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Is This Any Way To Run A Racing Series? (Evidently)

They came, they raced, they partied at the Petit Le Mans.

The outcome of the Petit Le Mans in favor of the new Audi R10 diesel was rarely in doubt, but a jam-packed Road Atlanta proved that fans are sold on the high-tech approach by the American Le Mans Series, not necessarily cars battling side-by-side at the checkers.

Allan McNish and Dindo Capello led with a four-lap margin over the nearest prototype, giving the invincible R10 its seventh straight victory. Despite weight reductions provided by a flexible rulebook, the Zytek entry was lucky to get second when Marco Werner spun and damaged the No. 2 Audi in the final hour. Both the Zytek and the pole-winning CREATION stayed on the lead lap and gave chase in the early hours, but small technical snafus cost them dearly versus the virtually flawless Champion juggernaut. Dyson Racing’s Lolas, meanwhile, crashed (No. 20) and burned (No. 16).

So is this any way to run a racing series? There must be something to it, since the track’s infield midway, virtually every space for parking and the fences were lined with fans.
Evidently the Audis’ fame at Sebring and Le Mans preceded them. Endurance fans being the laid-back types that they are, many of them napped, knoshed, imbibed and imbedded themselves at the souvenir trailers, ignoring the strong but silent diesels amidst the din of traditional power plants. But as fan formulas go, this one seems to work.

A portent of things to come, the Highcroft Lola worked its way to third on the podium, just ahead of the CREATION. Highcroft, where team owner Duncan Dayton is also a driver, will campaign one of three Acuras next season in the LMP2 category. Dayton seemingly undid his bid to be a factory driver next year with ill-advised contact versus Intersport’s Lola early in the afternoon. But Highcroft bounced back to overtake all but two cars when Dayton’s Lola was rescued from the curbs for co-drivers Memo Gidley and Vitor Meira. Whoever may be at the wheel at Highcroft, Acura’s three-car, three-team program that will materialize at Sebring next March so far looks good. (This includes Adrian Fernandez’s race day announcement of co-driver Luis Diaz next year in a Lola-Acura. Look for Andretti Green to have XM Satellite Radio, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta for its Courage-Acura.)

It’s likely most of the Road Atlanta fans didn’t care about the Aston Martins sandbagging their way to a predicted victory in the GT1 class as well, pushing past the Michelin-shod Corvettes courtesy of larger restrictors granted the green machines by the ALMS and “overnight” development of their Pirelli tires after getting a horsepower break. What the fans saw were several nose-to-tail duels between the green Astons and yellow Vettes. Where Corvette’s factory team and the Prodrive Aston lads had some fraternal karting contests this summer in France at a local facility during the run-up to the Le Mans 24-hour, the squads now clearly dislike one another and contact on the track is never far away, happening at least once on this day where the Astons finished one-two with team owner Dave Richards looking on.

So it goes when organizers with low car counts give in to hectoring teams that threaten to leave unless they get legislated victories. You’d think that Darren Turner would refrain from turning the Corvette of Johnny O’Connell into the grass at the top of the Turn 10 complex in this case. (Just wait for the straight, mate.)

So, is this any way to run a racing series? In LMP2, the fans also saw the factory Porsche Spyders of Penske dueling quite often with the private Lola-Judd entry of Intersport. The latter also got a restrictor break earlier this season — and stodgily remains in the championship hunt. The Intersport entry of the Field family plus Liz Halliday might have won LMP2 versus the golden yellow Penske flotilla, which had minor technical problems that dropped No. 6 and No. 7 several laps down. Alas, the steering rack broke on the Lola at suppertime and the Porsches marched on. But, the head-to-head duel of Timo Bernhard, fighting to get one of three laps back, versus John Field lit up the late afternoon. No sandbagging and no contact in this one. To vaguely recall Ezra Pound: “There was one hour that was sunlit and the most high Gods may make no better boast than to have watched it as it passed…” And this was just one of four classes.

With the action on the track as thick as the fans, motor homes and campers on the fences, the GT2 championship contender Jorg Bergmeister had his Porsche GT3 RSR spun via contact twice during his first stint. The stout German collected it each time. By time the sun had set the Porsche of Alex Job Racing had fallen from grace and first place with a broken suspension. The Flying Lizard Porsche No. 45, where championship rival Johannes van Overbeek has his name on the door, had been knocked askew in heavy traffic. Wolf Henzler was at the wheel for the Lizards when things went awry, which was poetic given the German’s pace had helped van Overbeek sustain his championship threat.

Is this any way to run a racing series? Speed, duels, contact, spectacular saves, whispering diesels and disappearing red Ferraris (due to errant piloting). The Audis, the Spyders and the Green Machines had the top steps of the podium bagged before dark. But the fans had voted with their greenbacks and an entire Saturday in a world filled with more entertainment choices each day than a month of Ed Sullivan Sundays — or other more modern American idles. They partied on into the night long after the checkers fell, a sure sign of an endurance racing classic.

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