ACURA SCORES STUNNING 1-2 IN
LMP2 CLASS DEBUT
Making a historic ALMS competition debut were three new
Acura powered entries in the ruggedly competitive LMP2
class. Taking the class victory & second place overall
was the #26 Andretti Green Racing XM Radio Acura ARX-01
driven by Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti & Tony Kanaan.
Taking second in the class & third overall was the #15
Lowes Fernandez Racing Lola B06/43 Acura driven by
Adrian Fernandez, Luis Diaz & David Martinez .
Defending Sebring champions, Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello & Tom Kristensen in the Audi #1 finished fourth overall.
Completing the LMP2 class podium & taking fifth overall was the #7 Porsche RS Spyder of Penske Racing, driven by Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard & Helio Castroneves.
The #9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01 driven by Stefan Johansson, David Brabham & Duncan Dayton finished fourth in LMP2 class & sixth overall.
"We want to extend our congratulations to Acura on achieving such a tremendous result in their first race," said Silvia Mammone, manager of motorsports for Michelin North America, Inc. "Their talents & tremendous effort in developing their entire package are truly impressive. We are enjoying working with Acura & their three outstanding teams. We look forward to continuing to develop & grow our relationship. This is a great way to start their first season."
CORVETTE TAKES GT1
Taking the GT1 class victory & seventh place overall was
the #4 Corvette C6.R driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver
Gavin & Max Papis.
A special #3 Corvette C6.R, painted white to celebrate the recently introduced Ron Fellows limited edition Corvette production car, was driven to GT1 runner-up honors & eighth place overall by Fellows, Johnny O'Connell & Jan Magnussen.
GT2: FERRARU VS. PORSCHE ROUND
ONE ENDS IN PHOTO FINISH
A highly exciting GT2 class went to the #62 Risi
Competizione Ferrari F430 GT driven by Jaime Melo, Mika
Salo & Johnny Mowlem by the slimmest of margins over the
#45 Flying Lizards Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Joerg
Bergmeister, Johannes Van Overbeek & Marc Lieb.
The two cars traded the lead six times in the final quarter of the race & were separated by just 2.2 seconds after 1,000 miles of competition & by just .202 of second at the line as Bergmeister mounted a furious challenge in the closing stages.
The GT2 battle produced some fascinating strategies & tire tactics in the final hours according to Karl Koenigstein, motorsports technical team leader for Michelin North America, Inc. "The Risi Ferrari team decided to make Jaime Melo their driver for the final two & one half hours of the race & then to double stint their final set of Michelin tires to the finish. The Flying Lizards Porsche team decided to go with a fresh driver, Joerg Bergmeister, & give him a fresh set of Michelin tires to make a charge to the finish. Both were great strategies & produced one of the best races in our ALMS history & underscored the importance of our Michelin tire engineer assigned to work with each team. Both teams put everything they had into it & the fans won," said Koenigstein.
ADDING TO THE 12 HOURS OF SEBRING HISTORY
- The overall victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was the record eighth consecutive overall win for Audi & the fourth Sebring win for driver Emanuele Pirro.
- Claiming their first ever class victories at Sebring were Andretti Green Racing in its Sebring debut, & longtime entrant, GT2 winners Risi Competizione
- Michelin added to its Sebring record by posting an unprecedented ninth consecutive overall race win, matching the Michelin overall record string at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Michelin technical partner teams swept the top 13 positions overall, claiming victory in all four ALMS classes.
- The .202 second margin of victory in GT2 was the closest finish in Sebring race history.
Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures & sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles & the space shuttle. The company also publishes travel guides, hotel & restaurant guides, maps & road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelin-us.com) employs more than 22,000 & operates 19 major manufacturing plants in 17 locations.
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