12 Hours of Sebring 2010

[vyselegend]

Wow Pirro is adding much exitment to what would otherwise be a dull P1 race. That Drayson car is very quick! Shame the Aston don't seem to want/ be able to join the fight...

Titanic fight in GT2! The Falken Porsche have suddenly fallen down the order, while the Lizards were benefiting from a fight between Risi and the 'vettes.

Whatch the restart soon after that first neutralisation.

PS: unsurprisingly the live timing didn't survive the first hour. It must be sponsored by Jaguar...

EDIT: the streaming currently working the best is:
http://pt-br.justin.tv/lefermier#r=r1xaFP0~ (streamed from motors tv)

[Pandamasque]

Falken tires went off I'm afraid. Not yet up to Michelin/Dunlop level.

PS: Pirro and Bruni rock!

[Ray]

Are windshield tear offs, ala NASCAR, not allowed in the ALMS? Because that would make cleaning the windshield alot faster and easier.

[vyselegend]

OMG the two Corvettes just crashed in the pits! That #3's lolipop guy is a freakin' morron!
They made the same strike than Peugeot / Pesca at LM last year...

It spoils lots of fun in the GT2 fight, as Dyson's early problems spoiled the P2 one, and as the #95 troubles spoiled the LMPC battle...

The Petrol P1 are sucking lots of fuel in comparison to the diesels, they stint 5 laps less.

Are windshield tear offs, ala NASCAR, not allowed in the ALMS? Because that would make cleaning the windshield alot faster and easier.

I don't know if it's allowed or not, but it seems to me they just bother cleaning the windscreen while they are changing drivers or refueling, so theorically they don't lose time at all.

[Pandamasque]

I've seen teams using those tear-offs in the past. It didn't catch on for some reason.

[Ray]

OMG the two Corvettes just crashed in the pits! That #3's lolipop guy is a freakin' morron!
They made the same strike than Peugeot / Pesca at LM last year...

It spoils lots of fun in the GT2 fight, as Dyson's early problems spoiled the P2 one, and as the #95 troubles spoiled the LMPC battle...

The Petrol P1 are sucking lots of fuel in comparison to the diesels, they stint 5 laps less.

Are windshield tear offs, ala NASCAR, not allowed in the ALMS? Because that would make cleaning the windshield alot faster and easier.

I don't know if it's allowed or not, but it seems to me they just bother cleaning the windscreen while they are changing drivers or refueling, so theorically they don't lose time at all.

Thanks for the info and I knew they didn't really lose alot of time cleaning the windshields but figured it would be a quicker and easier job to just rip one off and be done with it. And the two Vettes crashing into one another has ruined GT2 for me and I've pretty much stopped watching because of it.

[dumrick]

Porsche seems out of the GT battle, after the #17 Falken Porsche lost his second rear right wheel on a row, and it hit the #45 Lizard, who was going by at the time. The Lizard got his rim damaged and a caution meant that Bergmeister on the #45 just had to wait for minutes for the pilane to open, for his car to be serviced... it took 3 to 4 laps of the Porsche stopped on the pits, for the pacecar to catch the field (apparently it missed the leader on its way out...) and allow the pitlane to open.

Now it's #62 Ferrari - #92 BMW - #90 BMW - #01 Ferrari, on the class worth watching.

[vyselegend]

Hard luck for the Porsches. Especially the Lizards who asked nothing in this mess...
I think the Falken team should be investigated for releasing the car after the first incident without further check! Their car lost a wheel and they just put a new one without taking the time to thouroughly check the damages to the drivetrain...

Also, what a lenghty neutralisation for just a wheel on the track, or did I miss something?

The BMWs had been screwed by the precedent neutralisation, and with the #45 now being stricken by destiny I can't see anyone challenging the Risi car. That crew is exellent and deserves victory, but they're definitly very lucky...

And the two Vettes crashing into one another has ruined GT2 for me and I've pretty much stopped watching because of it.

By experience I've learnt to cheer for several different teams in different classes, especially in such lenghty races, because if you're just cheering for one competitor/constructor, you're statistically going to be disapointed more often than happy.

[dumrick]

Also, what a lenghty neutralisation for just a wheel on the track, or did I miss something?

I don't think you did. The pacecar just missed the leader on his way out and it took very long for the whole field to go around and back behind it. Now it's clear how clever it is to have 2 pacecars, like at LM...

[vyselegend]

Indeed.

But sometimes in the US you have to wonder if they don't do such things on purpose...

[dumrick]

Are the Pugs really racing each other? It seems so, given the closeness on lap times between Lamy and Davidson... P1 is actually the only class where the leader doesn't have at least a lap of advantage.

By the way, the best stream I found is http://en.justin.tv/rolexx_tv#r=PAqzs1g~ - better picture than the other justin.tv stream, audio from Radio Le Mans.

[vyselegend]

I bet they have order to keep it clean and don't risk anything, because even if they're really there "just to prepare Le Mans", they're not stupid enough to spit on a Sebring victory (and besides, the press would KILL them if they shot themselves in the foot once more)

But you can't be sure there's not an ego contest between Bourdais and Davidson...

[dumrick]

Mücke is improving his fastest lap on the AMR Lola down to the 1.46's, and the Pugs are lapping around the 1.48's, but the live timing has just put Davidson with a fastest lap on 1:42.838!!! - EDIT: may have been a bug though...
It seems he still doesn't deal with traffic as swiftly as Lamy...

[Pandamasque]

That souldn't be a bug as Bourdais did a 44.9 in the heat of day. Now the times will improve.

[vyselegend]

Olivier Quesnel just told on Motors TV that both crews are allowed to fight for the win, there are no order to keep position. They just told the drivers to not go "beyond what is reasonable", which, in a hot driver's head, must be a very subjective concept.

But that means they really don't measure the importance of securing a Sebring trophy. I'm tired that teams being serious for LM does sacrifies EVERY other races in the name of LM preparation. Don't they realise that for us thoses races like Sebring and PLM are nearly as important?

Interesting bit he said in the interview also, is that the new rule alowing greater restrictor for petrol and enforcing smaller ones for diesel certainly made the performance differencial in favor of the petrol, but had the perverse effect of making the petrol cars more thirsty while the diesels became more efficient, so in the end the diesels are still the masters of endurance.