Baltimore Grand Prix

Posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 12:00 am

This past Saturday, thousands of spectators cheered as the diesel powered P1 Peugeots took first and second place in class, and overall, at Sebring from 33 total cars (three Lola P1 cars did not race).  In twelve hours they were able to complete 367 laps and record the fastest two lap times at about 1 minute and 45 seconds each!  An Aston Martin Lola took third which was a bit of a surprise for me considering how well they performed at the Winter Testing event a month earlier (I expected 1st or 2nd).  Porsche and Honda P2 cars finished 4^th and 5^th overall completing 353 and 349 laps. 

As incredible and fast as the LMP machines are, I think everyone was really looking forward to the GT2 battle….and it was great!  Ferrari fans were delighted to see the #62 Risi F430 GT take 1^st in its class after commanding the lead for about 10 hours and completing 331 laps.  I think it’s safe to say the F430 GT has secured its place in history as one of the greats having won the Petit Le Mans and 24 Hours of Le Mans last season (in its class), and now the 12 Hours of Sebring.    Annnnd…only one lap behind were the BMW M3’s taking 2^nd and 3^rd in the GT2 class!  They were strong, constant, reliable, ‘The ultimate driving machine’…BMW!!!    The Flying Lizard Porsches were able to take 4^th and 5^th and may possibly have placed higher: there was a pretty tight battle for the lead when a run-away wheel from a Falken Tire Porsche hit the #45 Lizard Porsche.  It was only 3.7 seconds from the lead when it was forced into pit; that’s the way it goes sometimes.  I know there were a lot of you pulling for the Porsches, but….you’ll just have to wait until Long Beach.    As for the Corvettes…well…they just seemed plagued with one problem after another.  They actually collided into each other in the pits, damaging both cars and were never quite able to recover.  On the bright side, Corvette Racing showed the kind of resilience and heart we love to cheer for as they picked themselves up, refused to quit, and got back in the fight!  They were still able to complete 320 laps finishing 8^th and 9^th in class but more importantly, ahead of the Ford GT!  So ‘when the goin gets tough…’ I’m looking forward to them regrouping and being a force at Long Beach as well.    Also would have been nice to see a little more of the Jaguar XKRS; dropped out with cooling problems after only 11 laps.  (Who else would like to see a Viper and Audi S5 in this class?)

So onto Long Beach, California!  Saturday, April 17^th is the next race on the ALMS schedule (followed the very next day by the Long Beach Indy Grand Prix)!  It’s a fast 1 hour 40 minute sprint that makes for a close, competitive event.  Expect teams to hash out their issues and make the necessary adjustments between now and then.  This is more likely the caliber of event Baltimore Racing Development is hoping to bring to Baltimore city (ALMS race on Saturday, Indy race on Sunday).  As much as we love a good 12 or 24 hour endurance race, the 2:45 minute deal is most common (personally, I’m pushing for the 6 hour event) which sounds like a nice compromise to me.  What do you think, 1:40min, 2:45min, 6hr?

Jason Schiavone        

www.baltimoreracingdevelopment.com

http://www.gplb.com/weekend_schedule.html

Filed in: ALMS.