Sebring Notes: RLR 3rd & 4th fastest in practice #1; 5th & 7th in #2

[tenfifteen]

Hand in the #90 car put up a 2:03.749 in practice 1, less than a second off the AE/Pemco F430 GT. The #92 car came up .106 seconds slower at 2:03.855.

http://www.americanlemans.com/events...%20Sebring.pdf

In practice 2, the #90 car improved slightly, but was unable to keep pace with other teams. Fast lap for that session was a 2:03.737 (1.146 off the GT2 fast lap set by Werner in the Farnbacher-Loles 911 RSR). The #92 car slowed by almost a second, posting a 2:04.721.

http://www.americanlemans.com/events...%20Sebring.pdf

[tenfifteen]

Third practice posted:

#92: 2:03.514 (4th quickest. Within a second of the fastest [again, Bergmeister] of 2:02.654),
#90: 2:03.818 (8th quickest)

Very tight.

http://www.americanlemans.com/events...%20Sebring.pdf

[woodym3]

The #90 Joey Hand/Bill Aubelen M3 qualified 7th in class behind 2 Porsches, 2 Ferraris, a Ford GT-R, and the PTG-Panoz. They were 1 1/2 seconds behind the pole time. The #92 M3 of Tommy Milner and Dirk Mueller did not post a time. My reporter on the scene just told me the RLR team was changing the transaxle at the end of the qualiying session.

In the PI class the top qualifiers were Acura, Audi, Peugeot, Audi, Peugeot, Acura. The top five were separated by 0.281 seconds. That is parity.

The race starts at 10:30 Saturday on SpeedTV.

[tenfifteen]

Thanks for the update and esp. the inside info, Woody, you just beat me in here as I was about to post what I read at the site. I was wondering what had happened with the 92 car.

Speaking of the parity in P1, amazing, no? All these years I've been moaning about P1-centric coverage on TV, and finally it will actually merit the airtime.

[woodym3]

Bobby Rahal, team principal:



“We’ve approached this season very conservatively. Bill and Joey starting seventh is not unexpected. The failure of the prop shaft in the No. 92 car certainly puts Dirk and Tommy behind at the start, but at Sebring qualifying position has very little to do with finishing position. I believe in the team, the cars, and the drivers so a small problem in qualifying does not ruin our weekend. The prop shaft had more than the race distance on it and had been scheduled to be changed before the race.”

Bill Auberlen, No. 90 M3:

“We are at the beginning of the program and every time we run the car we learn and improve. Seventh starts us right in the middle of the action and that is not a bad place to begin. There is nothing like Sebring and I am confident we’ll be ready to race.”

[Biggins]

I think the overall news is great.

I really hope the Acuras can keep pace with Audi and Peugeot. I've always been a fan of the Patron Highcroft team, but I'd like to see one of the Peugeots win (if that makes sense). I just wish P1 would have all these teams throughout the season.

I was hoping for better numbers out of the RLR camp, but they're starting about where I expected. I just hope they finish higher than I'm expecting...

My biggest problem is going to be actually watching the race since I'm sure I'll be tuned into all the basketball games allday Saturday.