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Sebring is upon us, and as usual, the spring thaw has melted the high expectations for the GT entry we had in the dead of winter. This time, however, we’re still left with a larger, more diverse – and dare I say more competitive – field than has graced central Florida in mid March in many years.
Diversity. That’s the real cause of excitement for the 2008 edition of Grand Touring in the GT2 class (it’s quite different in GT1, but more about that later). There are seven automobile makes represented within the sixteen Sebring GT2 entries. Ferrari’s joined the ubiquitous Porsches in the past few seasons, and there’s been a Panoz or two. Sebring’s got those. But this year, the once-around-the-clock enduro will add a Viper, a Corvette, a Ford GT-R, and an Aston Martin Vantage. We’ll start with the “new kids on the block,” because their very “newness” ensures that the returning, sorted, Ferraris and Porsches will remain the favorites at the 56th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Primetime Race Group fields a Viper Competition Coupe for driver-owner Joel Feinberg and co-driver Chris Hall. Feinberg and company debuted the Viper in ALMS competition at Detroit last season, then entered Petit Le Mans and the Monterey Sports Car Championships. Since the car was a Speed World Challenge car only minimally modified for American Le Mans Series rules, it wasn’t competitive – and wasn’t expected to be. There was some hope that Cerberus (the former Chrysler) would provide some minimal support in engineering a conversion to the sport car endurance series, but that hasn’t been forthcoming. That drove away some other Viper “tire kickers,” but Primetime persevered and will field a car much closer to the pace than was the case in 2007. How close? We don’t know, but our expectations are realistic. An untested car, drivers probably in the middle of the pack (on the basis of experience at this level of competition if nothing else), a team with little endurance experience, and the beating always handed out by this famous event...that adds up to a “hope to finish.” Robertson Racing will arrive at Sebring just moments after the doors are hung on its brand new Doran Ford GT-R. They’re the lucky ones who get the only car of the three planned that likely will be on its wheels for Sebring. Michigan couple Andrea and David Robertson seem to enjoy the competition in these events and they’ll employ pro driver David Murry at Sebring, but they won’t challenge for pace, and the completely unsorted Doran Ford isn’t likely to last the duration. The third never-before-raced Sebring entry is the Riley-built Corvette C6 of Lou Gigliotti’s LG Motorsports. Lou’s about as open – and upbeat – a guy as you’ll ever find, passing on information about the car and team on the series’ web site forum, but we expect he’s realistic, too. Sebring’s as good a place to find out what might not be screwed down tight on a new car. Lou and Speed World Challenge buddy Doug Peterson will be joined on the driver strength by a well-traveled sport car pilot in Belgian Marc Goossens. Riley’s builder credentials are impeccable, and none of the drivers are neophytes, by any means, but the bugs won’t be worked out until well beyond this edition of the Sebring 12 Hours. Drayson-Barwell Motorsports fields another new car – at least at this level. The Aston Martin DBRS9 that the team will run in the first two races is not the Vantage V8 GT2 that will contest Long Beach and beyond. It’s a minimally modified car built for FIA European GT3 racing entered under IMSA’s GT2S2 rule. That puts the car where Primetime’s Viper was last season at Detroit – behind the field by a couple of seconds. Lord (Paul) Drayson has resigned as the United Kingdom’s Labour government’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Defense Procurement and as Government Spokesman for Defense to the House of Lords to race an cellulosic E85 bio-ethanol Vantage V8 in the American Le Mans Series. The Baron Drayson will be joined by 22-year-old Jonny Cocker, with whom he partnered in the 2007 British GT Championship. They finished runners-up with two wins among eight podium finishes. Former ALMS Porsche pilot (and Porsche Cup winner) Tim Sugden joins them for Sebring. Better-than-average drivers and a sorted (even if somewhat off the pace) Aston Martin will likely take Drayson-Barwell to the finish. That brings us to PTG. Its two Panoz Esperantes were 11th and 12th in GT2 here in 2007...and then the season turned into a struggle. Tom Milner is back with a single all-new Esperante. New chassis, new engine builder, new bodywork (aerodynamics). They’ll sorely miss Bill Auberlen, but have Joey Hand. Tom (Tommy, now?) Milner (not Junior) is back at the family dinner table after a successful season with Rahal Letterman Racing (on hiatus this year before fielding BMW’s new M3 in 2009). Tom Sutherland is third driver. There’s enough experience in this team and with this car to believe that it will likely run ahead of the newcomers. We turn now from the new to the old. Autoracing Club Bratislava returns to Sebring with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, replacing last year’s RS configuration, but it’s still a 996. Miroslav Konopka of where else, but Bratislava, Slovakia,........... He’ll be joined once again by Italian Mauro Casadei. In 2007, they finished 33rd, completing 129 laps before an engine failure. Their objective should be to extend last year’s distance. We hope that most of these will develop into competitive entries as the season progresses. For Sebring, we now turn from the car show to the racing competition, to the