since 2006. The R10 TDIs also won back-to-back overall races for the first time in two years. Fässler teamed with Emanuele Pirro in the second Audi entry.

"It was an exciting race and wasn't as easy as it looked especially after the second-to-last yellow," Werner said. "It was really difficult to pass the Acuras but the traffic helped me get a little closer and then TDI power helped me overtake them. After that everything was really nice."

The winning duo led 65 of 102 laps.

Intersport Racing led overall early thanks to a strong drive early from Jon Field. The Lola B06/10-AER of Field, son Clint and Richard Berry finished third in class and seventh overall.

An ill-conceived pass by the #26 AGR Acura handed the win back to David Brabham and Scott Sharp. They've won 3 of 7 rounds so far, including the overall win at Lime Rock. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

"The season so far has been very good," Luhr said. "We had an unlucky race at Sebring but we came back strong at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. No one expected us to be as strong there after last year. The same thing can be said for Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio. Today we did everything right and I think we were fastest in every session. We totally deserved to win this one."

Brabham and Scott Sharp scored their third LMP2 victory of the season for Patrón Highcroft Racing and Acura, thanks in large part to Franck Montagny's crash in the Andretti Green Racing Acura with 11 minutes remaining. Montagny, who teamed with James Rossiter, tried to dive down to the inside of a slower GT2 Aston Martin at the end of the long backstretch.

Neither car made it back around.

Late-race strategy by the Patrón Highcroft team meant Brabham led overall with 14 minutes before Luhr's mighty blast from third to first. The team called the car on three straight yellow laps to top of with fuel to make certain the car could make the last 63 minutes on fuel. The plan nearly worked to perfection were it not for one final caution period with 34 minutes left that brought the Audis within striking distance.

"It was really hard to keep in front of the Audis because they are so strong on the straights," Brabham said. "I had to let them and Franck go and my main concern there was keeping the Porsches behind me, which we did. I think it was possible to have Acuras finish 1-2 but we managed to pick up the pieces."

Defending overall race winners Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas finished second in P2 and fourth overall, just 0.867 seconds behind Brabham. Dyson Racing scored its first podium finish since Sebring with Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti coming home third in class in their Porsche RS Spyder.

"It was strange seeing the car coming in lap after lap as the last of the chasers," Sharp said. "But we were in the right position. We picked a really great time to come in. I have a tremendous teammate no doubt who helps me a lot and is amazingly quick. We were hoping to just win one race this year. So far we have three and can get at least one more."

Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen won in GT1 in Corvette Racing's No. 3 Corvette C6.R after the dominating sister crashed out with 52 minutes remaining. Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta had dominated the race up until that point and led the entire way before Gavin inexplicably went off track on the long backstretch.

Up until that point, the duo of Beretta and Gavin were on pace for their second straight victory together at the circuit.

"It was a shame but it was a good race," Magnussen said. "All I saw is that he got a little loose into the Kink and hit the outside wall. We had a problem in the middle of the race and I had to make an unscheduled stop to solve the problem. I think I had picked up something on the tires because of the safety cars. I had a funny feeling in the rear of the car. We did that, came back out and the car was really good. Although the other car was really strong, we knew we had a good chance to win because we had to make one less stop to the end."

O'Connell and Magnussen won for the sixth time in seven races but certainly no finish was as bizarre or unexpected as this. They were a full lap ahead of Terry Borcheller and Chapman Ducote in Bell Motorsports' Aston Martin DBR9.

"Things have really gone our way this year," said O'Connell, who ranks second in the Series with 34 career victories. "Last year was a matter of everything going against us. We were in the pits longer but I think it would have gone our way in the end. That's just how it has worked out all season."

Dirk Werner led Farnbacher-Loles' charge to their first win in the ALMS. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Farnbacher Loles Racing took its maiden GT2 victory in the Series with a tense, late-race win for Dirk Werner, Richard Westbrook and Bryce Miller in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Werner got around Risi Competizione's Mika Salo and hisFerrari F430 GT at the start of the last lap and watched the Finn spin when he tried a daring overtaking maneuver in the sharp left-handed Turn 5.

