ALMS 12 hours of Sebring

[DooberRoni]

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Oh boy, this should be great and is one of the premier sportscar races of the year. Will Acura's move to LMP1 spell trouble for Audi or will Audi's own new R15 kick ass like it has so many times in the past. Pundits are calling for Peugeot and Audi to battle to the wire but for looks alone, that Peugeot looks baaad.

On the technology front, the diesel and diesel-hybrids are cutting edge and with the variety of body styles in the various different classes, ALMS offers visual excitement not seen in most other series in the US. Our interest has grown exponentially in the last few years and the series itself has built a new following and gained international respect.

The good news is SPEEDtv is giving us the entire race except for the mandatory two hours of NASCAR coverage. Maybe they are listening over there that the viewers want to watching racing instead of reality/lifestyle programming? Naw, it's just a fluke. :winky:

Come join us during the day for updates and new posts and then the last several hours in the dark up to the checkers. You Doobers out there that dig ALMS, come share your knowledge and predictions for the 12 Hours of Sebring.

For additional info, we've got sportscar news headlines at DooberVille (http://www.dooberville.com/indy.htm).
Also visit: www.americanlemans.com (http://www.americanlemans.com)

[ÜberDoober]

Hey! This is a pretty big deal. I have a mountain of paperwork to do this weekend (tax shiat) so I'm prolly going to watch most of the whole dang thing. Coolness! :)

[ÜberDoober]

The stories are rolling in. Qualifying is coming up on Thursday.

ALMS: Sarrazin Roars to Front in Sebring Practice
Written by: ALMS Communications http://www.americanlemans.com
03/18/2009 - 07:15 PM
Sebring, FL

Peugeot’s Stephane Sarrazin set the fastest lap of the day at Sebring International Raceway on Wednesday, the first official day of practice for the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. The Frenchman toured the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit in 1:44.719 (127.198 mph) in the day’s second practice session.

Peugeot has set the early benchmark in practice speeds at Sebring. Can Audi or Acura catch up in time for tomorrow's qualifying? (LAT) » More Photos
Driving one of Peugeot’s diesel-powered 908 HDi factory coupes with Franck Montagny and Sebastien Bourdais, Sarrazin sat 0.214 seconds ahead of Audi Sport’s Tom Kristensen in the new R15 TDI, also a factory diesel entry. Kristensen is teaming with Allan McNish and Dindo Capello, and the same trio won last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The last time Peugeot and Audi went head-to-head was last season’s Petit Le Mans, an Audi victory by less than five seconds. Sarrazin was the overall pole-winner, however.

Read the full story here: americanlemans.com (http://www.americanlemans.com/index_news.php?n=12552)

There's a video to watch over at SPEED too!
ALMS: Video - Inside the Acura ARX-02a with Simon Pagenaud - LINK (http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-video-inside-the-acura-arx-02a-with-simon-pagenaud/)

[ÜberDoober]

ALMS Qualifying is live on

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Today, Thursday March 19th
2:45pm EASTERN
11:45am PACIFIC

[ÜberDoober]

Got stuck at work and tried to watch qualifying but the streaming feed was choppy as hell and I was killing bandwidth for the whole office so I gave up.

Big shake up in qualifying as the new Acura kicked the butts of the Audis and Peugeots. This could prove to be a most interesting race.

From the ALMS website:

SEBRING SHOCKER: DIXON CLAIMS POLE FOR ACURA
de Ferran Acura bests Audi, Peugeot in qualifying

Scott Dixon shocked Sebring International Raceway on Thursday with the overall pole position for the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, upsetting factory diesel powers Audi and Peugeot in the first round of qualifying for the 2009 American Le Mans Series.

Scott Dixon (right) won the overall pole for the Sebring 12 Hours for Acura and de Ferran Motorsports.
With much of the attention on the factory diesel powers, the reigning IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion turned a fast lap 1:45.278 (126.522 mph) in de Ferran Motorsports’ new Acura ARX-02a. Not bad for someone who is making his Sebring debut.

“I’ve watched this race for many years and it’s always been exciting so now it’s great that I get to race here,” Dixon said. “I’ve tested on the short track many times with IndyCar but never on the big track. So you can’t help but grin from ear to ear to be excited to drive here.”

It was the first American Le Mans Series pole for Dixon, who beat out four-time Sebring winner and Audi ace Tom Kristensen by just 0.082 seconds. Dixon will drive with team owner Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in the first Sebring race for all three.

