Storylines. If I had to pick one reason why I enjoy watching endurance races more than any other types, it’s the fact that there are so many different “stories” occurring at any given moment during the race. Such was the case at the 58th running of 12 Hours of Sebring, the grand opening to the 2010 American Le Mans Series.
Before I go into talking about this race, though, I have some definite explaining to do. No, your RSS reader is not broken, and no, I haven’t been posting to a secret part of this site: the date of the last post I made is indeed August 9, 2009. Sad thing, isn’t it? Well, I’m back now, and I have new plans and ideas for Ignition Unlimited. Believe it or not, I’ve even convinced a guest writer to occasionally drop some content on here! Amazing! I’ll go into detail about the future of IU later, because now, it’s time to talk about Sebring.
Changes
Going into my second year of following this race, I knew what to expect but I didn’t know exactly how the 2010 12 Hours would differ from the 2009 race. My first answer came from glancing at the entry list every once in a while starting months before this race: it became clear that the Peugeot vs. Audi fight was over for this year, at least at Sebring, as Audi was nowhere to be found. Although Peugeot was to be the only diesel running there, new regulations put higher limitations on diesels in order to make the competition between them and petrol-powered prototypes more fair. This was evident, to a degree, as I’ll discuss later. Another change was Highcroft Racing: last year’s favorite for the whole ALMS Season, Patrón-Highcroft Racing ditched their P1 Acura ARX-02a for a modified P2 ARX-01c, a change that surprised me until I found out that the Prototype classes were to be merged for the 2010 ALMS Season. Like Corvette Racing (who transferred last season from GT1 to GT2), it seems Highcroft is in search of a greater degree of competition. Speaking of classes, there were five at this race: Prototype 1 (where you have your diesel Peugeots, a Lola run by Aston Martin, and others), Prototype 2 (the class of the aforementioned Patrón-Highcroft Acura team, a Porsche RS Spyder and one other), LMP Challenge (a new class of single-make/model racing using Chevy-powered Oreca FLM09 cars), GT2 (the biggest factory-backed class, featuring BMWs, Ferraris, Porsches, Fords, and more) and GT Challenge (the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup class).
The Storylines Of Sebring
Unlike last year, when the main event was an epic Audi-Peugeot face-off, this year’s Sebring 12 Hours was characterized by many little events that led to a fairly unsurprising end result. Since there were so many, it’s time for–yep, you guessed it–IU Bulletpoints… with video!*
- First Few Hours
The beginning of this race was amazing, and I’m not sugar coating that at all. Really. Tons of passing action from all classes, coupled with the great fighting from LMP1 (yeah, believe it or not, the non-diesel P1 cars could stand a chance against the Peugeots) and GT2. Video speaks louder than words, though, so check this out. And don’t act like you’re not impressed. I couldn’t imagine why any woman in the world could resist Emanuele Pirro (green Lola-Judd with the British flag on the rear) after that insane pass, not to mention he also had a better single-best-lap time than the winning Peugeot.
- The Harsh Reality
Sometimes things just go wrong. If your race comes to an end three-quarters of a lap in, and it’s the car’s fault, well, that’s what you call a bad day. Unfortunately, such was the case for Autocon Racing, Jaguar Racing, and Drayson Racing. All of these teams had catastrophic mechanical issues either at or very close to the beginning of the race. Although Drayson partially recovered after their Lola-Judd’s alternator decided to take a permanent vacation, both Autocon and Jaguar were both out for good. The real heartbreaker was Jaguar, though: on only the first lap, a cylinder head cracked and ended their day. It’s really too bad to see that happen to a fledgling team, but the reality is harsh: shit happens. - There’s A Reason Why It’s Called “Endurance Racing” – Part 1: Cars
Think about it: you have a piece of expensive, well designed machinery running at maximum capacity for 12 hours straight. You’d figure something always has to wrong, right? Well, miraculously, some cars never do run into problems, but all the others… yeah. A few instances of this notably stood out in this year’s Sebring 12 Hours. One of my favorite teams, Patrón-Highcroft Racing, had a little electrical problem in the cockpit of their Acura ARX-01c that turned into an issue that cost them 24 minutes of driving time (they were penalized for having too many crew members working on it over the pit wall) and therefore a first-place finish. Patrón Racing’s Ferrari F430 GT also suffered a slight issue while in the hands of its owner, Scott Sharp. It sort of lit on fire. See for yourself in the video below.
- There’s A Reason Why It’s Called “Endurance Racing” – Part 2: People
If something doesn’t go wrong with the car, something can definitely go wrong with that fire-retardant-nylon-wearing mush of organic material that plops into the carbon fiber bucket seat for each stint. Yeah, you read that right, ladies and gentlemen: humans make mistakes while racing! It’s understandable, however: the cars are hard to drive (even for one lap, let alone all 12 hours), it’s physically uncomfortable (a driver had to receive medical attention for overheating while in a closed-cockpit car), and it’s tiring. The biggest failure of the day, though, was obvious: Corvette Racing’s pit crew. I’ll let the video do the talking; it was a mistake that cost them the race, needless to say. And, oh yeah, Team Falken Tire’s pit crew should probably make sure all the center-locking lugs on all four wheels are completely tight before letting their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR leave the pits (yeah, yeah, I know the axle end was broken, but they shouldn’t just be sticking a rim on there and praying that it’ll stay).
- The Results
I’ll be bold with this: compared to last year, the end of the 2010 Sebring 12 Hours was boring. The P1 class was won undisputedly by Peugeot’s 908 HDI. P2 was slightly more interesting, with a 1st place finish from the independent Team Cytosport running a Porsche RS Spyder. Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT won GT2, and, oh, Level 5 Motorsports won LMPC and an Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup won GTC (for some reason I can’t seem to get excited about the Challenge classes).
- Odds And Ends
There were a few other events of note on Sebring day. The two best came afterwards. Firstly, one of the winning Peugeot drivers, Alex Wurz, dropped a sweet F-Bomb during a live interview on Speed TV’s post-race coverage. Secondly, Radio Le Mans announced that Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Team Joest’s head honcho, had been spotted multiple time throughout the day, in the stands and in the pits, observing the competition carefully. This is because, for the past week, Audi’s new car (the R15 Plus; don’t worry, I’m covering that soon), its crew and its drivers were at Homestead Speedway doing high-speed testing, and starting today, Audi was at Sebring attempting to beat the P1 lap times set during the Sebring 12 Hours. After a disappointing loss last year, Audi’s sights are now set firmly on the top of the podium at Le Mans.
The End Of The Beginning
Thus ends the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring. This exciting prologue is making it look like the beginnings of an excellent American Le Mans Series Season. I will again follow all 24 of the Hours of Le Mans on June 12th, and I will also be returning to the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 25th. It’s race time.
* Videos courtesy of MT89Motorsport’s Youtube Channel. These are awesome, thanks!