The German went on to win by 7.345 seconds over Flying Lizard Motorsports' Wolf Henzler, who teamed with fellow class championship leader Jörg Bergmeister. Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher finished third in class and another 3.641 seconds back.

"The car was fantastic today and the team deserves it," Miller said. "The last couple of laps were amazing driving by Dirk."

The Farnbacher Loles team finished as runner-up at Lime Rock two rounds ago and third in the season's second race at St. Petersburg. Werner said he thought it was only a matter of time before the team broke through.

The Farnbacher Loles Porsche came back from a mid-race penalty for speeding in pit lane but it turned into a blessing as the race wore on as it became more obvious that the team had an advantage when it came to fuel and pit strategy. It set up the thrilling finish as Werner moved from fifth to second on the final stop.

"On the last lap I knew I had to try something and I think Mika's team car blocked him," Werner said. "The next three corners were amazing because he was on my bumper the whole way. I think he was desperate and saw an advantage at Turn 5. He tried to brake later than I did but ended up spinning out.

"I'm really glad to get our first win the Series," he added. "The team really works great together and we were so close in the past. We have been right there since Sebring, and the steps that Porsche made in the offseason have allowed us to contend for wins."

The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Mobil 1 presents Grand Prix of Mosport on Sunday, August 24 from Mosport International Raceway just outside of Toronto. The race will start at 3:05 p.m. ET with live television coverage on SPEED. XM Satellite Radio will air the race live on XM Channel 166. Live radio coverage also will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.

Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Saturday's results

1. (1) Lucas Luhr, Germany; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (1, P1), 102.
2. (3) Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Marcel Fässler, Switzerland; Audi AG R10/TDI (2, P1), 102.
3. (6) David Brabham, Australia; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Acura ARX-01B (1, P2), 102.
4. (5) Romain Dumas, France; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (2, P2), 102.
5. (10) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 102.
6. (9) Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (4, P2), 102.
7. (8) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Lola B06/10 AER (3, P1), 101.
8. (12) Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (5, P2), 100.
9. (11) Guy Smith, England; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Porsche RS Spyder (6, P2), 100.
10. (16) Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6.R (1, GT1), 97.
11. (2) Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; James Rossiter, England; Acura ARX-01B (7, P2), 96.
12. (21) Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Richard Westbrook, England; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT2), 96.
13. (20) Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2, GT2), 96.
14. (18) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (3, GT2), 96.
15. (22) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Patrick Pilet, France; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (4, GT2), 96.
16. (19) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (5, GT2), 96.
17. (17) Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Aston Martin Vantage (2, GT1), 95.
18. (7) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-01B (8, P2), 94.
19. (13) Ryan Lewis, UK; John Faulkner, Pittsford, NY; Gregor Fisken, Scotland; Lola B06-10 AER (4, P1), 94.
20. (25) Robert Bell, UK; Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Ferrari F430 GT (6, GT2), 94.
21. (28) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT2), 94.
22. (27) Francisco Pastorelli, Netherlands; Marc Basseng, Germany; Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT2), 91.
23. (24) Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Ferrari F430 GT (9, GT2), 91.
24. (29) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Doran Ford GT-R (10, GT2), 89.
25. (4) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (9, P2), 88.
26. (31) Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin Vantage (11, GT2), 84.
27. (26) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (12, GT2), 80.
28. (15) Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Corvette C6.R (3, GT1), 76, Accident.
29. (23) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (13, GT2), 50.
30. (30) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (14, GT2), 47, Half shaft.
31. (14) Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Creation CA07-002 Judd (5, P1), 35, Gearbox.

