Biela, Pirro Win At Infineon For First ALM Victory In 2005
Written by Josh Katinger · July 17, 2005
Sonoma, Calif. - Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro won for the first time this year in their No. 2 Champion Racing Audi R8, taking the Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Ravenswood Winery on Sunday at Infineon Raceway. Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows did a little celebrating of their own as well, as they stood on top of the GT1 podium at Infineon for the fifth straight time.
All in all, it was an entertaining day at Infineon Raceway as the American Le Mans Series visited the West Coast for the first time in 2005.
Biela and Pirro finished nearly a lap ahead of the No. 20 Dyson Racing Lola of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace. The victory was the first for the Biela-Pirro duo since Miami in 2002, a season in which they won three times. Biela hadn’t won since the 2004 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
“The races are getting more competitive and nice to drive in,” Pirro said. “The cars are equal, and you can never be comfortable. Sometimes winning is a matter of time in the pit stops.”
The No. 1 Champion Racing Audi of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner had led for more than two hours before Werner, coming out of pit lane, made contact with the No. 5 Pacific Coast Motorsports Corvette C5-R, causing both cars to go off course. The upper wishbone broke on the right side of the car. The team replaced it, and the car continued, although the car went down a lap.
“It’s a very difficult corner (Turn 1), even if you are on your own,” Biela said. “It is very bumpy, and that unsettles the car. If you are alone, there is no problem. In traffic, you never know how they will react. In the warm-up, I had a car get way outside and normally wasn’t the line for a sports car. That makes it very difficult.”
Dyson Racing’s challenge to the Champion Racing group effectively ended early. Butch Leitzinger spun on the opening lap after making contact with Pirro. Then Wallace, the polesitter in the No. 20 Lola, lost fuel pressure just shy of the one-hour mark at the Carrousel. Wallace also said the car was having trouble in first gear, as well.
In LMP2, the No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 returned to victory lane as Clint Field and Liz Halliday teamed for their first win together. The pole-sitting Lola fell to second behind the No. 10 Miracle Motorsports Courage of Jeff Bucknum and Chris McMurry. But the Courage spun coming out of Turn 11 with 25 minutes left, and Field made the pass and held on for his second straight class win at Infineon.
“This was a great race for us. Liz had a pretty uneventful first stint. She got passed by some of the GT1 cars but she did a great job getting them back and keeping it clean,” Field said. “We caught some good breaks, especially with the yellows. We were about 30 seconds down to the No. 10 car when a yellow came out. If it hadn’t, I might have been able to catch him because we were making about three seconds a lap faster, but getting past them is another question.”
It also marked Halliday’s first class win in four ALMS races. Her previous best was 12th in class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last season.
“I think we had the best stops by all the P2 cars today,” Halliday said. “Clint did a great job getting the car back for the win. Winning in Europe was great, but the British GT series is not the type of racing as the ALMS series, and winning in my home state of California with all my friends and family close by is terrific.”
O’Connell and Fellows drove their No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C6-R to a 0.455 second victory over their teammates Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette C6-R. Not only was it the first time a driver pairing posted five straight victories at the same venue, Fellows and O’Connell also won their 24th career ALMS race. They now lead that category all-time, moving one win ahead of Lehto.
“The reason Ron and I have success is we are smart about racing,” O’Connell said. “There are times you want to be close and sometimes you don’t. You don’t want to be really close to a guy going into Turn 1 because if something happens to him you are trapped. Each win is special. I can remember each one. I know the first one we had to push and push at the end because we were going to need a splash and go. This win is just as special as the others. They are all great.”
The No. 4 Corvette likely would have ended the streak were it not for a couple of mid-race spins. Third was the No. 63 ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R of Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem.
“The pace early was to go carefully,” Fellows said. “We anticipated a greasy track and the track temp rises quickly, especially as we get around noon or 1 o’clock, so we started the tire pressures very low so we were sliding around. Traffic, like always, was an issue, you could drop two to three seconds a lap, but that’s Infineon Raceway. We lost the lead to the No. 4 car in Turn 7, and that was because I was sleeping. It was interesting, but we got him back. It all worked out in the end because we had a set-up that got better as the track got slicker.”
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas continued their impressive run with their third straight victory in GT2. Their No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche won for the third straight race. Starting from the pole, Bernhard and Dumas never lost their lead as their would-be challengers from BAM! and Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing fell on tough luck.
After a DNF at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Dumas and Bernhard finished second at Road Atlanta, then ran off wins at Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock.
Second was the the No. 31 Petersen/White Lightning entry of Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister, followed by the No. 43 BAM! Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller and Wolf Henzler.
“At the start of the race, it was really difficult for me because the No. 31 was really pushing me,” Bernhard said. “I never gave him the chance to get around me but after three or four laps of pushing hard he was no longer in my mirrors. I asked my crew what happened and they told me he had to pit early, but I just assumed he was still on the lead lap so I kept pushing hard to increase the lead. We are so successful because we never have to change big things, we have the overall package. If we are making changes they are very little.”