The diesel Audis and Peugeots had been the quickest in every session this week. But on a track that is notorious for changing by the minute, Dixon found his comfort level.

Please visit americanlemans.com (http://www.americanlemans.com/index_news.php?n=12579) to read the entire story

[ÜberDoober]

They're rolling off! Trouble for one of the Peugeot's (Montagny/Bourdais) starting from pit lane. Beautiful weather for the race today.

Dang! Lot of hard driving in the opening laps. Polesitting Acura down to 4th already. Only 11 hours and 55 minutes left to go! :winky:

We'll be in and out throughout the day or if something big happens. Shout out if you're watching too.

[LittleAlguy]

It's early but Acura can't be liking the pace of its LMP1 compared to Audi and Peugeot. At least the LMP2 Acuras are showing well compared to the Lolas.

edit: Brabham just spun bringing out a yellow.

Some pass by McNish over Lamy a few laps ago.

[LittleAlguy]

Just a little wiggle and Rockenfeller goes by. A change of tire strategy perhaps?

[ÜberDoober]

NASCAR break! Just as a FCY breaks out. :blink:

Just after 9:00am here and I went outside to see that some punk has toilet papered my front yard, bushes and trees. :realMad: Guess I got some work to do. I'll be back in two hours when the race comes back on.

[LittleAlguy]

Alright, I'll see you later.

The 07 Peugeot gets the lead during the pit cycle.

The Risi Competizione 62 Ferrari is doing quite nicely so far. The 87 Porsche is in the pits a while.

edit: Werner with a bit of an incident. Nothing major, though.

[ÜberDoober]

GAH! Back from the break and the Peugeot's are leading. Too much going on right now, Versus has their Indycar show on so I'm going to go watch that. The online magazine with our ad in it just came out an hour ago too and I'm trying to catch up with that too. So many things at once.

The new issue of AutoSimSport :www.autosimsport.net. Hope it gets some us traffic and new faces?

[LittleAlguy]

Bourdais spins it and gets it back going.

Great news about the ad. :D

[LittleAlguy]

Montagny gets by McNish at the first corner. McNish returns the favor at the hairpin thanks in part to the Flying Lizard Porsche creating a pick for McNish.

[ÜberDoober]

Rahal/Letterman out?

[LittleAlguy]

Some run by the Panoz. I'm a bit surprised by their form at the moment.

[LittleAlguy]

Goodness, they're battling like they are just 3 minutes remaining and not 3 hours.

Capello really pulled out a decent gap in just half a lap before the pit stop.

[ÜberDoober]

A few minutes less than two hours left to go and it's Audi, Audi, Peugeot, Peugeot. I took a little Saturday afternoon nap and am now fixing dinner but will be on board for the rest of the run after feeding my face.

It still looks very windy there - flags are still whipping pretty good.

McNish in probably for the duration.

[LittleAlguy]

Let's see, the 08 needs just one stop w/o a FCY (didn't hear if they're changing drivers or not, I guess not). The #2 Audi needs a stop and a splash.

And the 08 just took it. Let's see if this goes green all the way.

edit: yikes, Montagny is getting owned on this stint. He's been 2-2.5 seconds slower than McNish's quick times.

[ÜberDoober]

No kidding on Montagny. McNish in for his splash and out with no problems keeping the lead. Unless something happens in the last 12 minutes, Audi is going to win again.

[LittleAlguy]

Now he's running some quick times (1:45.8 this lap compared to 1:46.9 for Allan). Probably too little, too late for Peugeot barring some weirdness.

So much that. Back to 2 seconds slower than McNish.

Congrats to Audi on another victory. Class wins to the Fernandez Acura, #3 Corvette, and the Risi Ferrari #62

[ÜberDoober]

Well, it's over with familiar faces filling all the top spots.

Hard to believe they only had 3 yellows the whole day. Having a smaller field helped with that for sure. Is Kristensen going to sing like he promised? Guess not. :(

Nice start to the season. I expect the Acrua will get their teething problems sorted and be in the hunt soon.

Thanks for stopping in today, LittleAlguy. Just a few more days until F1!

[LittleAlguy]

No problem. I can't wait for Melbourne! :coolshades:

It's too bad Audi and Peugeot aren't racing in the States the duration of the season. It would have been awesome to see an improving Acura go up against them. Oh well, it should be a fun season.