Posted on 10 Aug 2008 by garysweb1

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ALMS: Audi and Acura on Front Row at Elkhart Lake

Written by: ALMS Communications 08/08/2008 - 06:09 PM
Elkhart Lake, WI

Audi was nearly a second beneath their lap record set in 2007. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Will the fourth time be the charm for Lucas Luhr? Audi's German factory driver certainly hopes so. Luhr earned his fourth career pole position at Road America on Friday and was the fastest overall qualifier for the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable. His lap of 1:46.935 (136.277 mph) gave him a 0.41-second margin over Andretti Green Racing's Franck Montagny.

Luhr hasn't won from pole position at Road America after three previous fast qualifiers. On Friday his time was 0.73 seconds faster than Allan McNish's qualifying record from last year of 1:47.665 (135.353 mph).

"I should have backed off a bit," Luhr cracked. "I'll make sure Nishy gets a note that I broke his record. I think this is one of the best race tracks in America and I really like it. It's just good fun to come here."

Frankly, it's been good fun for Luhr and Marco Werner at just about every Series venue this year. Saturday's four-hour race will allow us to see the duo go for their fourth overall victory of the season and sixth straight win in P1. They comfortably lead the class championship by 58 points over Audi teammate Emanuele Pirro, who qualified third overall and second in P1 at 1:47.579 (135.461 mph).

He will drive with newcomer Marcel Fässler in the second R10 TDI. Intersport Racing's Jon Field qualified the AER-powered Lola B06/10-AER third in class and eighth overall at 1:48.371 (134.471 mph).

But as qualifying shows, it's not just Audi's P1 rivals that are threats. Both Porsche and Acura have overall victories this season.

"The course is good for our car," said Luhr, who won his 16th career Series pole position. "I was surprised Montagny was only four tenths behind me. You can see that Acura is getting quicker and quicker, and we've been saying that we've been a bit behind in qualifying and still been able to win overall. The strategy is in our favor being a longer race, but you never know with the yellows and the things going on around the race track. If a yellow comes out, you have to be prepared to change your mind completely and react and adapt to it. Our plan is to go as fast as you can and then react to it."

Back in P2, Acura swept the front row for the third straight race as Montagny won his first Series pole position. He will make his third start with his third different teammate - James Rossiter - in the AGR Acura ARX-01b. Montagny's time of 1:47.345 (135.757 mph) bested Romain Dumas' class record from last year by 1.488 seconds and McNish's 2007 lap, as well.

"All the people who have been in the car are good drivers and they might not be going for the championship this year, but they are good," said Montagny, a former F1 competitor. "The car is still being developed and we are now seeing the result of that. We have a good engineering crew and experience that helps me out."

Former Road America Champ Car standout Adrian Fernandez qualified second in class and fourth overall in the Acura that he will drive with Luis Diaz. Dumas was fifth overall and third in P2 at 1:47.736 (135.264 mph) in the Porsche RS Spyder that he will share with Timo Bernhard. The pairing are the defending overall race winners.

"Tomorrow will be another great race. From now to the last race, I'm trying to work with the engineers and get used to the car. We are always improving the car, race after race and test after test. The race here is the most fun I've had. I've done a lot of racing in Europe, and some GT cars and prototypes. It's good to go somewhere and be good right off from the start."

Oliver Gavin earned his 17th career Series pole position and third at Road America with a lap of 2:01.235 in the Corvette C6.R that he will drive with Olivier Beretta. The Briton was 0.641 seconds better than Jan Magnussen in the other Corvette and more than three seconds quicker than Bell Motorsports' Aston Martin DBR9.

Gavin and Beretta have won the last three GT1 championships but have captured just one victory this season (St. Petersburg) and are on favorable ground. They won together here in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

"We're pleased for the four-hour race tomorrow," Gavin said. "The track is quick, it's challenging and its fun. It's a real proper circuit. It hasn't been sliced up and cut up like other tracks. But this is definitely a good place. It's been one of the years where nothing has gone right for us. Even with everything that happened at Mid-Ohio we couldn't break through. We'll have to wait and see. We will keep pushing and keep trying."