five Porsche 997 GT3 RSRs and the five Ferrari F430 GTs. Not all these ten are equally competitive, of course. Ron Meixner’s VICI Racing and Uwe Alzen enter with Kumho tires and a pair of TBA drivers. Kumho is determined to prove its capabilities this season, but it will take time to get on pace at the front of GT2. VICI Racing brings an eclectic racing history that includes Formula Renault, power boat, Carrera Cup, IMSA and Group C with 962s, and a Daytona 24 GT win with Porsche. Farnbacher Loles, won GT at the Daytona 24 Hours, prepares cars for the all-Porsche Michelin Cup, and the Farnbacher Racing branch in Germany contests the Le Mans Series and the Carrera Cup. The pedigree to win with Porsche is certainly there, as is good driving talent with Marc Basseng – fresh from the GT class win at the Daytona 24 – and Dirk Werner. Corsa Motorsports had an awful year in 2007. They burned a car to the ground at Sebring and later split with partner White Lightning Racing, and after Sebring ran only their home race in Utah. They’re back this year with their own team, and with a top-notch driver strength including Gunnar Jeannette, Johnny Mowlem, and Ralf Kelleners. The Ferrari is sorted hardware, so the “X-factor” here is the Hankook tires. We expect that component won’t be up to speed this early in the season. Flying Lizard Motorsports has become the principle standard bearer for Porsche. The Stuttgart marque couldn’t be in better hands. Chief Strategist Thomas Blam calls the shots, and Sadler, Watkins, and Pfeiffer engineer three entrants at Sebring. This is where we should look to measure Porsche’s new 2008 version of the 997 RSR. On the point at Sebring will be the No. 45 entry driven by premier Porsche pilots Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler, and Marc Leib. There’s no drop-off in pace in that trio. In 2007 the Flying Lizard’s was half of the “The Greatest Moment in the American Le Mans Series History” voted by the Series web-site visitors over the past year. Edged at the line by no more than a blink by Risi Competizione’s Ferrari, the team, driver complement, and cars have only gotten better over the past twelve months. That “lead car” will be backed up by two others, one also clearly capable of running at the sharp end of the GT2 field. The No. 46 Porsche, with Richard Lietz, French Carrera Cup Champion Patrick Pilet, and Johannes van Overbeek gives the team two contenders for the outright win, while a third entry, No. 44, with Darren Law, Seth Neiman, and Alex Davison, provide still more talented depth. This team is capable of putting all three cars in the top five at the end of twelve hours. Kerry Morse recently called Tafel Racing Technical Director Tony Dowe “The Modern Alchemist.” If running TWR’s famous IMSA Jaguars (including the Le Mans overall win in 1990), isn’t enough, consider that Dowe has been mechanic, team manager, engineer, or technical director for Brabham, Ensign, Wolf, Haas’ Can Am team, Newman-Haas (team manager for Mario’s 1984 championship), Ligier, Arrows, Dick Barbour Racing, and Panoz. You get the picture. Tafel will field two Ferraris F430 GTs, the first, No. 71 for Dominik Farnbacher, Dirk Müller, and Robert Bell, a crew that should keep Tafel in the hunt throughout the 12 hours. Backing them up will be No. 72, with team owner Jim Tafel, Aussie Allan Simonsen, and German veteran Pierre Ehret. Risi Competizione is back to defend the driver’s, manufacturer’s, team, and tire championships it won last season. Leading the pair of Ferrari F430 GTs for the Houston-based race team are defending champion drivers Mika Salo and Jaime Melo. Those new to the sport might recognize Salo from F1 campaigns with Lotus, Tyrrell, Arrows, BAR, Ferrari and Toyota. Barely thirteen years on from his first F1 start at the end of the 1994 season, Salo is still at the prime of his driving abilities. With Brazilian F3000 champion and Ferrari test driver Jaime Melo, and Italian Minardi F1 pilot Gainmaria Bruni sharing the duties, Risi expects nothing less than to repeat last year’s Sebring win – they were the other half with the Flying Lizards of that “Greatest Moment in the History of the American Le Mans Series.” In GT1, seven-time American Le Mans Series defending champion Corvette Racing returns to Sebring opposed, as last year by only a single Aston Martin DBR9. Gary Pratt and the Pratt & Miller team return its star drivers, and experienced team personnel, along with the dominating Corvette C6.Rs. What’s different is the fuel. Corvette Racing will contest Sebring – and the 2008 season American Le Mans Series season – with cellulosic E85, taking another, very important, step forward in the Series’ “green strategy.” Bell Motorsports fields Corvette’s only competition, with some support from Team Modena, which itself was the lone entrant against Corvette at Sebring last season. Drivers Terry Borcheller, Chapman Ducote, and Antonio Garcia are solid, they’re on Michelin tires (That's according to information released by the ALMS. However, we have been told that's not the case, that they are on a different tire-Ed.), and Jim Bell is a talented engineer and manager. This team will stay in the same time zone with the Corvettes, perhaps even pose the threat of an occasional upset. Bell, having been largely responsible for finally getting ACEMCO’s Saleens on pace with the yellow cars, knows exactly what he is up against. Surprise! We pick Corvette to win GT1. And in GT2, “The Greatest Moment in American Le Mans Series History” just might be relegated to the dustbin of history barely a year later. Risi, Tafel, and Flying Lizard might just make for a three-wide GT2 finish after 12 hours. |
