Mosport,
17th August 2003
Race
Luck
deserts Champion
Audi Sport UK, Mosport, 17th August 2003 - The Team ADT
Champion Racing Audi R8 of Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto claimed
20th overall (fourth in LMP900) in the latest round of the American
Le Mans Series today (Sun 17 Aug).
“Lady
Luck” deserted the Florida-based team when a 17-minute pit-stop
for suspension repairs in the closing stages shattered Champion
Racing’s dreams of a second ALMS victory after disputing the
lead in the fifth round.
Lehto
qualified for the 165-minute race on LMP900 class “pole”, third
place overall on the 33-car grid at Mosport but started the
race second when the Andy Wallace/Chris Dyson (Lola MG) began
from the pit-lane after an accident in the warm-up. JJ dived
down the inside of the pole-starting James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger
(Lola MG) at Turn 1 at the start, both cars surviving contact.
Lehto
trailed leader Weaver by five seconds with 22-minutes run with
Biela in the Joest Audi, a further five seconds adrift before
the first full course yellow appeared. Biela stopped early,
dropping to fifth, while Lehto slipped to sixth when he stopped
just before the race went “green” again after 14-minutes - both
Audi R8s having taken on fuel and new tires.
Within
two minutes, there was a second full course yellow, leader Weaver
stopping on this occasion for fuel, tires and handing over to
Leitzinger. With 63-minutes on the clock, Biela led with Olivier
Beretta/David Saelens (Panoz) second, Lehto third and Leitzinger
fourth, as the race re-started.
Lehto
was “delayed” by the second-placed Panoz, the Audi losing out
to the brute force of the Panoz on the straights. But on 71-minutes,
Lehto dived through in to second, quickly closed on Biela, and
brilliantly swept the ADT Champion Audi in to the lead on the
next lap as Leitzinger pitted with a battery problem.
At
mid-distance (82-minutes), the flying Lehto led Biela by 3.2-secs,
the Joest Audi showing signs of minor rear bodywork damage after
the Gunnar Jeannette/Scott Maxwell (Panoz) tagged it during
the second “yellow” necessitating an unscheduled stop for the
second-placed Panoz. With an hour to run, JJ had extended his
advantage to 11.5-secs over Biela, with Saelens (Panoz) third
a further 4.6-secs adrift.
Lehto’s
reactions were tested to the full when a back-marker “locked
up” in front of him slowing for a corner, JJ having to drive
on to the grass with all four wheels before re-joining the track
without damage and still leading.
Moments
later (97-minutes) the race featured its third full course yellow
and while Biela shadowed Lehto as they both entered the pit
lane, Werner’s Joest Audi was the first to leave, both R8s having
taken on fuel and new tires with Herbert now in the Champion
car. Werner led Herbert by 4.9-secs with 45-minutes remaining,
with only the Beretta/Saelens (Panoz) on the same lap a further
32-secs back.
Johnny
quickly moved menacingly on to Werner’s tail but time after
time, slower back-marker “traffic” influenced the dice for allowed
Werner to stay at the front. But disaster struck on lap 100,
19-minutes from the checker, when Herbert - less than one second
behind leader Werner, was forced wide over a high kerb to avoid
a backmarker.
Johnny
wasn't happy: “I’m very, very disappointed – I’m extremely annoyed
with the driving standards of some of these drivers. I was forced
on to the kerb and that was that. Finished! I’m choked”
Herbert
brought the Audi in to pits with front, right suspension damage.
The team made repairs, getting Herbert back in the race with
minutes to spare to take the checker, 20th overall and 13-laps
behind the winning Werner/Biela Audi after Johnny had to serve
a stop-go penalty on the last lap.
Qualifying
Third
in qualifying
Autosport,
16th August 2003 - The LMP675 class Lolas of Dyson Racing
caused a major shock by locking out the front row in qualifying
for the American Le Mans Series race at Mosport, with Briton
James Weaver claiming pole position ahead of Andy Wallace. Weaver
and co-driver Butch Leitzinger had dominated the timesheets
throughout practice at the Canadian circuit, as the more powerful
LMP900 class Audi R8s struggled to get on terms with the nimble
Dyson machines.
JJ
Lehto and Champion Racing won the battle of the customer R8s
to claim third overall, with Frank Biela ensuring that he and
co-championship leader Marco Werner will start fourth in the
Joest Audi.
In
the GTS class, Oliver Gavin claimed his first pole of the season
in his Chevrolet Corvette, ahead of Peter Kox in the first of
the Veloqx Prodrive Ferraris. Jan Magnussen was third quickest
in class in the second Ferrari 550, followed by the Corvette
of Ron Fellows.
Practice
Third
fastest in Friday practice
Audi Sport UK, Mosport, 15th August 2003 - Johnny Herbert
and JJ Lehto were content to register only the third fastest
time in preparation for the fifth round of the American Le Mans
Series today (Friday).
The
Anglo-Finnish combination spent the majority of the 90-minute
test at the Mosport International Raceway near Toronto in optimizing
an ideal aerodynamic set-up on their ADT Champion Audi R8 for
Sunday's 165-minute race.
"We
were frequently changing the nose and tail sections which
offer is different aerodynamic options," confirmed Herbert.
Britain's
James Weaver (MG Lola) set the day's fastest time around the
2.459-mile road course - almost two seconds off the lap record
- while Frank Biela pipped Lehto for the second fastest time
in the closing moments.
Biela
and fellow German co-driver Marco Werner begin the race with
an eight-point advantage over Lehto with Herbert placed fourth
in the Driver's title standings.
Friday
Test Times:
1.
James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger, Lola EX257-MG, 1:09.471.
2. Frank Biela/Marco Werner, Audi R8, 1:09.830.
3. JJ Lehto/Johnny Herbert, Audi R8, 1:10.174.
4. Olivier Beretta/David Saelens, Panoz LMP01, 1:10.806.
5. Andy Wallace/Chris Dyson, Lola EX257-MG, 1:11.345.
6. Gunnar Jeannette/Scott Maxwell, Panoz LMP01, 1:11.694.
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