The Corvette squad also has its eyes on the future. Gavin said there were adjustments and developments targeted for next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Corvette has won five times in class since 2000.
"There will be some other developments but this is the best place in the US to develop those kinds of simulations," Gavin said. "We want to be as strong as possible there for 2009."

In GT2, Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller won his first Series pole position in seven years. His lap of 2:06.083 was 1.108 seconds under Jamie Melo's previous class record from 2007. In fact, the four quickest cars were under last year's pole time.

"We knew from this morning that it would be close," said Mueller, who has won three times this year with teammate Dominik Farnbacher, including two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio. "The Porsches gained a lot between the last practice session and qualifying. We were out for a three-lap run. I came in after two laps and was really impressed. We don't have a qualifying setup and were focusing on the race tomorrow."

Mueller, whose last pole was at Mosport in August 2000, was 0.292 seconds faster than Risi Competizione's Melo as Ferrari swept the front row for the first time this season.

Next was the class-championship leading Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Flying Lizard Motorsports' Jörg Bergmeister at 2:06.415. He and Wolf Henzler lead Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher by four points in the driver championship.

"A four-hour race is worth extra points so strategy is key," Mueller said.

"You need to consider which strategy you want. We can do double stints on our Michelins, which the Porsches cannot do. We haven't decided on that yet. It's a lot different than the standard length race. It's nearly double the duration and it's a very demanding track. It's easy to make mistakes that can cause big problems to the car."

The Generac 500 at Road America presented by Time Warner Cable is scheduled for Saturday, August 9 from Elkhart Lake, Wis. The four-hour race will start at 4 p.m. CT with SPEED televising the race starting at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 10. XM will air the race from 4 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday via Sports Nation Channel 144. Live radio coverage will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.

Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Friday's qualifying

1. Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:46.935, 136.28
2. Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; James Rossiter, England; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.345, 135.76
3. Marcel Fässler, Switzerland; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:47.579, 135.46
4. Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.639, 135.39
5. Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:47.736, 135.26
6. Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.774, 135.22
7. Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:48.160, 134.73
8. Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:48.371, 134.47
9. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.492, 134.32
10. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.586, 134.21
11. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:49.454, 133.14
12. Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (P2), 1:51.187, 131.07
13. Ryan Lewis, UK; John Faulkner, Pittsford, NY; Gregor Fisken, Scotland; Lola B06-10 AER (P1), 1:51.359, 130.86
14. Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Creation CA07-002 Judd (P1), 1:55.540, 126.13
15. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 2:01.235, 120.20
16. Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 2:01.876, 119.57
17. Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Aston Martin Vantage (GT1), 2:04.562, 116.99
18. Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:06.083, 115.58
19. Jaime Melo, Brazil; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:06.375, 115.31
20. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:06.415, 115.28
21. Richard Westbrook, England; Dirk Werner, Germany; Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:06.593, 115.12
22. Patrick Pilet, France; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:07.522, 114.28
23. Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (GT2), 2:07.742, 114.08
24. Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:08.385, 113.51
25. Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:08.725, 113.21
26. David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 2:10.330, 111.81
27. Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Francisco Pastorelli, Netherlands; Marc Basseng, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:10.412, 111.74
28. Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:10.872, 111.35
29. Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 2:10.877, 111.35
30. Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (GT2), 2:11.803, 110.57
31. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin Vantage (GT2), No Time.

Posted on 08 Aug 2008 by garysweb1

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STAT WRAP: Hungarian GP

Written by: Sean Kelly 08/03/2008 - 01:01 PM Budapest, Hungary

Kovalainen finally got his chance to take a win for McLaren in Hungary. (LAT photo)

From the moment the cars hit the track on Friday, most expected a McLaren victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the manner in which it was achieved (and the driver who achieved it) will have surprised most.