The Founder’s Cup awards went to Ian Baas of Alex Job Racing (first place), Justin Jackson of J3 Racing (second place) and McMurry (third place). The awards go to the privateers who best demonstrate the ideals of “Gentlemen Drivers” in the ALMS.
The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Portland Grand Prix set for July 28-30 at Portland International Raceway. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel from 8 to 11 p.m. EDT July 30, and Live Timing and Scoring will be available at www.americanlemans.com.
Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma
Sunday, provisional results
1. (4) Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Frank Biela, Germany; Audi R8 (1, P1), 111.
2. (1) Andy Wallace, England; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Lola EX257 AER (2, P1), 111.
3. (2) JJ Lehto, Finland; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi R8 (3, P1), 110.
4. (5) Liz Halliday, Rancho Santa Fe, CA; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B05/40/AER (4, P2), 105.
5. (3) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; James Weaver, England; Lola EX257 AER (5, P1), 105.
6. (6) Jeff Bucknum, Lake Havasu City, AZ; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Courage C-65 (6, P2), 105.
7. (8) Ron Fellows, Canada; Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6-R (7, GT1), 104.
8. (9) Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Corvette C6-R (8, GT1), 104.
9. (11) Johnny Mowlem, England; Terry Borcheller, Gainesville, GA; Saleen S7R (9, GT1), 104.
10. (10) Jamie Bach, West Palm Beach, FL; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Courage Mazda (10, P2), 102.
11. (12) Andrea Bertolini, Italy; Fabrizio de Simone, Italy; Maserati MC12 (11, GT1), 102.
12. (15) Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (12, GT2), 100.
13. (16) Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (13, GT2), 99.
14. (19) Mike Rockenfeller, Germany; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14, GT2), 99.
15. (21) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Jon Fogarty, Palo Alto, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (15, GT2), 98.
16. (18) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Robin Liddell, Scotland; Panoz Esperante eGTLM (16, GT2), 98.
17. (22) Justin Jackson, Buford, GA; Tim Sudgen, England; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (17, GT2), 97.
18. (17) Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (18, GT2), 96.
19. (20) Randy Pobst, Gainesville, GA; Ian Baas, Noblesville, IN; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (19, GT2), 96.
20. (14) Michele Rugulo, Italy; Tom Weickardt, Whitefish Bay, WI; Dodge Viper (20, GT1), 80.
21. (13) Ryan Dalziel, Scotland; Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Corvette C5-R (21, GT1), 78, Accident.
22. (24) Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; David Murry, Cumming, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (22, GT2), 47, Clutch.
23. (23) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Panoz Esperante eGTLM (23, GT2), 39, Electrical.
24. (7) Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Riley & Scott MRK IIIC (24, P1), 5, Clutch.
Unofficial points
LMP1
Marco Werner 87
JJ Lehto 87
Emanuele Pirro 84
Frank Biela 84
Andy Wallace 77
Chris Dyson 74
James Weaver 72
Butch Leitzinger 72
Tom Kristensen 26
Allan McNish 22
Guy Smith 16
Tom Chilton 10
Hayanari Shimoda 10
Bryan Willman 0
LMP2
Jeff Bucknum 62
Chris McMurry 62
Clint Field 56
Jamie Bach 49
Guy Cosmo 49
Jon Field 36
Ben Devlin 29
Ian James 26
Liz Halliday 20
Gunnar van der Steur 16
Erik van der Steur 13
GT1
Ron Fellows 98
Johnny O`Connell 98
Olivier Beretta 87
Oliver Gavin 87
Johnny Mowlem 65
Terry Borcheller 65
Alex Figge 44
Ryan Dalziel 44
Michele Rugolo 30
Tom Weickardt 30
Darren Turner 26
Stephane Ortelli 26
David Brabham 26
Max Papis 22
Jan Magnussen 19
Ralf Kelleners 16
David Empringham 12
Jean-Philippe Belloc 10
Stephane Sarrazin 9
Pedro Lamy 9
Peter Kox 9
Fabrizio De Simone 0
Andrea Bertolini 0
Fabio Babini 0
GT2
Patrick Long 87
Jorg Bergmeister 87
Romain Dumas 76
Timo Bernhard 76
Jon Fogarty 56
J. van Overbeek 56
Tim Sugden 49
Robin Liddell 41
Justin Jackson 33
Bill Auberlen 31
Nic Jonsson 28
Lucas Luhr 26
Mike Rockenfeller 23
Ian Baas 21
Randy Pobst 21
Darren Law 19
Seth Neiman 17
Lonnie Pechnik 17
Michael Cawley 17
Marc Sluszny 16
Tracy Krohn 16
Marino Franchitti 16
Wolf Henzler 15
Andrew Thompson 14
Michael Vergers 14
Juan Barazi 14
Spencer Pumpelly 12
Steve Ivankovich 12
Andy Lally 12
Tony Burgess 12
Bryan Sellers 11
Scott Maxwell 5
Sascha Maassen 4
Rick Skelton 1
Pierre Ehret 0
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Thats a pretty thorough report! Thanks for the update! How do you feel about the Timo Bernhard and Romain Duma victory? Not to shabby,eh?
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