Collard Quickest Wednesday Morning at Sebring

Collard Quickest Wednesday Morning at Sebring

Posted: January 24th, 2007 in American Le Mans
Author: American Le Mans Series
Photo By: Joe Martin

Frenchman Emmanuel Collard kept Penske Motorsports and its Porsche RS Spyder at the time of the timing sheet Wednesday morning at Sebring on the final day of the American Le Mans Series Winter Test. The Porsche factory pilot’s best time was a 1:47.166 lap around the 17-turn, 3.7-mile circuit.

Collard’s time in the No. 7 Porsche LMP2 was 0.116 seconds faster than the Acura-powered Lola B05/40 from Lowe’s Fernandez Racing. The car driven by Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez was less than 0.3 seconds ahead of Bryan Herta in the Andretti Green Racing Courage LC75-Acura. The Porsche-powered cars have bested their competitors in each of the five sessions this week but the gap has been closing rapidly as the three Acura-powered have gained experience and track time.

“The car is a big improvement over last year. We have been gaining more in the car everywhere. We have done many endurance runs since last year so we are better in that area.”

Dyson Racing’s new Porsche RS Spyder and the Lola B05/40-AER of Intersport Racing each were within 1.5 seconds of Collard.

Tafel Racing was the quickest GT2 car for the first time this week. The Georgia-based team is entering two new Porsche 997 RSRs for the full American Le Mans Series season. The No. 71 entry of Wolf Henzler and Robin Liddell was the best of the team cars at 2:02.198, which was the second-fastest GT2 time of the week.

The other Tafel car, driven by team owner Jim Tafel and Dominik Farnbacher, was third at 2:02.704. In middle of the two Porsches sat the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT of Jaime Melo and Johnny Mowlem at 2:02.492.

Emmanuel Collard, Penske Motorsports
Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)
“The car is a big improvement over last year. We have been gaining more in the car everywhere. We have done many endurance runs since last year so we are better in that area.”

Joey Hand, Panoz Team PTG
Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2)
“It’s going good so far. The biggest thing with Panoz is that you have so much power. In the BMW we would be passed easily by the prototypes. Now that’s not the case. The handling is something that is different. You sit so far back in the car, just about at the rear axle. But I’m getting used to it.”

Stefan Johansson, Highcroft Racing
Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2)
“We really haven’t done much to the car. Neither have we done enough to know how we are on reliability. We’ll find out for sure in a few weeks.”

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SESSION 1
1. Penske Motorsports, Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:47.166 (124.293 mph)
2. Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Lola B05/40-Acura, 1:47.282 (124.159 mph)
3. Andretti Green Racing, Courage LC75-Acura (LMP2), 1:47.520 (123.884 mph)
4. Dyson Racing, Porsch RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:47.885 (123.465 mph)
5. Highcroft Racing, Courage C75-Acura (LMP2), 1:49.071 (122.122 mph)
6. Intersport Racing, Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2), 1:50.032 (121.056 mph)
7. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.198 (109.003 mph)
8. Risi Competizione, Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta (GT2), 2:02.492 (108.742 mph)
9. Tafel Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.704 (107.538 mph)
10. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:03.253 (108.070 mph)
11. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.907 (107.500 mph)
12. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.917 (107.491 mph)
13. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:04.386 (107.086 mph)
14. Robertson Racing, Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 2:19.792 (100.922 mph)