After upsetting the formbook by controlling the race, on a circuit where he’d never previously scored a top-six finish, Felipe Massa suffered cruel luck with just three laps remaining when his engine failed. This represents the biggest single moment in the championship so far, as what looked like being a three-point lead for Massa in the title race became a five-point lead for Hamilton, with Massa also being overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen in the table.

Massa’s misfortune made Heikki Kovalainen’s day, as he became the 100th driver to win a world championship event (including the Indy 500s from 1950-60). He is the fourth Finnish driver to take an F1 win, and all three previous drivers (Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen) went onto win the world championship.

Kovalainen is also the third different driver to take a maiden victory in the last six runnings of this race, following on from Fernando Alonso in 2003, and Jenson Buttonin 2006. Heikki overcame a jinx associated with the dirty side of the grid here, as races in Hungary have been won more often from third on the grid (5 times) than second (3 times). Of course, Massa was set to win from third on Sunday, until fate intervened….

Second-placed Timo Glock underlined the pace that Toyota had shown in their long runs on the prime tire during practice. He set the second-fastest overall lap in qualifying, and scored on a track other than Montreal for the first time in his career. It was Toyota’s best finish since Jarno Trulli finished second at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix, and meant that for the second race running, the top two spots on the podium were filled with former GP2 drivers.

In third, Raikkonen again had one of those afternoons where he appeared to be asleep, before suddenly coming alive at the end. Last year he set the fastest lap on the final lap of the race, and today he did so with 9 laps remaining – at Hockenheim two weeks ago he did it with 2 laps to go. It was Kimi’s 7th fastest lap in the last 8 races, and despite not having won since April, he is just 5 points behind the championship lead.

Fourth-placed Alonso remains the only man to have outqualified his teammate at every race this season, but that didn’t stop Nelson Piquet finishing sixth, as Renault have taken 16 points from the last two races – a total beaten only by McLaren’s 28. They have now moved ahead of Red Bull into fifth in the constructors’ championship, and lie just 4 points behind Toyota. Piquet continued to build on his positive result at Hockenheim by setting the fourth-fastest lap of the race on Sunday.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was the odds-on favorite to win heading into the race, and was aiming to be the first driver since Michael Schumacher in 2006 to win three in a row, and the first British driver since Damon Hill at the beginning of 1996. However, after being outmaneuvered by Massa at turn one he never really looked like threatening the Brazilian, before a left-front puncture dropped him down the field. That said, he emerges further ahead in the championship (5 points) than he was before the weekend (4 points).

Massa’s late retirement meant that Robert Kubica took the final point. BMW looked set to miss the points for the first time since the last race of the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, a run of 27 races. They now have the longest point-scoring streak in history by any team other than Ferrari, who have previous streaks of 55 and 33, and currently have a run of 43 straight point-scoring events.

Red Bull’s David Coulthard was the only driver in the field to start on the option tire, and briefly had an entertaining battle with Rubens Barrichello’s Honda, two weeks on from when they collided with each other at Hockenheim. This weekendwas a significant milestone for the twosome, as they became the first pair of active drivers to amass 500 starts between them.

For Barrichello, Sunday must have felt like a recurring nightmare, as he spent much of the day in last place, struggling to catch Adrian Sutil. Last year he failed to do so, and the only difference on Sunday was that Sutil was forced to retire after blowing a right-front brake disc.

Sutil himself finally ended a streak of his own this weekend, as for the first time in his career he started last on the grid. On all previous occasions he’s been the slowest qualifier, other drivers have been penalized, or he has started from the pitlane. He would have beaten Barrichello, not least because Barrichello was involved in a pitlane fire.

The Intertechnique refueling rigs seemed to have problems all day, as Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Bourdais (twice!) had fires at their fuel stops. Timo Glock also suffered a rig failure during his first pitstop, which cost him approximately six seconds. Aside from that, Sunday only saw two classified retirements, with Sutil being joined by Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, who was the first driver out of the race for the fifth time this season.

There now follows a three-week break before the European Grand Prix at Valencia, beginning a run of 7 races in 10 weeks to decide the championship. If Hamilton ultimately wins the title, he may look back upon Hungary as the stroke of luck he needed.

Posted on 08 Aug 2008 by garysweb1

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STAT WRAP - German Grand Prix

Written by: Sean Kelly 07/20/2008 - 12:13 PM Hockenheim, Germany

Delight and relief for Hamilton and Piquet; less thrlling for third-placed Massa. (LAT photo)

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton survived a bad tactical decision by his team to win the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Sunday, a win that that was fully deserved judging from his pace throughout the weekend.

Having taken pole position in qualifying and been quickest in all three sectors of the lap in doing so (the first pole winner to do that in 2008), Hamilton passed Massa and then Piquet to take his fourth win of the year, equaling his tally from last year with 8 races still remaining. It was only McLaren’s second victory on this racetrack since 1990, following on from Mika Hakkinen in 1998.

While the safety car intervention nearly cost Hamilton the race, it completely made Nelson Piquet’s day, as for the second successive race weekend a driver made it onto the podium despite being eliminated in Q1. Piquet pitted while running in twelfth, just as the safety car was deployed, and he made full use of the opportunity, and although he couldn’t hold off Hamilton, he never looked like surrendering second.

For Piquet it relieves a lot of pressure, and there was no better weekend to do it. He was born in Heidelberg, barely 10 miles away from the Hockenheimring, and it comes ahead of his 23rd birthday this Friday.

It gave Renault only their second podium finish in the last two seasons, the other one coming courtesy of Heikki Kovalainen at Fuji. On both occasions, they finished second to Hamilton’s McLaren and held off a Ferrari driver in doing so. The irony of it all is that the “senior” drivers with the team in that time, Fisichella and Alonso, did not score a single podium finish between them!

Third-placed Felipe Massa made it two Brazilians on the podium for the first time since Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet (Senior) at the 1991 BelgianGrand Prix at Spa. That stat is surprising, but despite several Brazilians being on the podium since, they have never overlapped. Barrichello’s first podium came in 1994 immediately before Senna’s death at Imola, and he did not score a podium between Indianapolis 2005 and Silverstone 2008, in which time Felipe Massa scored all of his.

Massa never looked like beating Hamilton on Sunday, and will be frustrated to finish behind Piquet. He did score his 250th career point, and kept up his record of finishing all five of his Hockenheim F1 appearances. Ferrari’s streak of points finishes is now up to 42 since the 2006 San Marino GP, as they continue to close in on their all-time F1 record of 55 consecutive races in the points (Malaysia 1999-Malaysia 2003).

Nick Heidfeld had an outside shot of winning the race in the aftermath of the safety car period, which would have been ironic as the German had driven 141 races without winning prior to Sunday. It was at Hockenheim that Rubens Barrichello took his first victory in 2000 after 124 starts, establishing the current record for the longest wait for success in F1.

As it turned out, he couldn’t pull enough of a gap to get out ahead of the other drivers at the final stop, but that was still a success for the BMW driver, who was eliminated in Q2 for the third time in the last five races and had only ever scored 1 point in his home Grand Prix (for 6th place in 2002).

Heikki Kovalainen was another big loser during the safety car period, as he looked to have a safe podium finish in his pocket, something he hasn’t had since the Malaysian Grand Prix. Unfortunately he lost out to both Piquet and Heidfeld and ended up fifth, dropping another point to Heidfeld, the driver immediately ahead of him in the standings.

That was a better result than Kimi Raikkonen, who was never in contention throughout the weekend and was outqualified by a teammate on this circuit for the first time since it was reconfigured in 2002. He did at least finish, something he’d only done once before in six previous appearances here.
Robert Kubica finished seventh in what was his first F1 race on this track – it was here in 2006 that Jacques Villeneuve drove his final event with BMW, prior to Kubica’s promotion to the race team. At that time, Sauber had not scored a podium since 2003, but Kubica’s arrival has coincided with 11 podiums and a victory in Montreal since then.

He was followed home by Toro Rosso’s resident giant-killer Sebastian Vettel, who scored for the third time in the last five races. Having made it to Q3 for the third time this year, he will have been relieved to make it to the end of lap 1 on Sunday, something he did not manage on the other two occasions.

A surprisingly lack of performance from Jarno Trulli saw him shuffled back to ninth place by the end of the day, despite starting fourth. On the only other occasion he started as high as fourth in Germany, he finished on the podium, one of only eight occasions in his career (third for Renault in 2003).

On an otherwise anonymous weekend for the team, Giancarlo Fisichella gave the Force India team their best finish since Barcelona in 14th place, having been outqualified by Adrian Sutil for the fifth time in the last six events on Saturday. The new seamless shift gearbox allegedly worth 0.3s per lap can’t come soon enough, as Sutil was 0.411s slower than the slowest non-Force India in Q1.

Honda’s Jenson Button was the last finisher in 17th place, compounding a horrible run of results for the Englishman, who is without a top ten finish since scoring points in the Spanish Grand Prix seven races ago. He did at least run ahead of Barrichello for most of the race, something he’d only done for 16 out of a possible 275 laps in the last four Grands Prix.

Barrichello himself retired after colliding with F1’s resident incident magnet David Coulthard – not what you’d expect from two drivers with 498 starts between them, while Coulthard’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber retired in a smoke-filled haze after trailing smoke around throughout the safety car period, scoring his first mechanically-induced retirement of 2008.

The deployment of the safety car came after Timo Glock’s hefty accident at the exit of the final corner, and it was a shame for the German who was running in eighth place at the time. It therefore means Glock has still only scored at Montreal in his F1 career (2004, 2008), and it snapped a seven-race finishing streak for the German in his home race.

Next up is the Hungaroring, where Lewis Hamilton won comfortably last year after the controversial pitlane incident with Alonso in qualifying. More of the same will do nicely for the championship leader.

Posted on 08 Aug 2008 by garysweb1

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STAT WRAP: British Grand Prix

Written by: Sean Kelly 07/06/2008 - 03:19 PM Northamptonshire, UK

Amazingly, Hamilton now leads the championship on the back of having one more 10th-place finish than Massa. (LAT Photo)

Sunday’s British Grand Prix saw history being made, as the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship now sees the closest points battle in the history of the sport. Lewis Hamilton’s victory, along with Kimi Raikkonen’s fourth place, sees them both move level with Felipe Massa atop of the table with 48 points each.

It is only the third three-way tie at any point in championship history, and on both previous occasions it was after three rounds (Indianapolis 1950, and Bahrain 2007 - also involving Hamilton and Räikkönen, with Fernando Alonso). However, this tie has occurred at the halfway point in the season.

Moreover, the tie-breaker situation has never been closer. Raikkonen is officially third in the championship as he only has two wins this season, as opposed to three each for Hamilton and Massa. The latter two drivers are tied for wins (3), seconds (1), thirds (1), fourths (0), fifths (1), sixths (0), sevenths (0), eighths (0) and ninths (0).

Amazingly, Hamilton now has the championship lead because he has more 10th-place finishes (1) than Massa! Behind the leading three, BMW’s Robert Kubica lies in fourth place in the championship, but only two points adrift of the lead, so this truly is a championship season to savior.

Aftera rough ride from the media in recent weeks over a so-called loss of form, Hamilton silenced his critics with a supreme drive to victory on Sunday, becoming the 12th different British driver to win his home Grand Prix – the first since David Coulthard back in 2000.

Having only qualified fourth on the grid, he was also the first driver to win a Grand Prix from outside the top three on the grid since Fernando Alonso won the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix from 5th on the grid for Renault, a staggering run of 26 consecutive winners from inside the top three starters.

It was McLaren’s 12th British Grand Prix win at Silverstone, tying Ferrari’s race record, and Hamilton’s winning margin of 1m08.577s over Nick Heidfeld was the largest for any race winner in nearly 13 years. You have to go back to Damon Hill’s two-lap victory over Olivier Panis at Adelaide in 1995 to find a win as emphatic as Hamilton’s.

Stop us if you’re heard this before, but Heidfeld finished second on Sunday. The German extended his existing record for most second place finishes without ever winning (Sunday was the 5th such occasion), and he’s now only 2 podium finishes behind Stefan Johansson’s record 12 podium visits without ever standing on the top step.

It was Heidfeld’s first ever top five finish on this racetrack, and it came on the back of qualifying 5th on the grid, his best performance since Malaysia, and the first time this year that he’s beaten Kubica in qualifying. While he might have expected to be fighting a podium, he probably didn’t expect his main opposition to come from Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, who benefited from another Ross Brawn tactical masterpiece to score his first podium finish since the ill-fated 2005 US Grand Prix, ending a 54-race barren run for a man who didn’t even score a point in 2007.

Just to prove that Formula 1 is not exclusively a young man’s game, there were two drivers in their 30s on the podium at Silverstone, just as there was two races ago in Montreal. Fourth and fifth places were taken by two frustrated Finns, Kimi Räikkönen and Heikki Kovalainen.

The Ferrari driver surpassed 500 points in his career, but will be disappointed to miss the podium at Silverstone for the first time since 2002. However, he did score his 6th consecutive fastest lap, and now lies just one short of the all-time record streak, held by Alberto Ascari in 1952/53.

Meanwhile, Kovalainen scored his maiden pole position on Saturday, the first driver to do so at Silverstone since Alan Jones in 1979 – and on both occasions, the polesitter’s teammate ended up winning the race. Car #23 had not qualified on pole position since Bruno Giacomelli did so for Alfa Romeo at the final F1 race held at Watkins Glen back in 1980, until Kovalainen broke the jinx on Saturday.

Sixth-placed Fernando Alonso kept up Renault’s record of scoring in every British Grand Prix they’ve entered since 1982, while Jarno Trulli helped himself to more points in seventh, giving him something to celebrate as he approaches his 34th birthday next Sunday. Trulli passed Kazuki Nakajima on the final lap, but the Japanese driver still moves level with Williamsteammate Nico Rosberg in the championship, and he’s scored in more races this season (4) than the German (3).

Rosberg himself was only 0.8s behind Nakajima at the chequered flag, despite running into the back of Timo Glock for the second time this year – he also did so on the opening lap in Malaysia. That said, his frustration will be nothing compared to tenth-placed Mark Webber.

The Australian had given Red Bull Racing their first ever front row start in qualifying – just as he gave Jaguar (Red Bull’s former incarnation) their first front row at Malaysia in 2004. Unfortunately, like that Sepang race, his good work fell apart on the opening lap, this time as he suffered a spin exiting Chapel corner. Despite being last at the end of lap 1, he was back in the top ten by lap 15 and set the fourth fastest lap of the race, a sign of what might have been.

Among the retirements, Robert Kubica made his first big mistake of the season, spinning out at Abbey and missing out on the points for the first time since Melbourne. Both Force Indias failed to finish for the fourth time in nine races in 2008, and Sebastian Vettel’s heroic eighth place in Q3 counted for nothing when he was punted into retirement by David Coulthard – the fourth time this year that Vettel has not made it to the end of the opening lap!

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was the last classified finisher on Sunday, and perhaps the only positive thing that can be said about his drive was that he preserved his record of never failing to finish the British Grand Prix (this was his 6th race at Silverstone). Having said that, given how close the championship currently is, Massa’s 13th place on Sunday could end up being a title-clinching result….

Posted on 12 Jul 2008 by garysweb1

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